Transcend Anger and Transform Your Life

Jan 28, 2004, 12.02am IST

Nilanshu Ranjan.

What do we do, generally, when we want to get something done or when we want to get rid of something? We vow not to do that and we think that the very act of taking a vow will help us in reaching our goal. We believe it will help us turn over a new leaf and we think it will help us live life afresh. But we forget that taking a vow is nothing but an embodiment of sheer unconsciousness; in fact, it is quite an unintelligent act.

When we vow not to do something, it means we have not understood the issue — it simply means we are unconscious at that level. The act of taking a vow gives the message that we have not realised the things at the core of our heart. So taking a vow is nothing but an act of repression or suppression.

When we repress something, it becomes an obsession and obsession poisons our life. When we repress something, it goes into our unconsciousness and disturbs the very equilibrium, leaving us in deep misery. That’s why the Buddha stressed consciousness. "Be conscious", he said.

Pythagoras speaks the same language. He says not to be angry. When he forbids you to be angry, he does not mean you have to repress your anger. He says: "Don’t be angry. It mars your happiness, it makes ecstasy impossible. It leads to nothing but to utter misery". When he says don’t be angry, he is simply telling us to transcend anger. But instead of transcending it, we just repress or suppress it. And this is where we make a mistake. We end up unable to overcome anger and make our lives miserable. Repression is no solution, it cannot be. On the contrary, we will have to understand anger, we will have to watch anger. In watching is transcendence. "Watchfulness is the greatest magic that one can learn, because it can begin the transformation of your whole being. It is only through watchfulness that resurrection happens... you are reborn", said Acharya Rajneesh (Osho).

"If you repress anger, the anger goes into your unconsciousness; you become more and more poisoned. It is not good, it is not healthy; it is going to drive you neurotic sooner or later. And one day or the other, the accumulated anger will explode and that will be far more dangerous because then it will be absolutely uncontrollable by you. You will not be able even to be conscious of what you are doing", said Osho.

Transcendence is a totally different process, it is an art; it is by itself an art of living. Transcendence is the highest stage of silence where supreme realisation is possible. Osho said: "In transcendence, you do not repress anger and you don’t express it either". You know only two ways to deal with anger: expression or repression. And the real way to deal with it is neither. The approach of all the enlightened people of the world is to neither express nor repress, but to watch silently. When anger arises, sit silently, let the anger surround you in your inner world, let the cloud surround you, be a silent watcher.


Buddha has said that when anger arises, listen to it, listen to its message. Keep alert, don’t fall asleep. Keep alert that anger is surrounding you. You will then come to realise that you are not it, but you are the watcher of it. That’s maturity and therein lies the key to overcoming anger.

Osho said that maturity has a fragrance. It lends tremendous beauty to the individual. It gives intelligence, the sharpest possible intelligence. It makes the individual nothing but love.