ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>KRODH (Skt. krodha)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="KRODH"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279KRODH (Skt. <i>krodha</i>) or wrath is an emotion recognized in the Sikh system as a spring of conation and is as such counted as one of the Five Evils. It expresses itself in several forms from silent sullenness to hysterical tantrums and violence. In Sikh Scripture <i>krodh</i> usually appears in combination with <i>k&#257m</i> --- as <i>k&#257m krodh</i>. The coalescence is not simply for the sake of alliterative effect. <i>Krodh</i> (ire) is the direct progeny of <i>k&#257m</i> (desire). The latter when thwarted or jilted produces the former. The Scripture also counts <i>krodh</i> (or its synonym <i>kop</i>) among the four rivers of fire. "Violence, attachment, covetousness and wrath," says Gur&#363 N&#257nak "are like four rivers of fire; those who fall in them burn, and can swim across, O N&#257nak, only through God's grace" (GG, 147). Elsewhere he says, "<i>K&#257m</i> and <i>krodh</i> dissolve the body as borax melts gold" (GG, 932). Gur&#363 Arjan, N&#257nak V, censures <i>krodh</i> in these words: "O <i>krodh</i>, thou enslavest sinful men and then caperest around them like an ape. In thy company men become base and are punished variously by Death's messengers. The Merciful God, the Eradicator of the sufferings of the humble, O N&#257nak, alone saveth all" (GG, 1358). Gur&#363 R&#257m D&#257s, N&#257nak IV, warns : "Do not go near those who are possessed by wrath uncontrollable" (GG, 40). <i>Krodh</i> is to be vanquished and eradicated. This is done through humility and firm faith in the Divine. Gur&#363 Arjan's prescription : "Do not be angry with any one; search your own self and live in the world with humility. Thus, O N&#257nak, you may go across (the ocean of existence) under God's grace" (GG, 259). Shai<u>kh</u> Far&#299d, a thirteenth-century Muslim saint whose compositions are preserved in the Sikh Scripture, says in one of his couplets: "O Far&#299d, do good to him who hath done thee evil and do not nurse anger in thy heart; no disease will then afflict thy body and all felicities shall be thine" (GG, 1381-82). Righteous indignation against evil, injustice and tyranny is, however, not to be equated with <i>krodh</i> as an undesirable passion. Several hymns in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, particularly those by Gur&#363 N&#257nak and Kab&#299r, express in strong terms their disapproval of the corruption of their day.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"><i>&#346abad&#257rth Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib J&#299</i>. Amritsar, 1964<BR> <li class="C1"> Jodh Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>Gurmat Nir&#7751aya</i>. Ludhiana, 1932<BR> <li class="C1"> Sher Singh, <i>The Philosophy of Sikhism</i>. Lahore, 1944<BR> <li class="C1"> Avtar Singh, <i>Ethics of the Sikhs</i>. Patiala, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"> Nirbhai Singh, <i>Philosophy of Sikhism</i>. Delhi, 1990<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">L. M. Joshi<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>