Do Not Find Faults With Others

Sri Annamalai Swami

Bhagavan knew that Chinnaswami (B's younger brother, the Sarvadhikari at that time) was causing me a lot of trouble but he discouraged me from making any complaints. 

In one of the incidents Chinnaswami asked me to throw some stones at a dog and chase it away from the ashram. I didn't want to punish a harmless dog so I went to B and told him, "Chinnaswami is asking me to throw stones at this innocent dog." 

B surprised me by backing up his brother: 'If you cook some food and keep it in your house, and a dog comes near, are you not entitled to chase it away before it steals the food?'

B was always kind to animals. If he had seen a devotee throwing stones at a harmless dog he would probably have rebuked him. He gave this reply to me merely to show that he disapproved of devotees bringing complaints to him.

When devotees did bring complaints to him, he would generally criticize them for doing so. This did not mean that he approved of the action of whoever had caused the complaint. It merely meant that he disapproved of devotees who found fault with other people.

I cannot remember what my final complaint was but B's reply on that occassion clearly showed his attitude towards complaints and complainers.

He began by saying, 'In practical matters it is inevitable that some differences will arise. Don't get disturbed by them.'

Then He asked me, 'What did you come to this ashram for?'

I replied, 'I have read in a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, that if the mind is pure, it becomes the Self. I want to keep my mind clean so that I can realize the Self. I have come here only for this purpose.' 

'Isn't seeing the defects of others feeding the mind?' asked B.

As a final act of contrition I prostrated to B and told him, 'From now on I shall not complain about anyone again.'

I kept my word: in all the succeeding years I never once took a complaint to B about another devotee.