Vāṇi← Gītā

Gītā › What the Gītā says about anger

Theme

What the Gītā says about anger

Watch how it arrives. You dwell on something; attachment forms; the attachment is threatened; craving flares — and craving's other face is anger. Krishna traces that chain in three verses and does not moralise about it. He calls it mechanical, the way weather is mechanical. Anger is not a character flaw in the Gītā. It is a force — born of restlessness, all-devouring, the enemy — and it does specific damage: it clouds judgement, collapses memory, and pulls the self apart. But Krishna does not ask you to suppress it. He names it one of the three gates to ruin and then says: step free. The instruction is not to never feel anger but to stop walking through the gate. These verses show you where the gate is, and what lies on the other side.

Verses

2.56
Unshaken by sorrow, not grasping at pleasure, free of craving, fear, and anger — that sage stands firm.
The sage stands firm — free of craving, fear, and anger; the first portrait of mastery
2.62
Dwell on something and attachment grows. From attachment, craving; from craving, anger.
The chain begins: dwelling becomes attachment, attachment becomes craving, craving becomes anger
2.63
Anger clouds judgment; clouded, you forget yourself; forgetting, understanding collapses — and with it, you fall.
Anger clouds judgement; judgement clouded, you forget yourself — and with that, you fall
3.37
It is craving — and its other face, anger. Born of restlessness, all-devouring. Know this as the enemy.
Anger named as craving's other face — born of restlessness, all-devouring, the enemy
4.10
Free of craving, fear, and anger, filled with me, sheltering in me, purified by knowing — many have become mine.
Free of craving, fear, and anger, filled with Krishna — many have become his
5.23
Whoever, while still in this body, can hold the surge of craving and anger — that one is yoked, and happy.
Whoever holds the surge of craving and anger while still in this body is yoked and happy
5.26
For those free of craving and anger, minds ruled, self known — that freedom lies close on every side.
Free of craving and anger, self known — that freedom lies close on every side
16.4
Pretence, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness, and ignorance — these mark the one born for the dark inheritance.
Anger listed among the marks of the dark inheritance — pretence, arrogance, conceit, harshness
16.18
Clutching ego, force, insolence, craving, and anger, they end up hating me — in themselves and in everyone else.
Clutching ego and anger, they end up hating Krishna — in themselves and in everyone else
16.21
Three gates open onto hell, and each destroys the self: craving, anger, greed. Abandon all three.
Three gates open onto hell: craving, anger, greed — abandon all three
18.53
Ego, force, arrogance, craving, anger, grasping — all dropped; nothing 'mine'; at peace — ready for the eternal.
The final dropping: ego, force, arrogance, craving, anger — all released, ready for the eternal