II श्रीराम जय राम जय जय राम II

यह जग कोठी काठ की, चहुं दिश लागी आग
भीतर रहै सो जलि मुझे, साधू उबरै भाग।

Once a sadhu was sitting on the bank of a river. He had just finished taking his meals and he wanted to have a tiny nap. Just as he was about to doze off, he saw a washerman walking down the bank, in his direction leading two donkeys loaded with dirty clothes. The sadhu thought, "Oh, I hope he doesn't come here. I am in no mood for small talk.. and he must smell awful. All those dirty clothes, those dirty donkeys." But the washerman called out, "Hey, Babaji! I need to go back home and get something I forgot. Could you watch my donkeys while I am gone? Please, you are a holy man! You should be helping humanity. I'll be back soon." The sadhu pretended not to hear. He just sat there with his eyes closed, hoping the man would go away, and sure enough, his prayer was answered. He heard footsteps walking away and he dozed off sweetly in the shade. When the sadhu woke up, an hour had passed and the washerman was back, shouting, screaming, as he came towards the sadhu. "Where are my donkeys? " The washerman's face was red as a beet, and he was directing all this rage at the sadhu. "You were supposed to look after my donkeys. Why didn't you do it? You're a sadhu. You go find my donkeys and bring them back!" 
The sadhu became absolutely furious. "This is no way to treat a man of God!", he shouted back. "You are supposed to speak to me with respect. Hey! Don't you kick me! I am not one of your donkeys!" "I know!", the washerman said. "My donkeys have more sense! " And they began to fight. Now the washerman was very healthy and strong from all the exercise he got by washing clothes, and the sadhu, who never got any exercise at all, was very skinny and frail. In no time at all, the washerman had him pinned to the ground and pummeling him with both fists. Eventually, just as the person who takes a beating gets tired, the one giving the beating also wears himself out. Soon, both men were lying in the mud, completely exhausted.
The sadhu then raised his eyes toward heaven and cried, "O God! I have been worshiping You all my life! I think of You, I pray to You, I adore You. For the past thirty years, God, not a single day, not a single night has gone by that I haven't thought of You. For Your sake, I have given up all the comforts of life. But when I needed You, O God, where were You?" As soon as the sadhu stopped complaining, a voice boomed out of heaven. "O sadhu, I wanted to help so much. I came as soon as you called. And I would have saved you, I would have pulled you out of there with My own hands. But when I looked down, all I saw was a tangled mass of angry energy. I couldn't tell who was the washerman and who was the sadhu." 
This is exactly what happens once anger erupts and we can't tell who is right and who is wrong, who is a good person and who is not. Anger completely takes over. Freedom from anger is a magnificent virtue.

"Kabir says, we may give up even gross anger. But subtle anger is more difficult to overcome and only sincere devotional service will help us to get rid of it."

II श्रीराम जय राम जय जय राम II

II श्रीसद्गुरूचरणार्पणमस्तु II