“There
is no disease equal to greed,
No enemy equal to anger,
No misery like poverty
No joy equal to wisdom”
We
often experience feelings of annoyance, helplessness, sadness, etc. when things
go wrong, and then we begin to think, "Why did this happen to me? What have
I done to deserve this? " When
this occurs, we may begin to feel angry that such a thing could happen.
In
order to feel angry we must blame someone or something. We choose something
outside of ourselves and make it the culprit. By blaming the culprit, we make
ourselves the victim. As the victim, we become angry that the culprit has done
something to interfere in our lives. In this state of anger, we no longer need
to accept responsibility for what is happening, because it is their fault.
Anger
obscures our mind and makes our everyday life unhappy. It can cause physical
harm and even endanger one’s life. Anger transforms even a beautiful person
into something ugly and terrifying. What was happy, peaceful, and beautiful
completely changes and becomes dark, ugly, terrifying. The pain of anger is like
burning red-hot coals in your heart.
Anger
is extremely harmful. You don't even need to think about the harm that arises
from anger in future lives; just think of the danger anger causes in this life.
In this life alone, your anger continuously harms so many beings. Once anger
expresses itself in words it may lead to endless complications and problems
later on.
THE
FOUR TYPES OF ANGER
“The
anger of a good person is like writing on water; it is not at all permanent. The
anger of the second category of person is like writing on sand, it will be
washed away, one moment or another. The third type of person's anger is
something like writing on stone. Over a long period of time it too will be
eroded away. But the anger of the fourth type of person is like writing on a
steel plate, it will never go away unless you melt it and cast it anew. Only
when you put it into the fire will it get destroyed. Only through intense
transformation is there any possibility of changing it.”
There
is no enemy equal to anger. The life principle in everyone is the same. The
entire creation is one mansion. The relationship between members of the entire
humanity is like that of various members of a single family. Hatred and anger
are the source of all feelings of division. What causes problems and obstacles
in life? What causes the many internal and external obstacles to your spiritual
practice? Buddha taught that no matter where you live,
it is a place of suffering; no matter what enjoyment you have, it is the
enjoyment of suffering; no matter what friend you accompany, it is the friend of
suffering
Baba
says, Anger is born of
desire and desire arises from thoughts. Therefore, thoughts alone are
responsible for both desire and anger. Just as you cannot get cloth without
thread and thread without cotton, you cannot get anger without desire and desire
without thoughts. Only when you can still your thoughts will you be able to
overcome desires, and only after you have controlled your desires will you be
able to conquer anger. Therefore, the first step in conquering desires and anger
is to become free of the thought process.
If you
make some effort to control anger when it arises, these efforts will act to
strengthen your body and purify your mind.
The moment you become aware that anger is rising within you, just laugh
very loudly, drink a glass of cool water, have a cool bath and relax in a cool
place. The moment anger comes it is most helpful to leave the place where you
are and go somewhere else. If with all these measures you still have not been
able to control your anger, then stand in front of a mirror and examine your
face. After seeing your appearance you will surely feel so much disgust that at
once you will be able to control your anger.
Stilling
the mind is an essential practice for devotees. Thoughts are charged with energy
and life. They can even be stronger than the strongest matter. You begin
thinking right from the moment of birth. For most people, it is impossible to
remain without any thoughts at all. But, at least, when dark thoughts arise you
can do something about it. Do not harbour them. Give them no shelter.
One
other thing you can do whenever anger comes is to inquire into the cause of this
anger. Is it justified? Try not to let your tongue go into action immediately
after you get angry and spill out a torrent of angry words. Take some time to
think things over. Sometimes there may be some difficulty in distinguishing good
from bad. The real distinction is not in outer appearances and labels but in the
inner purity and intentions. Even if you feel that your anger is justifiable and
you are protecting the truth, you will still have to learn how to express that
truth in a sweet and acceptable way that would be received by the other person
without hurting him in any way. Therefore, every devotee must learn to control
his anger by developing and saturating his heart with love.
IMPORTANCE
OF SATHWIC FOOD
The
material making up your thoughts is extremely subtle; it arises from the food
you eat. On the other hand, if you take in food that is not sanctified, dark
feelings, dark actions and dark thoughts will flourish. Not only this, but
because of unwholesome food you will weaken the body and lose the power of
digestion, and suffer all sorts of bodily discomforts. Therefore, if you consume
food that has been sanctified you will get only sacred thoughts.
When a
person is filled with sacred thoughts all his actions will be sacred. His words
will also be sacred. Thoughts and the thought process constitute the very form
of the mind. Immediately transform any dark thoughts into sacred ones. In the
same way, see to it that you undertake only good actions, and take every
opportunity to transform these actions into worship by consecrating them to the
Lord. By transforming all thoughts into noble thoughts and all work into
worship, you will naturally progress on the sacred path. “It is easy to
conquer anger through love, attachment through reasoning, falsehood through
truth, bad thoughts through good and greed through charity.”
Only a
thick shower of Love can smother and destroy the flames of anger, fear, and
anxiety that envelop the world. Do not let your love be affected in any way.”
In other words, continue radiating love unconditionally. Love the “enemy.”
Be and radiate love.
“Love
is truth, Love is right action, Love is peace, and Love is non-violence”
Love is
the divinity itself. Love is God and God is love. Love is the divine power that
activates everything. Through love you can easily conquer hatred and anger. Therefore,
always live in love.