Because your eyes are directed outward, you will be able to find the faults in others only, but you will not be able to find the fault in your own nature. Here is a small story.
During the summer season, in places round about Nagpur, water will be very scarce. Things might have improved now but in the old days, things were very bad. An orthodox old Brahmin lady set out on a pilgrimage. She was so orthodox that she did not touch anything or any one and she did not permit anyone to touch her. She started on a pilgrimage with such an orthodox mentality.
By the time she reached Nagpur, she felt that the weather was very hot. She turned on the water taps but not a drop of water came out of them. Her thirst increased. The Government made some arrangement in that station for supply of water. The skin of an animal was used to make a bag. They filled water in such bags and supplied that water to the thirsty people. When several people were drinking the water that was served from that bag of leather, the lady, though she was thirsty, was hesitating in her mind whether the man who was serving the water may belong to a low caste, the bag may not be pure and may not have been cleaned well and so on. She was hesitating to take the water.
After much hesitation, the lady who could not suppress her thirst, went forward. She questioned the man who was serving the water. "My dear sir, is this bag pure? Is it clear?" The man who was serving the water was clever. He said, "The bag of leather from which water is being served is cleaner than the bag into which that water will be poured after service, namely, your body. This bag is cleaner than your interior."
Today we are cultivating this undesirable tendency of looking at the impurity of the bag but not caring to remove the impurity from within our own body.
(From the Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)
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