Personality development thro’ Gita – 5 Anger

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Personality development thro' Gita – 5 Anger

 

An Angry man knows no reason.

 

Madduri Rajya Sri

 

Here is a conversation between two neighbours. Gokul

`Hari, I always hear laughter from your house. If you don't mind

my curiosity I would like to ask you one question! How can your couple be so

friendly? Don't you ever fight?'

 

Hari laughed at the question and said, `Who said we

don't fight? We fight between ourselves more than any other couple.

My wife has the habit of throwing things at me whenever we fight.

If the thing hits me she laughs at me. If it doesn't hit me, I laugh

at her. As simple as that!'

 

But how many of us treat our fight as simple as that? We are

irritated at the slightest provocation, we are angry at the silliest excuse and

we fight at the smallest cause! We don't reason out for a minute the aftermath

of our anger.

 

These lines describe the fateful step-by-step descent of

potentially noble man down the ladder of temptation into ruin.

 

krodhad bhavati sammohah

 

sammohat smriti-vibhramah

 

smriti-bhramsad buddhi-naso

 

buddhi-nasat pranasyati

 

 

Bhagavadgita 2- 63

 

Synonyms

 

krodhat—from anger; bhavati—takes place; sammohah—perfect

delusion; sammohat - from delusion; hypnosis smriti—of memory;

vibhramah—bewilderment; smriti-bhramsat—after bewilderment of

memory; buddhi-nasah—loss of intelligence; buddhi-nasat—and from

loss of intelligence; pranasyati—one falls down.

 

Translation

 

From anger, complete delusion arises, and from delusion bewilderment of memory.

When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost, and when

intelligence is lost one falls down.

 

Anger leads to a dazed-state. Dazed state is like being

hypnotized. One who is hypnotized doesn't know what is truth what

is falsehood. This state destroys his intelligence. He forgets the good deeds

done by the other person in his anger. When he forgets this, he loses his

reasoning power. When he loses his reasoning power, he is as good as dead. It

is because this reasoning power alone differentiates man from the other

creatures.

 

Even according to science, ten minutes of anger disturbs the body

for a few hours. On the contrary ten minutes of laughter keeps the body fit for

a few hours. This is one facet of anger. If it disturbs only the angered man,

it may be a lesser evil. But it disturbs the mental peace of the others around

him. An irritable man gets irritated at the slightest opportunity, bangs the

person involved, forgets it the next minute after his downpour. If he is a good

man, he may even apologise later. But imagine the plight of the sufferer. He

will never forget it for the rest of his life.

 

Sanjay, a twelve-year boy, fought with everyone around

almost the whole day. The father had to apologise on his behalf to the

neighbours all the time. Once the father hit upon a plan. He called his son

and said, `Look, my son. I won't tell you to cool down. You carry on! But every

time you fight with somebody, hit a nail to this wall.' The son asked why, but

the father asked him to wait for a few days. The son agreed. The very first

day, he had to drive atleast 10 nails into the wall. Within a week the wall was

more than half filled with nails! The boy was surprised at his own anger and

expressed the same to his father. The father said, `Now that you have realised

the intensity of your anger, see that you reduce it gradually. I won't ask you

to give it up totally, but try to control it.! Sanjay was convinced of the

argument. Slowly he learned to control himself. Initially if he was angry ten

times, it came down to five times and so on and so forth. Finally he had a

mastery over his mind and he gave up anger totally. Then his father asked him

to remove all the nails. He did accordingly, but the holes continued to remain.

The wall could not regain its original beauty. The father explained, `Even if

you forget your anger, people who are victims to it, continue to remain

offended. They cannot be friendly with you with the same tempo.'

 

That's why our elders said, you can take back one step

you put forward, but you cannot take back one word you put forth. The

damage is done in a split second.

 

Joseph was the only lonely son of a millionaire. Whatever Joseph

wanted, nay whatever Joseph liked, that was in his lap next minute as a surprise

gift. He never had to express `Dad' please buy that.' Just a word of praise of

any item was a sign for the father. This custom continued till his 21st

birthday. On that birthday he expected his father to surprise him with Mercedes

Benz car since he spoke about it two, three times to his father of late. He gave

furtive glances at the portico, but no trace of a car! His father greeted him at

the breakfast table and handed over a brand new Bible. The boy was so angry,

he threw the Bible to the floor and without uttering a single word, walked out

of the father's life. After three years, his father died and he had to come back

home to settle financial matters. As he was looking through the files, he came

across the Bible he threw away.

 

Recollecting the scene, he was going through the pages. He found a

cheque in it. It was Rs.50 lakh cheque given to him by his father to

help him fulfil his desire! Tears rolled down his cheeks -but it was

too late. The loss was irreparable. Could he get back his father? The son

could not reason out, in his anger, something else was yet to come and that his

father wouldn't give him such a simple gift!

 

Joseph's anger arose from his obsession for his car,

which stopped his reasoning power and which drove out his intelligence. The

result was he suffered and made his father suffer!

 

A man with a cheerful countenance carries the sunshine of happiness

with him. An angry man causes harm to his body, keeps others on tenterhooks. He

suffers and makes others suffer.

 

Gardiner that says only a vulgar mind will command a thing when he

can get it done with willingness and love for a mere asking.

 

All the same sometimes we cannot get things done unless we display

our anger. In other words an expression of anger is required but not a feeling

of anger. Sri Paramahamsa Yogananda of Y.S.S explains this beautifully. He

states, " Righteous indignation may inspire a man to extra ordinary efforts to

right some wrong. A righteous anger employs reasonable and constructive methods

for the attainment of good end.

 

Anger knows no reason

 

Rightful anger knows no wrong.

 

M Rajya Sri

 

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