Salok Sehskritee, Salok 51 — When Anger Runs the Show
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa
O anger, you are the root of fighting. Kindness never grows in you.
You take hold of people caught in wrong and make them dance like monkeys.
Keeping company with you, people sink low, and death's messengers punish them in many ways.
Nanak prays: O kind One, who takes away the pain of the poor, protect every living being from anger.
Anger, once it takes over, starts fights, shuts off kindness and turns people into puppets.
Kal mool krodha: anger is the root of conflict. Kindness cannot grow where it rules. The picture of people dancing jathaa marakteh, like monkeys, shows someone pulled around, doing and saying things they would never choose when calm.
Feeling angry is not wrong; anger is a feeling, and feelings come. The trouble starts when anger takes the wheel. The salok also says anger brings people low and leaves them to death's messengers, a strong old picture for how much harm it does. It ends in a prayer to the kind One to protect every living being.
What does anger push you to do that you would never choose when calm? What helps you keep the wheel?
Translation by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa·How we use AI