क्रोध

Krodha (क्रोध) means anger. Verse 2.62 says that from desire, anger is born. Many traditional readings add that anger flares when desire meets an obstacle; that addition is not written separately in the words of the verse, but it agrees with experience.

The next verse, 2.63, shows what follows: from anger comes bewilderment, from bewilderment confusion of memory, from that the loss of discernment, and from that a fall. So the Gita does not treat anger as a lone event; it is a link in the middle of a chain, and the links after it cloud understanding itself. That is why the cheapest time to work against anger is in the links before it.

In verse 5.23 the Gita says that one who, in this very life, can bear the surge arising from desire and anger is united in yoga and happy.

Common misreading: pushing anger down by force and treating that as the remedy.

Better sense: recognising the surge as it comes, feeling it, not acting at its bidding and watching it subside. Suppressed anger tends to come back as bitterness or as a sharp joke.

To read more, see the topic "From Thought to Ruin".