THE FIRE OF ANGER
by
Sant Ajaib Singh Ji
May 7, 1977,
Sant Bani Ashram
Sanbornton, New Hampshire
This world is a wooden house in flames;
One who remains in it burns himself.
That Sadhu survives who takes himself out of it.
This is the bani of Kabir Sahib. He says that the key to Sach Khand is
Naam, and we can manifest that Naam with purity. Accompanying the
mind, our soul has become very dirty. She has forgotten her origin, her
real home. What is the dirt which has defiled her? The dirt of lust, the
dirt of anger, the dirt of greed, attachment-these are very great evils.
And among them, there are two that are most great: lust and anger. Lust
lowers the soul in the body, and with anger, the soul is diffused in the
body. Neither the unchaste man can do the bhakti of devotion, nor can
the angry man do devotion.
Anger is spontaneous madness. Just as the bamboo fields are burnt
with the fire which is coming out of the bamboo itself, in the same way,
the fire of anger is also coming from within us, and is burning us.
So Kabir Sahib says that this world is made of wood, and within it the
fire is burning. The human body is also one building made of wood, and
within it fire is burning. And you already know that if you set fire to a
house of wood, you cannot save that house. Similarly this fire is a very
bad fire in our body -- it is a very dangerous fire. Controlled by anger,
and because of this anger, one community or religion is fighting with
another community or religion; because of this anger one brother is
berating the other brother like anything. And unless we take our soul up
above this fire of lust and anger, we cannot escape it; because the
physical knot of lust, anger and all these evils is behind our two eyes, and
the astral knot is in Trikuti.
There is no question of surviving lust, anger, attachment, greed and
evils like that, as long as we are below the second plane. So that is why
Kabir Sahib says that those who are below the second plane are dying
from that fire. Sometimes they are burning themselves in the fire of lust,
sometimes of anger, sometimes of other evils. And one who rises above,
and goes into Daswan Dwar or the third plane, he is called a Sadh and he
is saved from these fires.
The fire of anger is burning in all,
all the world is consumed in this fire;
Through the company of a Godman one can be free from
this fire.
Now Kabir Sahib says, how can we say that the fire of anger is within one
man and not within another man? All the world is suffering; all the
world is burning, because of this fire of anger. Hazur Maharaj Sawan
Singh used to tell a very interesting story of one angry man. When he was
in the army, this man started making tea, but he couldn't light the fire
because the firewood was wet. So he became very angry with the fire,
and he went and lay down on his bed, saying, "All right, if you don't
want to burn, don't burn." While he was lying on the bed, again the
anger came into his mind, and he got up and destroyed that fireplace.
After that he again went and lay down on the bed. And again the anger
came upon him. So he poured a bucket of water into that fireplace; then
he again went to the bed. Again the anger came upon him and he got up.
And then he urinated on what was left of the fireplace, saying, "Now,
you burn!" Still he was very angry. Now the shed was made of wood and
thatch. And he set fire to the shed, saying, "Now you will burn!" Then
he set fire to his home. His home was being burnt, and the fire station
was called and told, "The cantonment is burning." And then he went
again to his bed. In Satsang when Master Sawan Singh was telling this
story, that man was also sitting there. And Master Sawan Singh would
say, "You go and ask him, if you don't believe me."
So this is the condition of anger. That is why Kabir Sahib says that it is
a very bad fire. You see the condition of your own home, how it is con-
trolled by anger: the husband is displeased with his wife and they are
tearing each other apart; the children are not obeying the parents, and
parents are suffering because of their children. Now He says, if you want
to survive, go into the refuge, take the protection of some Mahatma and,
according to his teachings, collect all the thoughts from your body and
concentrate at the third eye. It is not true that there is no medicine for the
disease. The disease is within us, and the treatment, the remedy, is also
within us.
The speed of the stream of Shabd is faster than the speed of the stream
of our thoughts.
Millions of bad actions are done because of anger.
When egoism comes in, everything is lost.
Now Kabir Sahib says: don't understand this thing as an ordinary thing,
because when we are controlled by anger, that causes many other bad
karmas, or bad actions.
Now we are meditating and doing seva, and we give donations. But
what is our habit? Unless we tell about our meditations, or our dona-
tions, or our seva, to somebody else, we think we cannot digest it. But
Kabir Sahib says that if you will exhibit your meditation, or seva, or
whatever you are doing, if you will tell others that you are doing so much
seva or meditation, you will lose everything. Master Sawan Singh used to
say that doing that is just like cooking a lot of good food, and spreading
ashes on it. Hazur Maharaj Kirpal used to say, "How do you digest your
food? Can't you digest the meditation or seva which you are doing?"
The dear ones should always be grateful and humble and tell Hazur,
"We are very grateful to You because You are making us meditate, and
in fact, You are meditating and You are doing seva." All of us say that
we are going and searching for the Master or Guru. But those whose in-
ner vision is open, what do they say? They say that the disciple is not
searching for the Master, but the Master is searching for the disciple.
We say that we are meditating on Naam as long as our eyes are not open.
When our eyes are open, we realize that we were not meditating, we were
not practicing, there was Something, there was Someone, that was mak-
ing us meditate and practice. We are sitting in remembrance of God,
because of the grace of God. Otherwise, who has the time to think about
God, or to sit in the remembrance of God, in this Iron Age?
Egoism, anger and Kal are deceptions for the souls.
The trap of Kal is such that it even traps the advanced ones.
Kabir Sahib says that the Negative Power has created deception for man.
Because when souls were given to the Negative Power from Sach Khand,
at that time souls were very pure, so they came to their real home, their
origin, very easily. That is why to trap the soul in the body, Negative
Power attached lust, anger, greed, attachment and egoism to the soul,
and made the mind as their President. And he gave the duty to the mind
not to allow any soul to do Satguru Bhakti. We could cure them easily if
lust or anger were coming from outside; but they are arising from within
our body and they are making us mad.
Kabir Sahib says: "To become safe from these things, what do you
have to do?" If we want to protect our houses, we keep the lights on;
similarly, when any fire of lust or anger is burning in us, what should
we do? Take our attention right into the light. And Kabir Sahib says, "0
traveler, be alert; there are many thieves coming into this city of the
human body." And when they see that this man is sleeping, or this man
is not alert, they will take away the wealth of Naam which we are having,
and instead of that they will give us lust and anger and all these evils,
and involve us in them only. The Negative Power distracts us from Naam,
and he gives us his work to do. And mind says, "This world is sweet.
Who has seen the beyond? Do whatever you like here. This is a very
sweet world. Who will see the accounts?"
So Kabir Sahib says that this is all the deception created by the
Negative Power to trap the souls: don't trust him, because he is even
deceiving the souls who are going above. Hazur Maharaj Sawan Singh Ji
was giving an example of one Sadhu who was teased by a woman who
had designs on him, saying, "Are you having a beard on your face? or a
bush?" But he always kept quiet. And when his end time came, when he
was just about to die, he called that particular woman, and when that
woman came there, he asked her, "What was that question you were
asking before? Now you ask it." And when she told him, she asked,
"Why were you not responding to that question then?" He replied,
"Now it is my last moment, my last breath; I am answering your ques-
tion honestly, exactly as you asked it. Up till now, there was some
possibility that mind would have deceived me and I would have fallen in-
to the trap you were laying for me." That is why Kabir Sahib says that
the trap of Negative Power is very great. Beware of it.
Abuse acts as fire, anger as a fan, and criticism is smoke
created by that fire;
One who is free from these three is a Sadhu.
Now Kabir Sahib says that to speak badly or to abuse anybody is just like
starting a fire. Anger works as a fan, to accelerate the fire, and criticism
is the smoke. When we are angry, how we are fighting one another!
somebody brings a stick and somebody brings a sword, and we are kill-
ing each other. After that criticism starts-one criticises the other, one
speaks against the other, and in that way smoke is going up. Kabir Sahib
says that only he can be called a Sadhu who is free from criticism, who is
free from anger. Many great people in the Punjab were coming to argue
with Master Sawan Singh. But Master Sawan used to say that Saints win
only by keeping quiet. We are all intellectual wrestlers; we only want to
win by talking. Masters say: meditate, rise above, and every question,
every problem, will be solved by its own self.
Hazur Maharaj Ji used to give a very good example to clarify this. One
man fell into a well which did not have any fence. Someone had pity on
him and wanted to save him. So he threw a rope into the well and said, "I
am holding this rope. You come out." But instead of holding on to that
rope, the man began to question him: "Who has made this well? Why
was it made? Why did I fall down in here?" When the man who wanted
to save him had been there for some time, he said, "Many fools like you
can again fall into this well," and walked away. So Master said that what
was required was first of all to hold that rope and come out. And after
coming out of the well he could have asked any question he liked.
When abuse comes, in the beginning it is one;
When responded to it multiplies.
Kabir says: If it is not responded to, it remains one.
Kabir Sahib says that when we are calling names, or when we are
speaking harsh words to anyone, in the beginning it is only one, because
it is coming only from one side. If it is not answered, then it remains only
one. But when it is answered from the other side, it becomes two, and in
that way, it is multiplied, because angry people want to win over each
other, using bad words.
Abuse creates everything: unrest, problems, battles;
One who argues is a low one, one who accepts defeat is
a Sadhu.
Kabir Sahib says that all this unrest and these problems are created only
by using or speaking bad words to other people. But one who surrenders
is a Sadhu, and he says, "He is the low one, he is the mean one, who is
keeping that thing with him and is arguing." We, the worldly people, are
always presenting our so-called truths, but Saints and Mahatmas always
wait, because they say that time will tell by itself. When Mastana Ji of
Baluchistan's end time came, He took some of his disciples and showed
them the tombs of the Mogul emperors. He told them, "You see how the
birds are making this place dirty? Nobody cares even to sweep this
place." And after that He took His disciples to Gurudwara Sis Ganj
where Guru Teg Bahadur, the ninth Guru of the Sikhs, was martyred.
And when He brought His disciples there, He told them to see what was
going on there: people were very respectful, cleaning their feet before
entering, distributing parshad, meditating in the temple. And He said
that the Mogul emperors had made many buildings, and the Army at
that time had saluted them at many different places; but now there is no
one who cares enough to keep those buildings clean-the birds are
making them dirty. But at this place of Chandni Chowk, where the
Gurdwara is located, the Emperor beheaded one Sadhu there. He said
that, now, after 300 years, how the people are worshiping the cremation
place of that martyred Sadhu! That is why Saints say that time always
tells the truth by itself; that Saints have the truth within them, and
eventually people realize that truth. That is why Mastana Ji of
Baluchistan said, "To meditate is the best." Because that fragrance of
your meditation spreads all over the world-even after your death-for
many, many years. Hazrat Bahu says, "He is the real Fakir whose tomb
is alive." You see, time reveals itself. The Saints and Mahatmas who
were given many troubles by the worldly people of their time-all the
people of this time are going to the places where they were cremated or
born, in the memory of those Saints, and those places are made into
memorials, and we are understanding that God is there.
Before the ninth Guru of the Sikhs was beheaded, the Mogul Emperor
told him, "If you are Guru or are called Guru, and if you have that
power, you show me some miracles." He said, "I have only one miracle
to show you: that in whatever way you will torture me, I will bear that."
Because Saints are never exhibiting their supernatural powers, that is
why they depart from the world, understanding themselves as defeated
by the world. But what are we worldly people doing? We are always
ashamed to understand ourselves as defeated; so Kabir Sahib says that
one who understands himself as defeated, He is a Saint, and one who
argues is low.
No one is our enemy if we become cool;
Become cool and everybody will have mercy on you and will
help you.
Now Kabir Sahib says that if you clean your mirror, then you will see the
whole creation clearly. If we make ourself as our friend, we will see all
the world as our friend. That is why Kabir Sahib is saying that nobody is
our enemy in this world, if we stop allowing the mind to do enmity to us.
Now the question arises: we are not having mercy on our own selves,
but we are thinking of having mercy on others. First of all, we have to
have mercy on our own selves. We can have mercy on ourselves only
when we make our soul free from the clutches of mind. Swami Ji
Maharaj says, "Have mercy on your own self, and in that way avoid the
cycle of eighty-four lakhs."
Speak such words which please others,
Which make others cool and you yourself will feel coolness.
Kabir Sahib says that you have to speak such words with your mouth,
that, hearing those words or bani, other people can get coolness from
them. If you are speaking harsh words, or strict words, first of all you
are burning your own self. Just think that the fireplace first feels the
heat, and after that it is giving it to others. So Kabir Sahib says always
speak sweetly to make yourself sweet. If we can become cool, we can
make others cool.
In Ganga Nagar, one "Mahatma" came to the Satsang. He was very
famous. He was a disciple of Master Sawan Singh, and we all respected
him very much. When the Satsang was finished, we thought of serving
him tea, and we thought that we should respect this Baba, and we should
take him into a separate room to serve him tea. Meanwhile tea was
brought, and the Sangat started to drink. Now all the coolness vanished
from the Baba, and he thought, "I am greater than everybody, I should
have been served first." And when we saw that the Baba was becoming
very angry, we told him, "All right, we are bringing tea for you here."
But by this time he couldn't speak, he was so angry. I went into the
kitchen and brought tea; I thought maybe he would drink it. But that
Baba, who was so angry he couldn't speak, took off his turban and told
me to pour that tea on his head. And those people who were sitting there,
they all laughed and clapped and went away, saying, "Who is this Ma-
hatma who has come here to Satsang?"
So there is no benefit in having mercy like this on others. First of all
you have to extinguish your fire. Guru Nanak Sahib says, First of all
you control YOUR mind first of all you give peace to YOUR mind and
soul, and after that think about others. Kabir says, Those who are
preaching to others don't realize that sand is coming into their mouth;
protecting others' fields, their courtyard is destroyed. So this is our
condition. Our own self is burning with the fires of lust, anger and all
these evils, but we are preaching to others, "You do this, you do
that ... "
Words are precious, if we know their value;
Before speaking, weigh them; then bring them out.
Kabir Sahib says we must consider what effect it will have if we speak
this thing. It is well to always think: "The words which I am telling to
others, if somebody else is telling me the same words, will I be displeased
or pleased?"
Bad thoughts are the bow, bad words are the arrows.
Those arrows pierce our heart, through the ears.
Now Kabir Sahib says that bad thoughts work as a bow, and speaking
bad words is just like using the arrow with that bow. Those bad words
affect us through the ears. Through the ears, they wound our heart. And
after that, within the body, we feel burning.
Bad words are the worst sin-they burn body and soul.
But the words of a Sadhu are as water;
Nectar comes through His words.
Now Kabir Sahib says that there is no greater sin than to speak to others
with bad words, or to hurt others. Sadhus are always cool and they
always speak very cool words. And to those who are speaking bad
words, to them also the Sadhus say, "Dear ones, speak sweetly." Two
pundits [learned men] once came into our Ashram arguing with our
Master. And they were speaking very harsh words, so Master said to
them, "Pundit Ji, at least have some coolness." And when Master spoke
this way with very much humility, both the pundits sat and became
quiet. And then they called me and said, "We have never heard such
sweet words as from your Satguru." And they told me that they wanted
to become disciples of my Master. But Master did not initiate them then;
He said, "When I come again on my next trip I will initiate you." Our
Master was so sweet.
The wound of a pointed weapon is easy to bear,
But to bear the wound of Shabd is difficult;
One who bears it is my Master.
Now Kabir Sahib says that to bear the wound of any pointed weapon is
very easy, but to bear the wound of Shabd is very difficult. Because one
who is hurt by the arrow of Shabd, he only knows how much wound he
is having. Kabir Sahib says that a man wounded in this way can never
live, because his medicine is only his Beloved. If he is meeting his
Beloved, only then he is alive; if he is not, then he dead.
In this small hymn, Kabir Sahib has shown us how we can save
ourselves from anger, and what a very bad fire it is. We can survive it
only when we make our soul free from the clutches of mind. All of us
should meditate and make our soul free from the clutches of mind. In
the beginning I told you that as long as our soul is below the third plane,
there is no question of surviving lust, anger, and all these evils.
The earth tolerates the digging, the forest bears the cutting;
Abuse is tolerated by the Sadhu; no one else can bear it.
Now Kabir Sahib gives a very beautiful example, that the earth has very
great powers of toleration: no matter how much it is dug into, it is never
complaining, it is very tolerant. And if you cut down a whole forest and
reduce it to small pieces of wood, then also it will never complain.
Similarly, Sadhus also have that great bearing strength. Only a Sadhu
can bear this kind of abuse.
I have tasted all the tastes of the world;
But the taste of tongue is supreme, if one knows how to use it.
Now Kabir Sahib says that he has tasted all the tastes of the world, but
the taste of tongue is supreme. Because when it is speaking very bad
words, there is nothing worse; and when it is speaking very sweetly, there
is nothing sweeter.
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