Anxiety — Understand It, and It Can Make You a Hero or Make You Sick
The word "anxiety" alone doesn't reveal its true impact. So let's first look at what it actually feels like as a lived experience.
It is a state of mind where thoughts don't stop — they run on, uncontrolled and relentless. At the physical level, its effects show up as sleeplessness, a constant restlessness to keep doing something. In villages, people describe it as "not being able to sit still." Some people also report symptoms like a sudden surge of anger, a sudden surge of curiosity, a sudden urge to walk, a sudden surge of unknown fear — all of these are described as manifestations of anxiety.
Now, if you look at all these symptoms, they seem deeply contradictory to one another. Yet there is one thing common to all of them — and that is the "surge."
This surge ultimately attaches itself to some activity. In modern life, it might latch onto smoking, mobile scrolling, talking, dancing, jumping, and so on.
The key is the surge.
So let's focus on this surge. If it can be arrested in time, the damage can be completely stopped. In electrical engineering, there is a device called a "surge arrester" — as its name suggests, it prevents the surge from passing further into the electrical transmission system.
If you have exactly this kind of surge arrester within yourself, then anxiety can be kept completely under control.
This state of mental agitation cannot be destroyed. You simply need to divert it in a constructive direction so that it can do some productive work.
How do you do that?
Thousands of methods and techniques exist, all with the core objective of a "cognitive shift" — meaning, simply redirect the surge toward something else: start praying, start writing, start listening to music, chant a mantra, and so on. But all of these are designed only to pass the time of the surge without addressing its cause or the surge itself. So after a few attempts, they stop working.
Let's go deeper. If a sudden surge arises, it means something has already begun *inside* to produce that surge. Let's try to see that.
Watch — like a witness — as the sudden surge comes, forcing you to scroll your phone, smoke, speak, write, or walk. And then try to find: *from where is this surge impulse coming?*
A study found that if you somehow manage to stay with the impulse and *not* flow into the surge for just *3 minutes*, that impulse naturally dies down on its own.
Once it becomes your practice to dissolve the impulse this way, there is no way the surge can drive you anymore. And then there is no need for any method at all.
*If we try to understand the root cause of this impulsive surge, the door of Freedom opens — a Mukti, a Moksha.*
The more you explore, the more you will find that *bondage* is the real cause. Bondage to life, to society, to attachments, to objects, to relationships, to family, to work — to all worldly matters outside. These are all bondages.
Every achievement in the worldly realm brings momentary joy — and at the same time, it produces an equal amount of bondage inside, as if to maintain a balance.
And this cumulative bondage is the sole reason for anxiety.
The amazing fact is this: bondage cannot cling to you on its own. *We ourselves cling to bondage.* Out of unawareness, we fall into the pond of bondage ourselves — and only when we begin to suffer mentally and physically do we start wondering what we have done.
One more important point: *bondage is not evil.* What is evil is *our attachment* to bondage — the clinging that comes from our side.
Now, coming back to anxiety — one might ask: if anxiety is so harmful, why did God create it?
But anxiety is *not bad at all.In fact, it is the very cause of the warrior instinct.* A person enters fight-or-flight mode precisely because of the surge. An aware person uses this surge to produce unique solutions, innovations that help nature and society. Without the surge, that would be impossible.
It only becomes a problem when it is uncontrolled — just like nuclear fusion. When controlled, it produces power and energy. When uncontrolled, it produces explosions.
So whenever you feel anxious, or notice symptoms of anxiety — *just stop and watch inside, like a witness. Observe from where the surge is coming.*
*A Quick Experiment — The TKC Method*
Here is something you can try right away to observe and manage this anxious behavior:
The moment thoughts begin to propel — *exhale. Fully exhale.* Then hold the breath outside (after the exhale) for as long as comfortably possible. Then, without effort, let the breath come in naturally. Initially, with some gentle effort, guide this incoming breath down into the belly only. Then exhale again — with more focus on the exhale, and the inhale as natural and effortless as possible. Try to gradually increase the duration of holding the breath outside: initially around 20 seconds, then with practice, up to 2 minutes.
After 5 to 10 cycles of this, you will feel something amazing has happened inside you.
I call each cycle a *TKC — Thought Killing Capsule.*
- For light-level anxiety: *2 to 3 TKCs*
- For mild-level anxiety: *5 to 6 TKCs*
- For deep-level anxiety: *8 to 10 TKCs*
This method is remarkable — do try it.
*This method is like the control rod of a nuclear reactor — for thoughts.*
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