STEER ASIDE

 
There is a ... good illustration of the nature of anger given by the Perfect Master Ramakrishna. He was from the area around Calcutta and the Ganges flowed by his ashram. One day Ramakrishna was standing by the river with his disciples and, pointing to a boat moving upstream, he gave this parable on anger.

The boatman rowing upstream sees another boat, far off, moving downstream towards him. He shouts. "Hey, watch out! Change your course, look out!" But the boat continues to rush towards him and, as it comes closer, he sees that there is nobody in the boat. Now is he going to continue to yell at the boat to change its course? No, he is simply going to change his own course and steer around the onrushing boat.

Ramakrishna said, "The one who is angry is like a boat which has no captain. When you see there is no captain, steer away. Don't stand and throw words back at the boat in anger. Steer aside. Otherwise neither boat has a captain."