Anger

Anger
(Late Satyanath Bora, Bachelor of Law (1860–1925) was a grammarian, essayist and music
composer. His anthology of 34 essays named Sarathi (The Guide, 1915) is a masterpiece on life-
skills relevant even today. This piece is a transliteration of the original Assamese essay Krodh
included in the Sarothi by Mr. Sanjeeb Kakati, Management System Consultant. Readers can mail
their views to [email protected])
Sex, anger, greed, attachment, ego and envy are the six wicked desires
accompanying human beings since birth. By nature these are very powerful. Under their
influence human beings are often led to troubles. Evil sexual desires invite public
condemnation. Out of anger one may kill another and then take one’s own life, greed
makes one a thief and then a prisoner. In essence, these evil passions of mind are
responsible for severe anguish and pain to lot of human beings. Therefore these six
wicked desires are considered as our ‘enemies’ and termed as Ripu. Anger is the worst of
the Ripus. Out of anger, human beings go out of senses, speak out what is not to be
spoken and do what is not to be done. When terribly angry, the animal instincts of the
man overpower his human instincts. Anger is like a disease. A sick man loses peace of
mind, suffers from bodily discomfort and presents with distorted facial expressions.
Similarly, whenever one is angry, he loses peace of mind, starts trembling, eyes and ears
become red, blood pressure rises, veins & arteries swell and become stiff. The appearance
of anger is frightening. A beautiful man becomes so ugly when angry that the onlooker
not only gets scared but also feels ashamed. This is why a wise man once advised that a
mirror should be placed in front of an angry man so that seeing his own demonic image
the angry man would be ashamed and thereby would control his anger. Even when a baby
cries out of anger a mirror should be brought in front of him. Then he would cease crying.
Rage is the manifestation of anger. Rage grasps the human body the way a strong
man grapples the weak and tortures it leading to exhaustion. A bout of rage churns the
blood, the muscles and the nerves of the body. Therefore, tiredness follows rage. Children
go to sleep after crying in anger. It can be understood that anger initiates a tempest within
the body that shatters the entire anatomy. There is no doubt that such disorder causes
damage to the body.
There are many a reason to be angry. We become angry when someone harms,
physically hurts or insults. These are major reasons to be angry. However, such reasons
are not very common. Had these been the only reasons to be angry, a man would have
been angry only on few occasions during the entire life. Most of the time the cause of
anger is the ‘feeling of disturbance’. If we can tolerate ‘disturbance’ then very often we
can avoid anger. Some people are short-tempered because they cannot accept
‘disturbance’ at all. Career oriented people must avoid such nature as this is a hurdle to
progress in career. The road to success or prosperity is dotted with difficult tasks,
repetitive efforts and multiple problems; while facing such obstacles if one is ‘disturbed’
then success shall not be attained. Problems, difficulties, disorders and disturbances are
unavoidable companions while traversing the road to success. He who treads the road to
success must treat these as the garments he wears. Ministers and Generals handle difficult
problems day in and day out, but they never feel disturbed from these. Tolerance to
disturbance can be developed through habit. A person least tolerant to disturbances learns
to gradually become tolerant if he lives in a joint family.
Although anger causes damage, it cannot be said that it has zero benefit. Although
anger is a Ripu, it has few benefits. To reap benefits out of anger one has to conquer it
first. Unless tamed, an elephant cannot be put to use. So, man tames the elephant to be
obedient. The elephant trainer uses the elephant goad to control the disobedient behaviour
of the wild elephant. Like a wild elephant, anger too is disobedient and self-willed; it has
to be tamed first before putting to use. Therefore, career seekers should learn to steer
anger as per need. Anger can never distract a cool-tempered man. Good sense reins anger.
Therefore, if one learns to be sensible he or she learns to control anger.
It is never wise to remind oneself about the causes of anger. Continued discussion
heightens the degree of anger. Causes of anger should be shared with friends and thus the
possibility of rising of anger gets reduced. Anger should never be harboured in one’s self;
this is like the hidden enemy. Suppressed anger suddenly leads to burst of destructive
actions.
Some people suddenly do a misdeed out of anger and suffer for the rest of life.
Some destroy their own belongings and cry inconsolably later on, others say something
that invites misfortune. Thus lots of people suffer pain and agony by doing something not
acceptable out of sheer anger. Therefore a wise man had once remarked that whenever
one is angry he or she should count nine draughts before any act.

Anger

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