BMCM Video Study Guides
Satsang Coordinators Curriculum for
Using the Mantram to Transform Anger
Note: During this month, if you feel it is appropriate for your group, you may suggest that the
group take 5-10 minutes during each fellowship session to write the mantram together. To do
this, each member writes his or her mantram in a blank book or on a blank sheet of paper.
Lesson One
Introduce the curriculum: "This month's meetings will be devoted to the mantram. The videotapes
[and/or readings] will offer many practical ways to deal with anger by using the mantram. As a
complement to that inspiration, each week we will focus on one of the major life challenges --
self-will, anger, worry, and the need for forgiveness -- as an opportunity for using the mantram.
"This week our topic is self-will. In the video, Sri Easwaran points out that self-will is often
responsible for personal conflicts."
Then, ask a group member to read aloud the following excerpt from the video talk, a commentary
on the Indian devotional classic, The Thousand Names of God:
The 747th name of the Lord is a very contemporary one: Amani, he who removes the pride of
self-will, the pride of egoism that is often responsible for personal conflicts. Looking back over
the last twenty years of this work it is so easy for me to point out that most of the personal
conflicts that I have observed or sometimes helped resolve were brought about by inflated self-will, inflated pride, which often masks the real issues.
And now that Christmas is approaching, I consider any person who tries to reduce self-will --
particularly in resolving long standing conflicts -- as celebrating Christmas in a true manner.
Putting up Christmas trees and hanging toys from them may please our little children. But for
grown ups, the celebration of Christmas becomes real and meaningful only when, instead of
recapitulating old conflicts and re-emphasizing them, both parties join together to remove the
cause of conflict which is very often one of self-will running amok and disguising itself under
various psychological terms.
Then ask the group: "In your own experience, have you observed how self-will becomes a cause
of conflict? The mantram can be very effective as a substitute for self-willed thinking. How can
we use the mantram to start reducing self-will?"
When it's time for inspiration, please watch the first of the talks on this video tape, entitled The
Thousand Names. The talk is 33 minutes long. If your group is not watching the video, please
read the chapter entitled "Elation and Depression" in The Mantram Handbook.
Conclude with thirty minutes of meditation.
Lesson Two
Introduction: "This month our focus is on the mantram. Each week we are discussing a major life
challenge as an opportunity for using the mantram.
"This week our topic is anger and how to transform it. First we'll hear a section from the reading
about transforming anger. Then we'll hear a section about using patience as an antidote to anger."
Then, ask one of the members to read aloud the following excerpt from today's reading from The
Mantram Handbook:
First excerpt: Whenever I talk about using the mantram to transform fear and anger, people nod
approvingly as long as I am talking about fear. After all, no one wants to be fearful; no one
wants to worry. But the nods of approval often stop when I ask people to repeat the mantram in
moments of anger. "You're not asking us to repress anger?" they ask. "Isn't it better to express
anger than to repress it?" This is a legitimate question, but it is based on the assumption that we
have only two choices where anger is concerned: expression or repression. Either way, anger
eventually works against us, undermining our relationships, our security, and even our health.
But there is a third alternative: we can transform anger, through the repetition of the mantram.
Anger is power, and the mantram can transform this negative power into its positive counterpart,
which is compassion. Not only that, the very power that is behind anger serves to drive the
mantram even deeper into our consciousness.
Second excerpt: It is difficult to be patient with others when you're in a tearing hurry yourself.
Also, of course, it helps to remember that everyone has a point of view. But most important of
all, repeat the mantram. When a flood of impatient words is rising, shut your mouth and keep
saying the mantram; let the harsh words dash themselves against the back of your teeth if they
have to, but don't let them out. Even if you think that you'll jump out of your skin if that car
ahead doesn't leap into motion a split second after the light turns green, keep repeating the
mantram. It will keep your hand off the horn and your blood pressure down, and best of all, it
will transform the rising power of impatience into that most precious of qualities, patience.
Ask the group: "What are your observations about using the mantram to transform anger into
compassion and impatience into patience? Have you tried to do it? What has helped you? What
has hindered you?"
When it's time for inspiration, read the section on anger from "Harnessing Fear, Anger, and
Greed" in The Mantram Handbook. If there's more time, go on to read from the section on greed.
Conclude with 30 minutes of meditation.
Lesson Three
Introduction: "Our focus this month is on the mantram. Today we are going to discuss how to use
the mantram to deal with worry. We'll start with an excerpt from this week's videotaped talk by
Sri Easwaran."
If I may indulge in a generalization, most thoughts are not necessary. I am not saying that all
thinking is unnecessary -- a certain amount of discrete thinking is necessary in this imperfect
life, but most thinking is unnecessary. It took me years to make this discovery.
Anxious thinking -- who would want it? Worry is thinking; who would want it? Most troubles are
due to thinking. Most resentment is thinking -- negative thinking. Most hostility is negative thinking.
And what has happened through years of japam (repetition) is that the mantram goes on all the
time (in my mind). It is not that I cannot use my mind -- I am not mindless; I have a good mind
and I can also give a piece of my no-mind when necessary -- but thoughts have to come on invitation.
Then ask the group "What observations can you make about the connection between worry and
unnecessary thinking? Where in your life do you do unnecessary thinking? How might you use the
mantram to replace that thinking and reduce needless worry?"
When it's time for inspiration, play the second of the two talks on this tape, entitled The
Fragrance of Forgiveness. This talk is 33 minutes long. If your group is not watching the video,
please read the following sections from The Constant Companion (also published as Thousand
Names of Vishnu): "Water Lily," "Jasmine," "He Who Wears Garlands of Forest Flowers," "The
Uplifter," "He Who Never Sleeps," and "The Purifier."
Conclude with thirty minutes of meditation.
Lesson Four
Introduction: "This week we are concluding our monthly focus on the mantram with a discussion
of how to use the mantram to help us forgive."
Then, read aloud the following excerpt from this week's reading from The Bhagavad Gita for
Daily Living:
Many years ago I remember a man on television demonstrating a chain reaction. He stood in a
room filled with mouse traps, each of which would release two Ping Pong balls when sprung. At
the blackboard he explained a little about uranium atoms being split by one neutron and
releasing two. Then, without warning, he casually tossed a single Ping Pong ball into the traps.
There was a snap, then a couple of other snaps, and in an instant, with a rattle like hail, the
whole room was pelted with balls.
Without exaggeration, our globe is like that today. One person in a chronic state of anger
spreads anger everywhere. When many people live in this state, continually on the edge of
resentment, frustration, and hostility, the harvest is violence everywhere -- in our hearts, our
homes, our streets and cities, between estranged races, factions, and nations.
Detachment can break this chain reaction. A cat is conditioned to leap on birds; it has no
choice. A dog is conditioned to chase cats. But you and I are human; we have the capacity to
choose our response. We can snap the chain of stimulus and response behavior by meeting
resentment with patience, hatred with kindness, and fear with trust, in a sustained consistent
endeavor to stanch the spread of violence that threatens us all.
Through meditation, as our minds become calmer and self-will fades, detachment comes and our
vision clears. Only then can we see that most of the obstacles to forgiving others do not arise
from ideological or philosophical differences. Put plainly, obstacles arise because we want to
impose our way, our self-will, on others, and they want to impose their self-will on us. Seeing this
clearly goes a long way toward releasing forgiveness; as Voltaire said, "To understand all is to
forgive all." But something more than clear seeing is required, and that is the will. It takes a
good deal of inner strength to remain calm and compassionate in the face of fierce opposition,
never losing your balance or resorting to harsh language. But when you can do this, a kind of
miracle takes place which all of us can verify. The other person becomes calmer, his eyes clear a
little too; soon communication is established once again.
Then ask the group "In your experience with the mantram, how can it be used to break the chain
of stimulus and response? How can we cultivate the capacity to forgive, instead of harboring resentment?"
When it's time for meditation, read together from The Bhagavad Gita for Daily Living:
Volume 2, Chapter 11, verses 41-44, and Volume 3, Chapter 13, verse 7.
Conclude with thirty minutes of meditation.
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How to Use This Curriculum
The BMCM monthly video series presents a special opportunity for BMCM Satsangs to enrich
the content of their meetings and coordinate their program with the Center and with other
Satsangs. Each month many of our Satsangs will be following this program, which has been
created by workshop presenters at the BMCM, based on programs at our Tuesday night Satsangs
in Petaluma and Berkeley.
This video curriculum is not required. The choice of which of our approved formats to follow is
up to you and your Satsang. We understand that not all groups have access to a TV and VCR for
showing video tapes. While the videos are a great aid in using this curriculum, it is also possible to
follow it without the videos, using the questions for reflection and readings that are contained in
this curriculum.
We do recommend this curriculum (and especially the videos) as an ideal way for a new group (or
a "Satsang of One") to get well grounded in Sri Easwaran's core teachings and to feel more "in
touch" with the Center. If you would like assistance in deciding on a format, please feel free to
contact us at the address below.
The choice of when to start using the curriculum is also up to you. But we do suggest that you
follow the order of the lessons as they appear here. For groups that meet monthly, you may want
to use only the lesson sections that include videos, or to cover two lesson sections if your meeting
is longer.
We have tried to make this Satsang curriculum flexible enough that it can be used completely
within the Eight Point Format, as outlined in the Satsang Guidelines. For your "Eight Point
Focus" you can continue to cycle through the Eight Points weekly or monthly as it suits your
group, and use this curriculum to deepen your study of Sri Easwaran's teachings.
For those of you who distribute messages via email to your Satsang, feel free to forward parts of
this email to members as a preview of the coming month's program.
We are eager to hear about your experiences with this curriculum, and welcome your feedback.
Please send it to:
satsang@nilgiri.org
Robbie Nichols
BMCM
P O Box 256
Tomales, CA 94971
Copyright (c) 2003, Blue Mountain Center of Meditation