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rejected. But it must be understood that the insult produces anger only when the seed of anger is in man. But when the seeds of anger have been demolished then even a thousand insults cannot provoke him. In such people it is not easy to provoke anger. Any amount of effort taken to provoke anger may still be unsuccessful.
The equanimity of Sant Eknath
A saint of Maharashtra named Eknath was returning from a bath in the Godavari. A man was sitting in the balcony. When he saw the saint coming, he thought of making the saint angry. As the saint passed below his balcony, he spit on him. It fell on the saint. To cleanse it, the saint once again set off towards the river. He had a bath and once again passed below that balcony. The man spit once again and once again the saint went back to the river. This happened twenty times and yet the saint did not have even an iota of anger towards that man. The man was disheartened. In spite of such continuous effort he could not make the saint angry. He came down and fell at the saint's feet and said, “I have committed a great crime. Please forgive me.” The saint replied, "You have committed no crime. On the
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