Disarming anger with love
Devotee: What is your opinion about the armed protection of life? Can I protect myself physically or can I say no, it is not my function and speak to Sai Baba? Do I pray for help or I can take my gun and shoot, for example. What is your philosophy?
Guru: I’ll answer it with an experience I had. Once there was a young man who came to the Ashram. I looked at him and I thought, “This is trouble,” because he had such aggression. Amazing aggression and so I asked him why.
He said, “I don’t like you. I want to beat you up.” I said “Really? Come round and I will give you an opportunity to do what you want.”
So he came round and I was sitting in the ladies’ room. I said, “Sit down,” and he sat down and said, “I dislike you immensely.” I looked at him and I said, “I love you immensely. I love you so much you cannot understand.” He said, “I want to beat you.” I said, “Be my guest.”
He was sitting there screaming at me and I said, “Why don’t you get up and beat me?” He said, “ I can’t get up, why can’t I get up?” I said, “Because I love you.”
What to do? So he sat there screaming for about fifteen to twenty minutes. I said to him, “Screaming won’t do any good.” Only when you love will you be able to get up. So he sat there and I could see his whole being. He was a young man, a redhead. His face was absolutely blue with anger, and I said, “Now, calm down, learn to love. You love and you will be free.”
The longer he waited the more his anger slowly subsided. He could feel that he was better. He looked at me and he said, “Do you think I can stand up now?” I said, “Yes because you have love in your heart.”
That love is the most powerful weapon. You have got a weapon that is more powerful than a gun. You can disarm people with love. He became such a devotee. He wouldn’t do anything without ringing me up. He used to call me up two or three times a week and if he found a new girlfriend he had to ring me to get my ideas and it went on for years. Love is the most powerful weapon a human being has.
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