Sathya Sai Baba..(Teachings):English

"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 once 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. 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.

How to Control Anger

Sathya Sai 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 them in any way.

Therefore, every devotee must learn to control their anger by developing and saturating their heart with love.

OM SAI RAM..

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