Retold by DKM Kartha
काष्ठाद्यथाग्निरुत्पन्नः स्वाश्रयं दहति क्षणात्।
क्रोधाग्निर्देहजस्तद्वत्तमेव दहति ध्रुवम्॥
(Fire dormant in a log of wood leads to the starting of a spark and later to its own burning due to the vigorous friction between two pieces of wood (in a Yajn^a where the araNi device is used to create natural fire without the use of chemicals). In the same manner, the latent fire of anger born in the body-mind of a person burns up himself or herself if he or she allows anger to be ignited due to some external stimulus.)
Once Lord Kr^shna, SRee BalarAma (BhagavAn's brother), and SRee sAtyaki (a Yadu clan chieftain) had to spend the night in a forest after an adventure. As the night had no moonlight, there was no alternative. They could not walk home safely.
So they tied their horses to trees in a safe clearing, set up camp, and decided to take turns being the watchman, while the other two slept as the area was full of dangers of various sorts. SRee sAtyaki volunteered to stand guard in the first few hours of the night.
When BhagavAn and Lord BalarAma fell asleep, a small demonic being got off from a tree and challenged Chieftain sAtyaki to battle. The warrior took up the challenge as he was angered by the demon's taunting tone, and as the fight began, the demon started to grow in size.
This enlargement angered sAtyaki even more. He tried to defeat the demon, but in that unsuccessful process, he got wounded several times, and thus the first one third part of the night was finished and Lord BalarAma woke up and took sAtyaki's place to stand guard.
As sAtyaki was warning Lord BalarAma, the demon entered the scene again and this rude entry angered SRee BalarAma, who started to wrestle with the demon with growing rage at the skill of the demon. As BalarAma was the foremost wrestler of those times and guru to famous fighters including Prince duryOdhana, His pride was wounded and that increased His rage.
In proportion to BalarAma’s rage, the demon grew in size. And thus the second one-third part of the night was spent, when BhagavAn Himself woke up. The older brother told the younger brother all about the strange event and how he could not defeat the demon as the latter was growing in size by the minute.
When Lord Kr^shNa started to stand watch over the camp, the demon came out to challenge the hero as before. Instead of becoming angry, the Lord remained completely under self-control and just smiled at the demon and asked him in a tranquil voice why he wanted the unnecessary fight.
As the demon encountered BhagavAn, his size began to decrease in proportion to the calmness of Kr^shna. The more the demon tried to provoke Kr^shNa, the more BhagavAn smiled and watched the demon shrink in size until he was the size of a tiny worm.
In the morning, SRee Kr^shNa showed the other two a little worm writhing off to safety in the morning sun and He explained to them the secret of the happening:
"This was none other than the KROdhAsura -- the Demon of Anger. He gained strength from the anger in the two of you and grew large in size. In my case, his strategy did not work. I remained calm and only smiled at his taunts and challenges.
"My peacefulness drained him of his strength. I did not let him suck out energy from my anger, and thus, he lost in size and potency until he became as tiny as a worm. Look, there he is -- pathetically writhing in his own anger and moving away. And I have no anger at him. I just have pity and I am a bit amused by his unprovoked rage."
Thus it is that Lord BalarAma and Chieftain sAtyaki learnt an important lesson: Our anger only enhances the strength of the enemy. We should keep up our mental poise even in the face of a raging enemy. Self-control is the path to victory.