Krodha

Krodha

"fury", "rage", "anger" 

One of the six distortions (defilements or enemies) of consciousness, the other five are kama (passion), lobha (greed), matsarya (envy), mada (pride), moha (illusion). In Vishnu Purana (6.5.1-6), krodha is referred to psychic (or mental) type of suffering of the adhyatmika category.

Many yogic and tantric texts indicate the need to overcome or transform anger and other defilements. It is very difficult to understand an object essentially and completely through the coloring of consciousness with these states, and if the object is complex and connected with many spheres of life, even more so. States such as anger or envy are associated with rajas guna, they cloud consciousness, a person loses the ability to soberly and broadly look at things. Anger is an obstacle for mastering dharana and dhyana, because it gives a strong disturbance to the mind.

In "Bhagavad Gita" it is said about the nature of anger:

Attachment to the objects of senses forms in one who contemplates [these objects], from attachment arises desire, from desire arises anger. /2.64/
From anger delusion arises, from delusion – the loss of memory, from the loss of memory – mind perishes, from the death of the mind [man] perishes. /2.65/

Different traditions suggest different ways of dealing with anger. In tantra upasanas of Ugra-devatas (angry deities) can help to gain control over such states – through the mercy of deity, the regulation of psychophysics takes place. The text of Kashmir Shaivism – "Vijnana Bhairava Tantra" – provides another method: try to stop the mind during the experience of anger, concentrate on the vibration itself and direct attention to its source within. This source is spanda – the pulsation of the Supreme Reality.

kāmakrodhalobhamohamadamātsaryagocare |
buddhiṁ nistimitāṁ kṛtvā tattattvamavaśiṣyate || 101 ||

If one succeeds in stopping the mind while experiencing [strong] desire, anger, greed, fascination, great joy or envy, then only That Reality remains. (101)

Another text of the same tradition, “Spanda-karika” (I.22), also advises to meditate on strong emotions of anger, joy, etc. as a divine vibration, spanda:

anikruddhaḥ prahṛṣṭo vā ki karomīti vā mṛśan।
dhāvanvā yatpadaṃ gaccettatra spandaḥ pratiṣṭhitaḥ॥

When a person is in excessive anger or experiencing unsurpassed joy, or in a state of a dead end, not knowing what to do, or forced to flee, then Spanda is established in that (extremely tensed) state – the creative pulsation of divine consciousness.

In addition to the methods above, Nathas also use the reverse (ulta) approach. It consists in performing benevolent actions, which are opposite to anger in their state – so the sanskaras gradually change. For example, in "Agama Rahasya Tantra" it is said that anger is conquered through the practice of daya (kindness, compassion) and kshama (forgiveness, patience).

The yogic techniques which contribute to regulation of such states are pranayama (nadi-shodhana, murchha) and pratyahara, and finally these obscurations can be eliminated in samadhi or unmani. In "Amanaska Yoga", Gorakshanath says:

In the state of Amanaska, momentarily, the bondage of lust, anger, etc. disappears, the column of antahkarana is destroyed and the house of human body is razed to the ground. (2.78)