(Adapted from New Year lecture 2008 of Swami Paramarthananda )
Anger is a natural human
emotion and is referred to as krodha in our scriptures. It is always talked in conjunction with
desire referred to as kama, in our scriptures. Anger is universal and even sages and Gods in purana
are no exception as we see in the case of Sage Durvasa and Lord
Siva. It is a powerful emotion that can overcome
one, suddenly coming up in an unexpected manner and growing uncontrollable. That is why Lord
Krishna classifies it as Asuri Sampath, demonic quality, and its
opposite akrodha, not getting angry even under provocation, as Daivi
Sampath, divine quality.
Anger arises more as a
reaction, emotional, physical or psychological to an unmanageable situation and
the impulsive response it invokes is an involuntary confession of one’s
inability to handle the situation. It lets the other person or event to take control
of one’s reactions or emotions. Sometimes one seeks release from it by aggressive
acts like breaking or throwing things, punching, screaming and shouting abuses.
Though one may regret the loss of temper and apologise for the behaviour later,
the damage done cannot be repaired that easily and sometimes may last one’s
life-time. That is why Lord Krishna
names krodha as one of the three doors to hell along with kama
and lobha, greed, in Gita (16-21).
Scriptures uniformly look upon anger as a serious problem
of mind
since anger cripples the mind and becomes a handicap in achieving one’s goal,
spiritual and material, as it destroys the cardinal virtues of
discrimination, sensitivity, and equanimity. Lord Krishna describes in Gita
(2-63) how anger can lead to one’s fall through temporary loss of
the power of discrimination, Viveka.
क्रोधाद्à¤à¤µà¤¤ि
संमोहः संमोहात्स्मृतिविà¤्रमः। (Krodhaad bhavati sammohah sammohaat smriti vibhramah;)
स्मृतिà¤्रंशाद्
बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति।। (Smritibhramshaad buddhinaasho buddhinaashaat pranashyati.)
From anger comes delusion; from delusion the loss of memory; from loss of
memory the destruction of discrimination; from the destruction of
discrimination he perishes.
It is the power to
discriminate, that marks out a human being from an animal. A famous verse
states that in matters of hunger, sleep and sexual urge human beings and
animals act similar and only through the exercise of discriminative power human
beings distinguish themselves from animals. Further in anger the reaction is
almost instantaneous and impulsive and intellect has little time to analyse and
advise. Second important casualty in anger is sensitivity, Sukshmatvam. One becomes gross and feels violence, verbal and even physical, as a just solution to the problem and tries to
solve problems through physical and verbal violence (inclusive of body language
and facial reaction) only to suffer remorse later. Puranas portray instances where rishis curse
in anger and lose the benefit of years of penance. Third important casualty is
equanimity, Samathvam. Lord Krishna
describes Samathvam itself as Yoga in Gita (2-48). Anger is marked by mental agitation even in
mild instances and loss of mental poise leads to negativity and buddhinasa,
if not arrested initially.
If we analyze the cause of
anger, we find attachment as one of them.
When we are attached to a person our expectation from that person is
also high and when they disappoint us by failing our expectations, we get angry.
More the expectation, greater the anger.
This we can see in the family, especially with regard to one’s children. Another reason is hurt ego. When we feel
slighted or ignored, real or imaginary, we feel upset and angry. Added to that, if we are suffering from a
complex, superior or inferior, the problem becomes frequent and aggravated. Physical and mental weakness also contribute
to the mental instability; one due to lack of
physical energy and the other due to poor understanding, both robbing
one of reason and thereby making one easily irritable and agitated.
Having seen what causes
anger and what harm one’s anger does to oneself, let us see how it can be overcome. First we should recognize that we have the problem
of uncontrolled anger and keep ourselves aware of the consequential damage to
our personal, social and official life and then, instead of finding scapegoats
in others or in the situations, sincerely take efforts to change at our end by
taking the following steps:
1. To deliberately
cultivate the opposite positive qualities of patience and tolerance to counter
the negative emotion of anger as the degree of anger is inversely proportional
to the level of tolerance.
2. To cultivate
the virtue of Titiksha described as equanimity of the mind with regard
to the attainment of the desirable and the undesirable (samachittatvam ishtaanishtopapattishu.) in Gita (13-9).
3. To
make a resolve unto ourselves that we will not get angry, under any circumstances,
irrespective of the provocation and keep repeating daily this resolve as an
auto-suggestion and also reinforce the resolve by keeping a journal of the
moments of anger with our comments. This journal can help
to achieve reduction of frequency in the incidence of anger and also of the intensity of anger, as and when we lapse into it.
4. To seek
the grace of God through regular, sincere prayer for the blessing of increased
tolerance and Titiksha.
-----------------------------
Anger arises more as a
reaction, emotional, physical or psychological to an unmanageable situation and
the impulsive response it invokes is an involuntary confession of one’s
inability to handle the situation. It lets the other person or event to take control
of one’s reactions or emotions. Sometimes one seeks release from it by aggressive
acts like breaking or throwing things, punching, screaming and shouting abuses.
Though one may regret the loss of temper and apologise for the behaviour later,
the damage done cannot be repaired that easily and sometimes may last one’s
life-time. That is why Lord Krishna
names krodha as one of the three doors to hell along with kama
and lobha, greed, in Gita (16-21).
Scriptures uniformly look upon anger as a serious problem
of mind
since anger cripples the mind and becomes a handicap in achieving one’s goal,
spiritual and material, as it destroys the cardinal virtues of
discrimination, sensitivity, and equanimity. Lord Krishna describes in Gita
(2-63) how anger can lead to one’s fall through temporary loss of
the power of discrimination, Viveka.
क्रोधाद्à¤à¤µà¤¤ि
संमोहः संमोहात्स्मृतिविà¤्रमः। (Krodhaad bhavati sammohah sammohaat smriti vibhramah;)
स्मृतिà¤्रंशाद्
बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति।। (Smritibhramshaad buddhinaasho buddhinaashaat pranashyati.)
From anger comes delusion; from delusion the loss of memory; from loss of
memory the destruction of discrimination; from the destruction of
discrimination he perishes.
It is the power to
discriminate, that marks out a human being from an animal. A famous verse
states that in matters of hunger, sleep and sexual urge human beings and
animals act similar and only through the exercise of discriminative power human
beings distinguish themselves from animals. Further in anger the reaction is
almost instantaneous and impulsive and intellect has little time to analyse and
advise. Second important casualty in anger is sensitivity, Sukshmatvam. One becomes gross and feels violence, verbal and even physical, as a just solution to the problem and tries to
solve problems through physical and verbal violence (inclusive of body language
and facial reaction) only to suffer remorse later. Puranas portray instances where rishis curse
in anger and lose the benefit of years of penance. Third important casualty is
equanimity, Samathvam. Lord Krishna
describes Samathvam itself as Yoga in Gita (2-48). Anger is marked by mental agitation even in
mild instances and loss of mental poise leads to negativity and buddhinasa,
if not arrested initially.
If we analyze the cause of
anger, we find attachment as one of them.
When we are attached to a person our expectation from that person is
also high and when they disappoint us by failing our expectations, we get angry.
More the expectation, greater the anger.
This we can see in the family, especially with regard to one’s children. Another reason is hurt ego. When we feel
slighted or ignored, real or imaginary, we feel upset and angry. Added to that, if we are suffering from a
complex, superior or inferior, the problem becomes frequent and aggravated. Physical and mental weakness also contribute
to the mental instability; one due to lack of
physical energy and the other due to poor understanding, both robbing
one of reason and thereby making one easily irritable and agitated.
Having seen what causes
anger and what harm one’s anger does to oneself, let us see how it can be overcome. First we should recognize that we have the problem
of uncontrolled anger and keep ourselves aware of the consequential damage to
our personal, social and official life and then, instead of finding scapegoats
in others or in the situations, sincerely take efforts to change at our end by
taking the following steps:
1. To deliberately
cultivate the opposite positive qualities of patience and tolerance to counter
the negative emotion of anger as the degree of anger is inversely proportional
to the level of tolerance.
2. To cultivate
the virtue of Titiksha described as equanimity of the mind with regard
to the attainment of the desirable and the undesirable (samachittatvam ishtaanishtopapattishu.) in Gita (13-9).
3. To
make a resolve unto ourselves that we will not get angry, under any circumstances,
irrespective of the provocation and keep repeating daily this resolve as an
auto-suggestion and also reinforce the resolve by keeping a journal of the
moments of anger with our comments. This journal can help
to achieve reduction of frequency in the incidence of anger and also of the intensity of anger, as and when we lapse into it.
4. To seek
the grace of God through regular, sincere prayer for the blessing of increased
tolerance and Titiksha.
-----------------------------
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