Acharya Mahashraman
A beautiful saying in Jain agam goes: 'uvasamen hane koham'-Eliminate the anger through calmness. People in social life may face many problems. One of them is anger and the behaviour triggered by it. Anger is two-fold. The first form of the anger is just stimulated willingly or unwillingly and becomes difficult to control. In the second type of anger the speech becomes rough but the person is mentally in peace. The second type of anger is not as dangerous in my perspective as the first one is. Some people remain distressful because of their aggressive nature. They do not want to be angry but as an adverse situation comes become angry.
In spirituality, some exercises are suggested to control the anger:
- Long breathing
- Perception of breathing
- Meditation of white colour on the forehead
Long and continuous practice with firm determination of these exercises brings the positive outcome. Man can control his anger eventually if the thought 'anger does not benefit me' reaches his subconscious level. Man should get motivated by reading life of great personalities and learn how calmly they dealt with the opposing situations in their life.
One should not expect for favourable situations only. Of course, man faces challenging situations but he has to handle those situations too. If the morale is strong, and the nature is calm, man is able to deal with every situation peacefully. Sometimes a man speaks harsh words in anger. Each word creates its impact. Some words can make a person aggressive while other can cool down the anger of another person. To keep oneself peaceful and build a happy environment one must pay attention on the words he is speaking. The message delivered through harsh words is possible to be expressed through decent and soft words too. It is more beneficial even when unpleasant issues are conveyed genuinely.
Though the words are impactful, still the meaning of the word is more powerful. A person who does not know English language, if anything is said to him in English; it would not affect his mind due to the absence of understanding of its meaning. The same words expressed to a person who knows English, can influence him a lot.
Once, a monk said to one of his followers- 'Man! You must chant any mantra.' The follower replied - 'Munivar! I am an intellectual person. I cannot follow the things you say. The mantra and the words have no power.' The saint thought, 'I should convince this man intellectually who claims himself as a logical person. An intellectual person needs a way of explanation unlike to an ignorant.' The monk, showing his fake anger said to him - 'Foolish man! You don't understand anything.' Listening to the word 'foolish', he got embarrassed and said - 'I visited you just because I was inspired by my mother. But you talk with me in such a humiliating language. I will never come to you.'
The monk smiled and asked, 'O young man! Are you angry?' The man calmed down as he saw the smiling face of the monk. The monk said, 'Dear son! Right now you told me that words have no power? The harsh words made you aggressive and the humble ones made you cool. Therefore, words have their own effect.'
Man should use the words consciously and determine to stay calm and not getting angry in any situation. He should think, 'I have to control my anger. Anger should not be my ruler, instead I should be.' Man should have the power to make his anger successful or unsuccessful. This key of controlling the anger shows his progress. Man can transform himself by the constant practice of Meditation, chanting and exercise. His behaviour will be changed too. In this way his personal, family and social life can become peaceful.
