Words from the Master

A small story:

Once a sadhu – a wandering mendicant, was passing through a village, when he received a complaint from the villagers about a cobra that was playing havoc with their lives.
The sadhu was known to have the power to communicate with animals, so they begged him to convince the cobra to spare the villagers.
So the sadhu spoke to the cobra, and the cobra promised not to bite any of the villagers anymore.
A few months later, the sadhu was passing through the same village when he came upon the cobra, badly bruised and almost dead.
“What happened to you? Why are you hurt?” Asked the sadhu.
The cobra cried, “O sadhu! It is you who made me promise never to bite the villagers! I have kept my promise to this day. But the villagers, who were earlier in fear of me, took my mildness to be my weakness. Seeing that I don’t bite, they started torturing me everyday. See what a state I have been reduced to!”
The sadhu replied, “My poor foolish friend! I only asked you not to bite the people. Did I ask you not to hiss at them?”

You need to use anger in the right way in the right quantities. Anger is a tremendous energy if we know how to use it rightly.

Knowledge about anger reduces anger.

Many people come to me and tell me, “Swamiji, I love my wife so much, that’s why I want her to change for the better! That’s why I fight with her.”

I tell them, “You don’t love your wife, you love the image that you carry in your mind.”

You love your image and whenever your wife acts as you expect her to act, you love her. Your real love is not for your wife, it is for your mental image. If you really love your wife, you will change your image to suit your wife, but if you love your image, then you will try to change your wife to fit the image.

Most of us love our images. This is the truth. This is the beginning of unrest in our homes. This is the beginning of an intimate war! Honestly I tell you, lovers are intimate enemies. They are intimate but constantly on guard. They are constantly trying to dominate each other. There is a close enmity between them, which they call intimacy. Real intimacy is when you are totally relaxed with the other. That is real intimacy.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.