As I was driving to school today morning, I took the usual route of the highways to get there. However, today, for some reason, it seemed as if everyone on the road was in a bad mood. I was being cut off time and time again and, initially, my natural response was to frown, shake my head, and sometimes grumble. As I was getting cut off more often by the reckless drivers (yes, I know — all New Jersey drivers are known to be reckless drivers), I was getting more and more frustrated. So in an attempt to calm myself, I put on some soft and happy music (I’d even say it was “Sattvic” music) and took a deep breath.
Fortunately, I calmed down and continued to drive defensively for the rest of the way there. After thinking about this situation, I remembered a phrase that one of the teachers at the Vivekananda Vidyapith, the weekend school I used to attend, always used to say — Anger is one letter away from Danger. I’m thankful that our teacher made sure the idea was ingrained in our minds because that was the only reason I was able to safely maneuver myself out of the situation I was in this morning. Had I continued to let the reckless drivers fuel my anger, I would have let my emotions take control of my actions and things may have turned out differently.
I thought of the analogy in the Bhagavad-Gita about how the chariot represents the human body. The five horses pulling the chariot represent the five senses, the reins, which are the driving instruments, represent the mind and its emotions, the charioteer, maintaining a firm grip on the reins, represents the intellect and the passenger represents the spirit or atman. It is the duty of the charioteer, or the intellect, to maintain a firm grip on the reins, or the mind, in order to prevent a catastrophe. We must make sure that we do not allow our emotions to control our actions no matter what the situation is that we are put into.
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