Acharya Prashant explains that anger arises from the non-fulfillment of desire; there is no other reason. When you want something and do not get it, you boil over. The more your life is operated by desires, the greater the possibility that a desire will not be fulfilled. If you have fifty desires, it is certain that thirty will not be fulfilled, and you will get angry thirty times. Anger only manifests at the moment it becomes apparent that the desire will not be fulfilled, but the desire itself has been nurtured for a long time. While nurturing a desire, it feels very good because desire makes a promise of happiness. This feeling of heaven encourages one to invite even more desires. The speaker describes this as a trap. When desires are not fulfilled, it leads to anger. When a desire is fulfilled, it leads to two outcomes: firstly, the belief that more desires can be fulfilled, prompting one to invite more; and secondly, the realization that even the fulfilled desire did not bring complete satisfaction, leading to the creation of more desires to fill the remaining void. Therefore, if a desire is not fulfilled, it gives birth to anger, and if it is fulfilled, it gives birth to more desires. This is a situation of being caught between a well and a ditch. The only solution is to understand the nature of desire itself, not to suppress it. Anger is merely a symptom that indicates you are a slave to your desires and lack discrimination (vivek). You make anything your desire, even things that are not worth desiring. When asked about a person whose anger makes the home a hell for others, Acharya Prashant states that those living with such a person have a desire to be with them. Their duty is to make an effort to purify that person. If the angry person is not purified, their negativity will spread like a contagious disease. The entire environment must be changed.
