Golden Steps To Salvation

Author(s): Padmasagarsuri
Publisher: Arunoday Foundation

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account of the harm done by his anger he cannot attain fullness in his life.
A certain woman was going through a bazaar with her daughter, aged six years. On the way, there was a balloon-seller. The girl asked her mother to buy her some balloons. The price of a balloon was ten paise. The mother had a ten-rupee note with her. The balloonseller did not have change with him. The mother said to her daughter, “Dear daughter, I do not have change with me. I have only a ten-rupee note. We shall buy balloons later." How could the child understand the mother's helplessness? She had been fascinated by the colourful balloons. She thought that the mother was pleading a pretext to save money and so the child obstinately kept asking for balloons. The mother became angry and beat her. The girl fell on the road and was run over by a car. The child became permanently crippled.
You stop your car when you see the signal given by the traffic policeman but Lord Mahavir's message is:
नो कुज्झे
No kuije. Do not get angry.
-सुत्रकृतांगसूत्र
Sūtrakritānga Sutra Even after hearing this message you cannot check your anger. Do you think that a traffic policeman is more important than the Lord Himself ? Think about it.
Let me illustrate by means of an example how a wise man exercises control over his anger.
This incident took place in America. There was a Professor who was very short-tempered. For every small thing he used to get angry. On account of this habit of his he had no peace of mind. Once he was delivering a lecture on the subject of controlling anger but he himself had no control over his anger. He told a friend of his