This arising that arises. This ceasing that ceases.

So, why should I be angry when London Bridge falls down. The chances of this happening is so remote. First of all, the London bridge is not falling and second, "Why should I care." But, wait a second. Were you not also angry when terrorists flew a plane in to the World Trade Center's (WTC) twin towers or were you not angry when another group of terrorists killed several innocent people and lit up the Taj Hotel in Mumbai. Terrorists were angry with us and they showed their anger in an unusual display which then made us angry in turn. I am not here for a political blog, but want to bring up the point that arising of anger is multifactoria. Let us try to define anger:

Anger is a type of response by an individual to an event, happening or a situation

There are at least two factors identified here, 1. the London bridge which has to fall and 2. My individual response. My response has to then have the emotion of anger. It is somewhat like giving a response to an email or a chat. You write a response and then you add an emotion. You have a choice. You can choose to add an emotion or choose not to. You also have a choice of adding different kind of emotion images there. The whole point is that you can choose. Believe it or not; you have a choice to add emotion to your real life responses as well. An appropriate response to a situation happens. It can happen with or without an emotion. That emotion, anger in focus here, can be moderated. However, that is not the norm. Anger when it arrives takes over the whole situation. Only anger remains. The “I” is nowhere to be found. When the “I” goes, there goes the wisdom with it. There remains the “tandav dance” of anger. This may not be happening to you in person, but you must have witnessed it time and again.

Our body is made up of flesh and blood. Where does all this energy comes from when we get angry. What forces are at play? What is our being made up of. There are three innate forces, sat, rajas, and tamas, that are at work. We all have in ourselves different proportions of these forces as a built in program. The physical body along with different proportion of these three innate forces determines how we respond to any stimulus in this existence. They are like the four nucleotide bases in our genetic make up. That is what makes our responses individualized. Each of us will respond differently to a given situation. We do not always respond in a similar fashion. Falling of London bridge may not interest many people around the world. Some may not even know about it. Demolition of Babri Masjit was a big deal in India when it happened. How many people knew about Babri Masjid before it was demolished, and how many around the world know about what happened to Babri Masjid even now.

A detailed understanding of these three forces is a long story. Let us understand it briefly today. Rajas is the driving force that makes the world go round. It is the force that makes or breaks a king (or a president). We all need a little or a lot of this to shine and glow. Sat can be viewed as the forces of virtue and tamas as the forces of vice. Although this similarity is not strictly true, this is a simple way to understand these two forces at work. Tamas is a predominant force that we have to constantly fight against. Virtue is the forces that we all aspire for. Tamas makes us do things that we know we should not do. Let us find an example. Michael Jackson was a great star. He entertained millions with his music, dance and show. The forces of rajas were at work in his talent that made him shine and stand out. The forces of tamas were working too. The drugs that I am sure he knew he should not take, might have contributed to his death. This is an example of how powerful the forces of tamas can be. That does not necessarily mean that one force is good and the other one is bad. Tamas is not the forces of The Satan or the Devil. It is more like a force and energy of fire. Fire if used appropriately can cook and give us heat, and if used inappropriately, can burn a house down.

Let us understand and respect the innate forces of nature in us for they have something to do with who we are. Let us understand anger a little better for then we can understand how to deal with this wonderful energy. Whenever you get in grips of anger, look and see what forces are at work on your being. This understanding may help along with other tools that we will discuss later in mastering the forces anger itself.