________________
254 ]
[ The Chanda-Kaushika Gets A Blessed Life
We have never seen fire being extinguised by fire. On the contary, we know that it can be extinguished by water or by dust. In the same way,the internal fire of anger can be extinguished by means of love and forgiveness, and never by anger. For anger adds to its fierceness and makes it dreadfully dangerous. At the same time, a man cannot free himself from its effects even after his death; he has to undergo innumerable low births to suffer its consequences. Poison kills him who has taken it knowingly or unkowingly, but this cannot be said in the case of Anger. It kills not only that man who is under its influence, but it even destroys him who comes near it. One who gets angry without any cause, brings about his own ruin. A man, who is under the fit of anger, forgets himself and does not hesitate even to kill his elders and dear ones. And, in the last stage, when his anger takes the form of repentance and sorrow, he sometimes commits suicide. Anger makes a man weak physically, mentally and morally, and this weakness manifests itself on his face. No body should, therefore, try to revenge anger with anger. He who can wisely control anger is called ' glorious ' by wise people. He may assunie strictness at times, but his heart always remains as tender and delicate as butter. He tries to liberate the down-trodden with all his might. On the contrary, the principle of ' anger for anger 'gives rise to various kind of misdeeds and troubles. This is the reason why the Lord did not show any anger to the snake or reduce him to ashes by means of his pencial powers. He acted very wisely and pardoned him for his faults. Had he not acted in this way, the atheists of today might have found fault with his super-natural deeds.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
