Self-Correction

Sri Annamalai Swami

Bhagavan taught that one should reform oneself rather than find fault with others. In practical terms this means that one should find the source of one's own mind rather than make complaints about other people's minds and actions. I can remember a typical reply that B gave on this subject.

A devotee, who was quite intimate with B, asked him, 'Some of the devotees who live with B behave very strangely. They seem to do many things that B does not approve of. Why does B not correct them?"

B: Correcting oneself is correcting the whole world. The sun is simply bright. It does not correct anyone. Because it shines the whole world is full of light. Transforming yourself is a means of giving light to the whole world.

Once, while I was sitting in the hall, someone complained to B about one of the devotees who was sitting there: 'He is not meditating here, he is just sleeping.'

B: How do you know? Only because you yourself gave up your meditation to look at him. First see yourself and don't concern yourself with other people's habits. 

B sometimes used to say: 'Some people who come here have two aims: they want Bhagavan to be perfect and they want the ashram to be perfect. To achieve this goal they make all kinds of complaints and suggestions. They don't come here to correct themselves, they only come here to correct others. These people don't seem to remember the reason why they came to Bhagavan in the first place. If they do one namaskaram to us they think that the ashram is then their kingdom. Such people think that we ought to behave like their slaves, only doing whatever they think we ought to do.'