The Gita and the mind

The Bhagavad Gita on anger: the ladder of fall

The Gita traces anger back to something small: a single thought. Verses 62 and 63 of Chapter 2 are read together, and Dr. Sharad Wagle calls them the ladder of fall.

The ladder, step by step

As he reads it: “A man musing on objects develops attachment to them. From attachment arises desire, from desire arises anger, from anger arises delusion, from delusion confusion of memory, from confusion of memory loss of intellect, and from loss of intellect he perishes.”

It starts with one thought

His example is a man in an office who notices an attractive colleague. At first it is a glance. Then a second look. If he keeps returning to the thought, it becomes an attachment, and his thoughts keep going back to her. The attachment grows into desire and then delusion, until he disregards the danger to his job, his company and his marriage. “We’ve all been there,” he says.

Anger is a blocked desire

Anger sits on the ladder just after desire for a reason. In his words, if you fly off the handle very easily, “you know that you have desires that when they’re blocked you get angry”. To work on anger, look at the desire underneath it.

More on this: The Bhagavad Gita on desire.

What losing your memory means

Verse 63 says anger leads to confusion of memory. He explains that it does not mean you forget things. You lose the memory of where you are and what your position in life is. You start doing things you would never normally do, make huge mistakes, and your life can go downhill.

The intellect as the supervisor

If the intellect does not supervise the thoughts running towards the world, they grow to awful proportions. Verse 64 does not ask us to run away to the mountains. We live among the things that tempt us, with the intellect deciding how far to go.

He compares it to a diabetic patient. When the sugar is out of control, the doctor says no sweets at all. When it has been well controlled for months, the doctor may allow a little now and then. The intellect plays that doctor for the mind.

More on this: The steady mind: the sthitaprajna verses.

Why even wise people lose their temper

Verse 60 warns that “the turbulent senses of even a wise man, while striving, indeed forcibly carry away his mind”. He compares it to a boat on a stormy ocean. The ocean is the world, the boat is us and the captain is the intellect, but the wind of temptation can push the boat where the captain does not want it to go.

Modern life makes the storm stronger. Every glossy magazine, TV advert and billboard makes things more attractive, and “wherever one’s weakness is, is the one that is exploited”. Social media goes further, he says, because it knows what your weaknesses are.

How to handle anger, the Gita’s way

Because anger grows out of blocked desire, his advice works on the desires underneath it. He does not ask anyone to give everything up overnight. “Vedanta doesn’t say don’t give in to your senses,” he explains. The senses are meant for enjoyment, with the intellect in charge of how much.

Find where you lose control. “The first thing one should ask oneself is where do I lose control.” For some it is food or alcohol, for others the television. Some feel no pull from the senses at all, but their children or grandchildren are their weakness. For the more intellectual it is reputation, fame and power: if they throw a party, it has to be the best party around.

Watch the place, the company and the time of day. An alcoholic is most tempted in a bar and least tempted with his AA group. A gambler is most tempted in a casino. Stay away from the places and people that pull you down, and stay close to satsang, the company of good people who have good intentions. Time matters too. He calls the hours from about 4 to 6 in the morning brahma muhurta, and when he studies then, his mind is calm. After sunset comes the tamasic time of laziness and indulgence, when people want a drink, rich food or a gamble. His advice: go to bed early and wake up early.

Pull the mind back, not just the senses. Verse 58 compares the wise person to a tortoise drawing in its limbs. Walking away from the kitchen is not enough, he says, if the mind keeps thinking about what is cooking. The mind has to be drawn back too, under the protection of the intellect, which is the tortoise’s shell.

Do not linger. After a wonderful meal, push it out of your mind and do not keep talking about it. Lingering builds the memory up so high that the next visit disappoints, it feeds the desire to go back, and it takes your mind off the work in front of you.

Rise above likes and dislikes. Verse 64 describes the self-controlled person as free from likes and dislikes. The mind likes whatever gives instant pleasure and dislikes anything that pays off later. Exercise hurts at first and feels good once you are used to it, so the mind resists it. The intellect, not the mind’s likes, should decide how much is fine.

An agitated mind cannot think

Verse 65, as he reads it: “In peace all his sorrows are destroyed; the intellect of the tranquil minded soon will become steady.” When the mind is agitated, he says, you cannot think, and when you cannot think you cannot act.

His example is a surgeon who has done the same operation thousands of times. Usually he can chat and hum while he works. Put his only child on the table and his hands shake, and he asks everyone to stop talking. The skill is the same. The mind is agitated.

Verse 66 completes the thought: for the unsteady there is neither knowledge nor meditation, without meditation there is no peace, “therefore to the peaceless how can there be happiness”.

More on this: The Bhagavad Gita on anxiety and fear.

These pages share teachings from the Gita, not medical advice. If anger is hurting you or the people around you, please speak to a doctor.