A N G E R

(By Achala Bhakthan)

What is Anger?

When we meet with an opposition to our views from others, we get annoyed.  If some one disrespects or insults us, we feel insulted and ashamed and revolt against.  If some one hits us or causes some physical harm we feel the pain and as a result depict enmity towards him.  If we are denied what we expect to achieve, we get a feeling of failure and fight against. All these are the feelings generated within us which comes out as a negative reaction, which is harmful to us as well as others.   This feeling of insult, belittled, helplessness, failure or whatever you call it generates an instantaneous reaction in us which has negative effect.  This annoyance is called Anger.  This is the second durguna amongst the six durgunas called Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Matha & Matsarya.  All of us know this very well. 

Characteristics:

To answer this question, it is necessary to study the characteristics or nature of Anger.  What it does, how it generates and what effect it leaves etc. Let us see. Anger (Krodha) makes you revolt against something or some body including yourselves.  While angry, you get heat traveling through your nerves and feel blood boiling.  You lose your calm posture and shout at the peak of your voice and show quick, brisk and rough body languages.  Your eyes become red and you become trembling some times.  The words you speak get broken or you stammer.  You repeat a word or sentence many times to stress your point.  Your intellectual faculty gets crumbled and you lose your faculty of discrimination.  Your mental stability is lost and physically you are affected.  Thus, Anger is a negative force causing all sorts of disorders in your physical, mental  and intellectual spheres.  It is a negative guna because it is causing all sorts of disorders in you and even makes you mad temporarily, particularly in the eyes of onlookers.  We have seen that generation of heat at physical, mental and intellectual levels, loss of discrimination/wisdom, feeling of enmity to others, character degeneration are the characteristics of Anger.

Origin of Anger:

Have we thought about this?  What generates anger or wherefrom it originates and what is the cause?  A deep study into the above aspects will reveal to us that anger is not a permanent phenomenon and it has no place in our system.   It is a mere feeling of fear of insecurity, gemming out of negative thoughts caused by not only mere ignorance of the reality of the situation but a misunderstanding of the entire event.  This, you will agree, is, therefore, a mental status, which is temporary.  It is a negative force since it is harmful for physical, mental and intellectual dispositions as seen above.  It makes us mad and lose our normal faculties of BMI.  Thus, Anger has no permanent existence, nor has it any source.  It is only the effect of our own misunderstanding or non-understanding the real situation or event and a feeling of insecurity for ourselves.  It is, thus, a negative current at mental level as it is associated with thoughts and thoughts are the products of mind, which is nothing but a continuous flow of thoughts leaving some imprints in our intellect.  For argument-sake you can say Thought is the source of Anger.

How to overcome Anger?

Looking at the effects of anger as stated in the preceding paragraph, we know that it is not healthy to entertain anger.  But still, we become slave to it many a times in our life.  If allowed to overcome us, we will become a mad person at the end, since it has the power to cripple your intellectual power and overpower your mind and make you an animal-man.  It will slowly eat your health by making you a man of blood pressure, diabetic, heart ailment, nervous disorders, impatient in nature and un-natural in behaviour and finally unaccepted by society.  These are the after-effects if you allow the anger to overpower you.  Therefore, what is the remedy?  Avoid becoming angry at any cost and at any situation.   How is it possible and what is the way to avoid Anger?

  ( i) Preventive mechanism::

       Learn to keep equipoise of mind.  Analyse each situation and try to correctly understand the reality of the situation.  Avoid misunderstanding.   Guard against ill feelings against others and yourselves.  Never allow feeling of insecurity to conquer you.  Have faith in a power higher than you for which you must learn the scriptural proclamations, which are true. Practice daily discipline through some sadhana or yoga at physical and mental levels, prescribed by our scriptures.  Develop a discipline for your own life-style to be followed daily.  Make it your ritual and do it at any cost.  Learn to calm the mind (or make it take rest) by giving it a direction as a daily routine like keeping silence at physical, mental and intellectual levels (I mean concentration, meditation, contemplation on higher ideals etc.).  The Mind is the cause of all thoughts and feelings and it is better to go to the root and solve the problem.  Once you discipline the mind, have a high ideal in life  and have a firm determination to follow your own discipline as stated above, the mind is well regulated and will not entertain negative thoughts and will discard such thoughts when they arise.  The above is a generalized tonic, having the strength of a ‘preventive medicine’.  It helps you, in course of time by practice, to overcome anger permanently and have a peaceful life.

   (ii) Curative Mechanism:

       In contrast to the above mechanism, this process is giving you a method to cure the disease whenever it arises.  When you become angry, look at the anger and question

       a) what it is      b) where it is coming from     c) what it does

       d) what is the effect on you   e) is it advantageous to entertain etc.

        In this process, you are looking at it directly.  What will happen?  Let us study the well-known example of a mischievous child playing with its play-tools.  It is looking at each and inspecting it from all angles and trying to dislodge the components by pulling and breaking.  Why?  It is using the faculty of research-mind.  We find fault with the child saying it is breaking the tools.  We are wrong.  Whenever a new thing comes, one should always analyse and understand it by self-experience.  That is what the child is doing and which the right way.  It may destroy the tool but we can give it another till it finds that by doing so it breaks the tools and it will try to make research as to how to re-make it.  This is strength and a positive attitude.   Any way, instead of reprimanding it, ignore it but look at it sharply without any facial expression.  Do not take off your eye from it.  It will feel guilty and slowly will try to come near you and try to pacify you by gesticulations, pleading, sitting on your lap and still when you ignore it, it will get tired and will sleep on your lap.  Similarly when you observe the feeling or thought of Anger, it behaves like the child.  But, when you observe it you should do so without getting attached to it, without sitting over judgment at that moment.  Just ignore the feeling and look at it.  Like the child, the anger will subside.

       If this is hard to practice, another way is just anchor your mind on another object.  Concentrate on a role model, a picture of your liking, a God’s image or chant a Mantra by counting the number of repetitions, thus forcing your mind to concentrate on the new objective.  This is what is prescribed by our ritualistic practices and is called Mantra Chanting, Contemplation on an objective exclusive of all other things, Meditation, Concentration, etc. etc.  But, please beware.  This is only temporary.  Once the anger goes, the mind will wander again and entertain angry and other feelings again and again.  You will have to follow this practice every time you become angry.  This is a curative mechanism.

        It is for you to choose the best method suited to your nature and character.  One thing is certain, you will have to guard against this negative feeling of Anger and win over it for ever to lead a peaceful and long life.

In conclusion, let me expand the alphabets in this word as follows:

Anti-Natural Guna Exemplified Ravages

Now it is for you to conclude whether you should entertain and nourish Anger or win over it – temporarily or permanently.  I do not want to condemn Anger.  It is for each of you to own it or disown it.   May you have the wisdom to choose the right course of action as far  as Anger is concerned?