“The simple solution I would suggest to the problem of anger is repetition of the mantram,” Easwaran affirms in this week’s reading, pages 117–121 from The Mantram Handbook.* “This is how we can become slow to anger and quick to forgive.”
As usual, along with this simple solution, this section is replete with specific suggestions for how to put the mantram into action. And Easwaran gives us the quiet assurance that we can do it.
“Here it is that I value Gandhi’s example very much, because it shows that we all have the choice to undertake this transformation ourselves. This was pointed out with keen insight by the Compassionate Buddha. When people used to go to him complaining that they were upset, telling him, ‘Our children upset us; our partner agitates us,’ his simple reply would be, ‘You are not upset because of your children or your partner; you are upset because you are upsettable.’ The choice is ours to make ourselves unupsettable.”
So let’s keep our mantram on our lips, and keep building our determination to become unupsettable.
Is there some tip from Easwaran in this reading that you tend to skim over because you have already heard it many times before? Try focusing on it this week.
Let’s keep looking for ways to deepen our mantram exercises, for example by practicing more consistently or via a bit of extra effort or preparation.
This week, let’s play with the concept of “recovery time.”
It takes time to revise many instances of automatic behavior. For instance, we want to say the mantram instead of other sorts of thoughts on waking up, and we want to say the mantram instead of eating the third cookie. At first, it’s likely we will forget. But whenever you do remember, even if it is hours later, say the mantram at that time! With intention and effort and using strategies that appeal to you, the length of time gradually lessens between stimulus and mantram. Even if we are not perfect, we are getting better with less recovery time.
Devise a way to work on “recovery time.”
* For those using electronic versions of The Mantram Handbook with different page numbering: this week’s reading comes from chapter eight, starting with the subheading “Harnessing Anger’s Power” and ending before the subheading “Greed.”
Our spiritual treat this week is a five-minute video clip in which Easwaran explains what devotion means in daily living.