by Peter Holleran


"There’s an old Sufi proverb that says: "You can meditate for fifteen years and get one inch closer to God; or you can be really angry and be with Him instantly."  I think we can substitute for "angry" in that proverb any other deep feeling -- sad, joyous, terrified -- and the same closeness to God will occur.  In fact, feelings are the royal road to soul, and soul is what connects us to the Mystery." (1)


   These words by vision quest leader and psychotherapist Belden Johnson echo an ancient, little-known spiritual path called the "path of wrath". Said to be reserved only for the Asuras, who strove to take Vaikunth, the highest heaven, by storm, it promises a quicker way to God than the conventional paths of karma, bhakti, or jnana yoga, due to the power of concentrated emotion. The scriptures mention this unusual form of "yoga" as Samrambha Yoga, reserved for those whose swiftest passage to God-realization lies through the emotion of anger. It is said in the Srimad Bhagavatam that by whatever means possible one should fix his mind on the Lord. For some, hatred or anger concentrates the mind much more intensely than love or devotion, and such emotion, anathema to yoga when directed to objects other than God, becomes devotion when directed to God out of impatience with the feeling of separation from Him. Of this "path" Swami Siddhinathananda of the Ramakrishna Mission in Calcutta writes:

   "Narada, while speaking on the shortcut of the Asuras, says: 'I am firmly of the opinion that man cannot attain at-one-ment with God so surely and speedily through the path of love as through the path of wrath.' The emotion of anger is more intense and constant than that of love. The Gopis attained Krishna through lust, Kamsa through fear, Sisupala through hate, the Vrishnas through devotion..Anger of God or anger against God ultimately confers supreme blessings." (2)

   Ramana Maharshi said:

   "When good people are abused, they may not retaliate, but they are hurt, and because of that the abuser may have to suffer. There is also a saying in the scriptures that he who curses good people gets all the bad that may be still left in them. If you want to curse at all, curse Bhagavan. He will not hurt you and he is without sin. You are safe in cursing Him. He wants only to be remembered. The mood in which you remember him is of less importance. Were it otherwise, how could Ravana and Sishupala get salvation?" [Ravana had a constant hatred of Rama, and Sishupila had a similar strong dislike of Krishna. Both finally attained liberation when they died because they had spent their lives constantly thinking of God, even though it was only in a negative way.] (3)

   Siddhinathananda makes it a point that the path of wrath is for those whose karma forces it upon them. While few may find in it the merits of a complete path, all, however, can sympathize at times with this view and examine in their feeling how love and hate, as commonly understood, are often two sides of the same coin. One cannot truly hate someone he does not love, a wise person once said. And without uncovering and seeing those undesirable and wounded parts of oneself that are kept well-hidden, the light within cannot shine nor the love emerge. This process may take some concerted digging and observation. Robert S. deRopp states:

   "This seeing is the essence of the alchemical process called nigredo, "the blackening." It involves confronting those forces in oneself that are mainly responsible for one's inner slavery, forces referred to [by Gurdjieff] as the chief feature. One who has seen his chief feature and learned to separate from it is on the way to real liberty (the whitening or albedo).

   But this work of discovering the chief feature can be as rough on the teacher as it is on the pupil. The teacher has to maintain a role that may be unpleasant and difficult. He must put up with abuse from the person he is trying to help. For few come easily to the meeting with their chief features. It is a real showdown, at which Dr. Jeckyll meets Dr. Hyde, at which all the rotting monsters in one's personal cesspool come crawling out into the light of day." (4)

   Neo-Gurdjieffian E.J. Gold concurs with deRopp:

   "The determined - and successful - pursuit of the waking state eventually and inevitably activates the chronic, making someone who is working on himself about as pleasant to live with as an angry camel." (5)

   As C.G. Jung wrote:

   "At first we cannot see beyond the path that leads downward to dark and hateful things - but not light or beauty will come from the man who cannot bear this sight." (6)


   "Questors are strange," PB once said, after a moment's reflection in the silence. How very, very true. May we all then have infinite patience with one another on our journey!


1. Belden Johnson, "A Larger Vision of Relationship and Process," http://www.primalspirit.com/pr1_2belden_largervision.htm
2. Swami Siddhinathananda, "The Path of Wrath to Perfection," Vedanta Kesary,(Madras: The Ramakrishna Mission, 1985)
3. David Godman, The Power of the Presence, Part Three (Boulder, CO: Avadhuta Foundation, 2002), p. 91
4. Robert S. deRopp, Warrior's Way (New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1979), p. 299
5. E.J.Gold, The Human Biological Machine As A Transformational Apparatus (Nevada City, CA: IDHHB, Inc., 1986), p. 120
6. C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovitch, 1933), p. 215