Anger

[Guest guest]

A devotee at a satsang recently said that Amma said we should pour our anger

out at God, rather than on others, because God can handle it. (a poor

paraphrase if a divine quote, I'm sure. If anyone has a better version,

please share it with us.)

[Guest guest]

Dear Amma's Darlings,

 

As Usha mentioned, Amma never identifies with Her anger. She is a supreme

witness to everything. The anger is just a mask, and we, who are in the

world of duality, feel that She has got angry the same way as we do. Also,

every action of Amma is out of love for the disciples, and She has said more

than once that it is Her scoldings, more than Her love, which remove the

vasanas in the brahmacharis. In Eternal Wisdom-I, when one of the

brahmacharis apologises to Amma for making Her angry in the past, the

response from Amma is "Was it not out of Her love for you that She spoke to

you so sternly at that time, son?".

 

Jagadheep

 

>The Gita verse was III, 37. I'll post more, maybe tonight. Regarding gurus

>getting angry, in light of the "blocked desire" explanation for anger: The

>guru is cosmic intelligence incarnate; God in human form. It is the desire

>of cosmic intelligence that everything evolve. If the disciple, who has

>submitted himself to the guru, behaves in ways contrary to the force of

>evolution (God's/Guru's will), then the "desire" of God/guru (the cosmic

>force of evolution) is blocked, and that collision of desire with opposing

>force results in anger, in this case "cosmic" anger. It's not individual,

>egocentric anger based on need and weakness and lack. It's the grace of God

>helping to rid the individual of impediments to his enlightenment.

>

>That's my take on why Amma, Maharishi, and other gurus "get" angry.

 

_______________________

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[Guest guest]

--- Kenna <ammaskenna wrote:

> A devotee at a satsang recently said that Amma said

> we should pour our anger

> out at God, rather than on others, because God can

> handle it. >

 

 

This must be true -- I've been told that Amma has

counseled certain devotees who were struggling with

anger to throw their Amma dolls across the room!

 

I heard this at a time when I was literally making

myself sick holding in my anger. I guess I felt anger

was unholy, and was therefore denying and repressing

it. Hearing what Amma had advised helped me understand

that She knows we often need to release anger, but in

a way that does not harm others.

 

So I did some martial arts-style exercises, imagining

that I was throwing the anger off. I asked Amma to

take the anger...soon enough, that prayer was

answered, and my daily, almost-debilitating headaches

were gone.

 

Thanks to all for your insights. Although I don't

write frequently, please know that I treasure this

satsang, and learn so much from everyone.

 

In Amma's love,

Amala

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear Fellow Path Trodders,

 

I've been wanting to join this chain about anger for about a week now, but

the busy-ness of everyday life has kept me too busy to do so.

 

When the topic of conversation turns to anger, I usually have an opinion. I

grew up with a mother who had a lot of frustrated desires in her life and

expressed it as anger towards us children. This anger in turn, got

internalized by us and it took many years for me to learn what to do with it

(only through the spiritual path from Catholicism to Anglicanism to

Self-Realization Fellowship to Amma. Until I came to Amma, while I was

always a caring person, but I still had this anger inside that could flare

up at an appropriate or inappropriate time. Towards the latter part of

those years, I very strongly wanted to be rid of all that anger so I prayed

a lot about it and through meditation primarily I began to shed the layers

of anger one by one - like an onion skin. Not that I am perfect now, my

tendency towards angering quickly is still there, but doesn't appear nearly

as often.

 

Personally, I believe the sadhana, the seva, giving to charity all the

practices Amma talks about help to heal the anger. Amma's love and grace

heal the anger.

 

A couple of thoughts came to mind from listening to the swami talks over the

past few years. I have heard at least one of them say that anger is very

destructive - its ultimate expression is insanity. At first I thought that

was a strong way of putting it, but I thought about it and yes, when we're

talking about that kind of rage that takes on a life of its own, insanity

follows. Just look at the assassinations that have taken place in America -

like in the 1960s. Or there's the man who got so angry at a motorist that

committed some minor infraction here on a Bay Area road a year ago that he

took the dog out of the person's car and threw it out onto the highway.

Fortunately the dog survived. When I heard the swami say that it made a

deep impression.

 

Swamiji Amritaswarupananda brought up another related point at a talk I

heard about a year ago. He said that once we start getting closer to the

Master, he or she won't show any mercy to the ego, as others have pointed

out in previous emails on this subject. Turmoil in us, he said is a good

sign. It is hard, said Swamiji, to be around an enlightened master. It

appears to us that we get unwarranted "kicks" by the master. However, in

these terms, the more kicks we get, in a sense, the more she loves us.

 

Swamiji said the best way to deal with anger is to slowly start being aware

of our feelings. Eventually you get to a point where you start to notice it

coming - there's a moment BEFORE it actually takes over. After some time of

observing ourselves quietly, we will be able to witness the feelings and let

them pass on by. I have tried doing this and it works for me.

 

Regarding social injustice, that's a toughie. We are not made of stone.

Witnessing someone being racially profiled on the streets or being beat up

for how you look or talk - the tendency is to feel angry. That is normal.

However, I believe that I want to turn that anger into action - use it as a

catalyst to get involved with social justice groups, and most importantly,

when people around the office, or relatives are talking to you, you can

explain your point of view to them in a clear way. We all influence others

every day and in that way we can maybe help re-direct people's opinions on

some social issues that are very important to us. Anger that motivates me

is positive. Anger that rises up to become rage to me can be very

destructive.

 

Thank you for letting me share,

 

In Amma's Grace,

 

Amritanand

 

 

Kenna [ammaskenna]

Friday, April 06, 2001 10:28 PM

Ammachi

Anger

 

 

A devotee at a satsang recently said that Amma said we should pour our anger

out at God, rather than on others, because God can handle it. (a poor

paraphrase if a divine quote, I'm sure. If anyone has a better version,

please share it with us.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aum Amriteswarayai Namaha!

 

Ammachi

 

 

Your use of is subject to

[Guest guest]

Om Namah Shivaya, Brianna -

In addition to the great advice everyone else has given you,

I highly recommend you give yourself some time to process

and release the anger in an appropriate way. If you try to

supress it, it may come out in the physical body or in other

indirect ways that aren't healthy.

 

Journaling your feelings can be helpful - I have heard Amma

say that it's helpful to talk about your feelings, so talk to your

journal. What I think is most helpful and powerful, for me at

least, is doing artwork. Drawing, painting, whatever. Let it

be expressed that way. Put the energy into the paper, rather

than yourself or the world. If you combine this with the

journaling, it will likely give you understanding as to why this

is coming up, and it will help you release the energies so that

you are not carrying them around inside, or at least as much.

 

You will probably find that over time, the artwork will

transform of itself, and the anger will begin to change into

some other creative energy. Please do not supress it... but

find the appropriate means for releasing it.

Blessings,

Achintya

[Guest guest]

Thich Nhat Hanh gave a public talk at the Riverside Church, New York, New York

on September 25, 2001. Mr. Hanh closed the talk as follows:

My Dear friends, I would like to tell you how I practice when I get angry.

During the war in Vietnam, there was a lot of injustice, and many thousands,

including friends of mine, many disciples of mine, were killed. I got very

angry. One time I learned that the city of Ben Tre was bombarded by American

aviation. And the city was destroyed. The military man who was responsible for

that declared later that he had to destroy the city of Ben Tre to save it. I was

very angry.

 

 

No, I am not crying.

I hold my face in my two hands.

To keep my loneliness warm

Two hands, protecting,

Two hands, nourishing,

Two hands preventing

My soul from leaving me in anger.

 

 

To My Fellow Struggling Souls,

 

G4M

 

Connie Habash <Connie wrote:

Om Namah Shivaya, Brianna -

In addition to the great advice everyone else has given you,

I highly recommend you give yourself some time to process

and release the anger in an appropriate way. If you try to

supress it, it may come out in the physical body or in other

indirect ways that aren't healthy.

 

Journaling your feelings can be helpful - I have heard Amma

say that it's helpful to talk about your feelings, so talk to your

journal. What I think is most helpful and powerful, for me at

least, is doing artwork. Drawing, painting, whatever. Let it

be expressed that way. Put the energy into the paper, rather

than yourself or the world. If you combine this with the

journaling, it will likely give you understanding as to why this

is coming up, and it will help you release the energies so that

you are not carrying them around inside, or at least as much.

 

You will probably find that over time, the artwork will

transform of itself, and the anger will begin to change into

some other creative energy. Please do not supress it... but

find the appropriate means for releasing it.

Blessings,

Achintya

 

 

 

Aum Amriteswarayai Namaha!

 

 

 

Ammachi/

 

Ammachi

 

 

 

 

 

 

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