How do you deal with anger constructively?

Answer by HH Radhantha Swami

First of all, we must hate the disease but not the diseased. There’s nothing wrong with becoming angry at the disease but you should feel compassion and love to the person who is diseased. If your mother has cancer and she is suffering due to that cancer, do you hate your mother or do you hate the cancer? Similarly every living being is our brother and sister. Every living being is part of God, but the plights that you have described are all due to the disease of forgetfulness of God within people’s hearts. In the absence of the sun there is darkness. When God is forgotten in our life there is ignorance. From ignorance is born greed and pride and lust and envy and anger and illusion. When these elements are rampant within our heart, it impels us to commit these abominable activities. So we should feel compassion and love for the person, for all persons, because everyone is a part of God. Everyone is pure by nature. Everyone is loving by nature. We should hate and we should be angry with the disease. If we’re actually angry with the disease we will try to kill the disease, but how do you kill the disease? You must kill the disease with love. You cannot kill hate with hate. You have to kill hate with love. You cannot kill violence with violence. You must kill violence with nonviolence. You cannot kill envy with envy. You have to kill envy with compassion. So we should become angry, but we have to direct and channel that anger in a way that it is constructive and has a positive effect on curing the disease of our follow men and of the world. It begins with you have to cure your own disease. “Physician heal thyself.” You have heard this saying. A drowning man cannot save another drowning man. First we must purify ourselves. First we must save ourselves by establishing God within our life by awakening these qualities within our own life. Then how much can we be utilized as a beautiful instrument in the hands of God to share His grace with the world.