About calming the mind!

719. Om ganambayai namah: I bow down to Amma who is the mother of Shiva's attendants

Amma on anger:

Imagine that while we are in a crowd a stone hits us and we get injured. Instead of trying to catch the culprit, we should first attend to the wound and apply medicine to it. If we chase the assailant instead, we will expose the wound to dirt and germs. It will then take longer to heal. Furthermore, even if we catch someone and beat him or scold him, we may later come to realize that we’ve caught the wrong person. It may turn out that the stone hit us by accident. And even if we have the real culprit, beating him will not heal our wound or alleviate our pain. This is how it is with anger. It is like a wound. Our immediate response should be to heal it. Therefore, in such moments, we should try to remain like a witness. If we identify with our negative thoughts and get caught up in them, we will soon find ourselves speaking and acting upon them. This will eventually lead us to trouble. If we succumb to our anger, we will soon realize that it is much more harmful to us than it is to the person upon which we direct it.

 

Amma is reminded of the story about a bus conductor. One day, at one of his stops, he saw a new face—a burly, seven-foot-tall man. The man stepped up into the bus and took a seat. When the conductor asked him for the fare, he said, “Kesavankutty doesn’t need a ticket.” The puny conductor looked closely at the man. Overcome with fear, he decided not to ask him a second time. He looked like a gang leader. Without saying anything the conductor returned to his seat. The next day the same thing happened again. The man got into the bus at the same stop and when asked to buy a ticket, he said, “Kesavankutty doesn’t need a ticket.” Inside, the conductor was boiling. He wanted to teach this brute a lesson! The conductor could think of nothing else. His mental peace was destroyed. Every day the man would get into the bus and the same scene repeat itself.

 

And each time it did, the conductor would become more and more tense and angry. He couldn’t even speak to his wife or his children due to the restlessness of his mind. Finally, he decided that enough was enough. He had to do something. The problem was that he was so puny. He decided to approach a karate teacher. His whole life became focused on karate. He even took leave from work to hone his skills. He did nothing but study karate and other martial arts. By the time he resumed work he was confident that he could take the seven-footer.

 

On his very first day, the hulk was there at the stop. As usual, the conductor issued him a ticket, and as usual came the familiar reply, “Kesavankutty doesn’t need a ticket.” But this time, the conductor shouted, “No! No way! You have to buy a ticket. If you don’t, this bus isn’t going to move an inch!”

 

The seven-footer then said, “Excuse me, Kesavankutty doesn’t need a ticket. I have a free pass.” He then pulled out a bus pass, identifying himself as a high official of the department of transportation, someone entitled to travel for free. Who was the loser here? How many days’ leave did the conductor lose? How much time and money did he waste on karate lessons? How much tension did he suffer? Furthermore, the peace in his home was also destroyed. Out of all of this, he gained nothing.

 

This is how it is with anger. You lose everything and gain nothing. We should always remember this. When you feel yourself becoming angry, don’t suppress it or it will eventually explode, but don’t instantly react either. Try to calm the mind down as much as possible. Then evaluate the situation in the light of wisdom. If we can do this, we can avoid a lot of disasters in life spawned from anger.

 

Om Amriteswariye namah!