Polishing the Mirror: Freeing Yourself of Anger
By: Amrita Matz
In Polishing Away the Anger, Ram Dass shares a powerful encounter with Maharajji during a time when he had become consumed by anger toward the other Western devotees around him. Eventually it boiled over. Feeling unable to tolerate what he saw in others—or even in himself—he went to Maharajji in tears and confessed that Maharajji seemed to be the only person he could love.
Maharajji brought him back to one of his simplest and most demanding teachings: “Love everyone and tell the truth.” Ram Dass protested that the truth was that he simply didn’t love everyone. But in Maharajji’s presence, something deeper began to reveal itself. Beneath all the judgment and anger was love. Maharajji told him, “Sometimes the most anger reflects the strongest love.”
Then came the teaching Ram Dass would carry with him for decades: “You must polish the mirror free of anger to see God. If you give up a little anger each day, I will help you.” Ram Dass accepted the bargain. Twenty-three years later, he wrote that the impurities had not disappeared as quickly as he might have wished—but slowly, very slowly, Maharajji’s work continued.
It is such a beautiful reminder that Maharajji was not asking us to pretend we never feel anger, judgment, or frustration. He was pointing toward what lies beneath them—and inviting us, little by little, to clear away whatever keeps us from seeing the love that is already there.
I especially like that this doesn’t sanitize Ram Dass’s anger. The whole power of the story is that Maharajji meets him right in the middle of it and gives him a practice rather than demanding instant perfection.
