Upanishads · Yājñavalkya 20
॥
Devanāgarī
अपकारिणि कोपश्चेत्कोपे कोपः कथं न ते । धर्मार्थकाममोक्षाणां प्रसह्य परिपन्थिनि
Transliteration (IAST)
apakāriṇi kopaścetkope kopaḥ kathaṃ na te | dharmārthakāmamokṣāṇāṃ prasahya paripanthini
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अपकारिणि कोपः चेत्apakāriṇi kopaḥ cetif there is anger at one doing harm
कोपे कोपः कथं न तेkope kopaḥ kathaṃ na tehow then is there no anger for you at anger
धर्म-अर्थ-काम-मोक्षाणांdharma-artha-kāma-mokṣāṇāṃof law, wealth, desire, and freedom
प्रसह्य परिपन्थिनिprasahya paripanthinithe one forcibly obstructing them
Translation
If there is anger at one doing harm, how then is there no anger in you at anger, which forcibly obstructs law, wealth, desire, and freedom?
Version
4edc5479bdd2 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second argument, and it is, to my mind, the wittiest in the whole book: kope kopaḥ kathaṃ na te, "how then is there no anger in you at anger." The construction is this: you are angry at one who harms you; but anger harms more than any enemy, for it takes away all four of a person's goals — law, wealth, desire, and freedom; why, then, are you not angry at it? This argument turns the weapon against itself and is therefore irrefutable.
It is worth noting the list too: dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa, the four goals discussed when reading the Gaṇapati (11.2). Anger is called an obstruction to all four — that is, to both the worldly and the highest. The angry person loses both gain and pleasure, and good name, and the path.
Let us add what the Gītā says of anger, for its analysis is more detailed and worth citing. "From reflection on objects arises attachment; from attachment, desire; from desire, anger; from anger, delusion; from delusion, loss of memory; from loss of memory, the ruin of discernment; and with the ruin of discernment, he himself perishes" (2.62–63). This ladder is worth knowing by heart, for in it the whole chain is named: reflection — attachment — desire — anger — delusion — forgetting — ruin.
It is worth noting that anger stands in the middle of the chain, not at its beginning: it is a consequence of unfulfilled desire, not an independent vice. Hence treating it directly is useless; it is treated further up the chain — where attachment begins.