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My dealing with anger and pride

K

Kapalika

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
I have realized I need to sort out my excessive anger and pride. I have felt cooped' up at home and tomorrow afternoon plan to wander in the woods and wilderness near my home for at least about 24 (if not 36-48) hours to reflect on these two things.

A friend on the forum here has given me a Naraimha mantra to focus on... I figured I wanted maybe something outside of Shaivism to focus on would be "fresher" but I'm open to any matras or deities.

I will leave tomorrow about 12-13 hours from this post after an errand... so about 20:00 or 21:00 GMT. If anyone knows any good mantras or things to consider... please give them.

I will leave with adequate clothing, water, my maala and other supplies. I've not decided to bring food or not. I know the land. I can often hear cars far away (hills carry the sound) in the areas I plan to bring a charged cellphone that albiet no service can call an emergency number if I need so. So please do not worry about me! I will be not far from people just far enough to be away to focus on myself.

So again if anyone knows any mantra I could use or try, please let me know. I will use this time to meditate and reflect. Thank you.

I will try to report back after this time period.
 
Last edited:
Terese

Terese

Mangalam Pundarikakshah
Staff member
Premium Member
There is a fantastic story recited by @Sw. Vandana Jyothi about pride, i hope this helps :)

Once a great battle between the angels and the demons was waged. The angels conquered the demons and the head of the angels, Indra, took all the credit for himself. Thinking that he alone was responsible for winning the battle, he puffed with pride and felt surely there was no higher principle than himself. Such power he had! Such energy! Thus the head of the angels thought.

After a while, with compassion for the deluded one, the Supreme Almighty God came in the form of a yaksha (a nature spirit) and sat upon the low-lying limb of a tree. It was a mysterious being that Indra, the head of the angels, saw.

“Hey,” he said to himself. “Who is that? I want to find out.” But rather than deigning to inquire himself of the lowly yaksha, he called to one of his henchmen. “Agni, O fire god, go ask who is he who dares to sit in a tree in front of me, the Supreme?” Thus spoke Indra, forgetting the Supreme Reality. After all, wasn’t it he who had vanquished the enemies of dharma (righteousness)? So he sent Agni, the fire god, to question him.

“Hey, you!” called Agni, not altogether respectfully, “who are you?” He stuck out his fiery tongue.
“Well,” answered the Lord modestly, “I am a small yaksha, a demigod. Sir, may I know who you are?”
“Oh,” sputtered Agni, “Don’t you have eyes to see? I am the Fire. I am Agni.”
The Lord looked at him before asking, “And what, sir, can you do?”
“Why, I can burn the whole world!” answered Fire proudly. “I can reduce you to ashes in a trice!”

“Hmmm, is that right?” said the Supreme God, Brahman, who had come in the form of that yaksha. He dropped a blade of grass at Agni’s fiery feet and asked, “Can you burn this blade of grass?”
“Of course!” answered the proud Agni. All in the heavens watched as Agni grew exhausted from his efforts, but try hard as he might, he couldn’t make the grass burn because the burning power of Fire had been withdrawn by Brahman Himself. He reported to Indra his failure to make the yaksha identify himself as well as his mysterious power.

So Indra disdainfully dismissed Agni and still puffed with pride, sent Vayu, the wind god, to make inquiry of the yaksha.
Vayu rustled the leaves of the tree in which the yaksha sat, even made the very limb upon which he sat to tremble. The Wind then inquired rudely, “Hey, you! Look lively now and answer the question of my Supreme Commander! Who are you?”
“I am nobody, merely a small yaksha,” answered the Lord of all beings. “And pray tell me, kind sir, who are you?”
“Have you no ears? Can you not hear me blowing? I am Vayu, the wind god! I can toss you right out of that tree from here to kingdom come!”
“Really!? Astonishing!” replied the Lord. He tossed another blade of grass down and it landed near the blustery feet of Vayu. “Can you blow this blade of grass away?”

Vayu huffed and he puffed but the blade of grass did not budge an inch. The power to move air had been withdrawn from him. Taenavina thrinamapi na chalati, that is, “Not a blade of grass moves but by God's will.” Vayu, too, slunk away and reported the failure to his boss, the head of the angels.

Now Indra himself came to confront the yaksha, but before he could utter his demands, the Lord in the form of the yaksha disappeared. In His place stood Uma, goddess Durga, who taught Indra the Upanishad.

“It is God alone who gives you all energies. Therefore, when you are beautiful, that energy is of God. When you are intelligent, that intelligence is given to you by the Almighty. When you are successful, it is because of God. Any type of energy you have—that extraordinary energy belongs to and all the credit goes to that Supreme Spirit. You are nothing without that energy. And it comes from Him. If you know that, that is knowledge. If you don’t know that, that is ego.”

Realizing his error, the humbled Indra bowed his head to the Supreme Reality.
 
Shantanu

Shantanu

Well-Known Member
Kapalika said:
I have realized I need to sort out my excessive anger and pride. I have felt cooped' up at home and tomorrow afternoon plan to wander in the woods and wilderness near my home for at least about 24 (if not 36-48) hours to reflect on these two things.

A friend on the forum here has given me a Naraimha mantra to focus on... I figured I wanted maybe something outside of Shaivism to focus on would be "fresher" but I'm open to any matras or deities.

I will leave tomorrow about 12-13 hours from this post after an errand... so about 20:00 or 21:00 GMT. If anyone knows any good mantras or things to consider... please give them.

I will leave with adequate clothing, water, my maala and other supplies. I've not decided to bring food or not. I know the land. I can often hear cars far away (hills carry the sound) in the areas I plan to bring a charged cellphone that albiet no service can call an emergency number if I need so. So please do not worry about me! I will be not far from people just far enough to be away to focus on myself.

So again if anyone knows any mantra I could use or try, please let me know. I will use this time to meditate and reflect. Thank you.

I will try to report back after this time period.
Click to expand...
If people or things make you angry, it is best to do two things: one is deal with the perpetrators so as to get even: this is action, that is dharma; second, one should in the privacy of ones own self utter a few swear words at them. The ones I use are in Hindi and too vulgar to be exposed in this forum but I am certain they work as well as any scriptural mantra because they inspire me to the appropriate thoughts on how to deal with the things or people who are making me upset and angry.

As far as pride is concerned, one needs to focus on not being attached to things which includes a person's own ego.

Hope this helps.
 
K

Kapalika

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Just got home and finished errands. Seems I forgot where my tent is (keeping dreadlocks off ground is no joke when it comes to sleeping outside) and I didn't realize how soaked the ground still was after the storm yesterday. Gonna push it back a day to find time to find it and for the ground to dry up.
 
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