Category Archives: krodhaha

Bhagavad Gita Verse 21, Chapter 16

16 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by in 16.21, aatmanaha, chapter 16 verse 21, dvaaram, idam, kaamaha, krodhaha, lobhaha, naashanam, narakasya, tasmaat, trayam, trividham, tyajet

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trividham narakasyedam dvaaram naashanamaatmanaha |
kaamaha krodhastathaa lobhastasmaadetattrayam tyajet || 21 ||
 
Three gates of hell cause one’s destruction, desire, anger and greed. Therefore, give up these three.
 
trividham : three
narakasya : hell
idam : these
dvaaram : gates
naashanam : destructive
aatmanaha : oneself
kaamaha : desire
krodhaha : anger
tathaa : and
lobhaha : greed
tasmaat : therefore
etat : these
trayam : three
tyajet : give up
 
Like a good teacher, Shri Krishna summarizes the entire chapter comprising the rather lengthy list of devilish qualities into three main ones: desire, anger and greed. He says that we always need to watch out for these three qualities in our daily lives, and minimize them as much as possible. He calls them gateways into hell, because they lead to the path of destruction rather than the path of liberation. Even the order of these three is important, because both anger and greed follow desire.
 
The second chapter explained how kaama or desire comes into our lives. Dhyavato vishayaan, by constantly thinking of an object (or a person or a situation), we develop an association with it. If carried on for long, this association results in a desire to procure that object. If anyone or anything comes between us and the object, we develop anger. And once we have the object, once our desire is fulfilled, we want more of the object. This results in greed.
 
So then, how do we tackle these three gates of hell? Let us first look at kaama or desire. If desire develops through contemplation of objects, we can reduce desire to a certain extent by keeping a watch on what we expose our mind to. For example, we can go to the mall with a shopping list rather than wander around shops that we don’t need anything from. But the root of desire is the labelling of objects as desirable by our mind. This labelling or superimposition is known as “shobhana adhyaasa”. It is why the same dress looks desirable to one person and irrelevant to another, since objects by themselves are not desirable. Controlling and convincing the mind through study of scriptures and meditation helps to reduce this labelling.
 
Desire is somewhat easy to control, but once we are in the grip of anger, it becomes somewhat difficult to do so. At least we do not publicly display our desires, but we do not hesitate to show our anger publicly. We require tremendous control over our mind in order to release ourselves from the grip of anger. It is therefore better to focus on rooting out unnecessary desires than to confront anger directly.
 
Lastly, lobha or greed can be kept in check through charity. Anytime we start feeling pride over our wealth or possessions, we should immediately donate a portion of our wealth or possessions. How exactly we should do so is covered in the next chapter.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 4, Chapter 16

30 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by in 16.4, aasureem, abhijaatasya, abhimaanaha, ajnyaanam, chapter 16 verse 4, dambhaha, darpaha, krodhaha, paartha, paarushyam, sampadam

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dambho darpobhimaanashcha krodhaha paarushyameva cha |
ajnyaanam chaabhijaatasya paartha sampadamaasureem || 4 ||
 
Ostentation, arrogance, exaggerated self worth, and anger, insolence and also ignorance, these are found in one who has obtained devilish qualities, O Paartha.
 
dambhaha : ostentation
darpaha : arrogance
abhimaanaha : exaggerated self worth
cha : and
krodhaha : anger
paarushyam : insolence
eva : also
cha : and
ajnyaanam : ignorance
cha : and
abhijaatasya : one who has obtained
paartha : O Paartha
sampadam : qualities
aasureem : devilish
 
Having supplied a long list of divine qualities, Shri Krishna begins listing the aasuri sampatti, the devilish or diabolical qualities. Asuras are portrayed as fearsome demons with long teeth and horns in comic books and TV shows. But the word asura means one who places sense enjoyment as his highest goals. Any ordinary looking human being can be an asura, if he constantly dwells in sense pleasures.
 
Projecting an image of ourselves to be larger, to be different than what we really are dambaha. There are people who portray themselves to be smarter, wiser and accomplished than they really are. Or, there are others who cover up their misdeeds by portraying themselves as god fearing and so on. Broadly speaking, such people try to change what they have through cover-up rather than work hard and perform actions that will give them better results.
 
Darpa refers to arrogance and pride over our possessions, and the subsequent putting down of others who may not have what we have. These people not only hurt others by their insults, they hurt themselves as well. Instead of weakening their notions of me and mine, which become obstacles to spiritual growth, such people strengthen them. Krodha refers to anger. Specifically, it is the thought that gives a kind of satisfaction after having yelled at someone who has wronged us, instead of the thought that wants to solve a concern, or to help that other person.
 
Next, Shri Krishna mentions paarushyam, which means insolence or harshness, as a diabolical quality. Harshness can occur at the body and speech level. Elbowing our way to the front of a crowded line is harshness at the body level. Using bitter and taunting language is harshness at the speech level. Pointing out someone’s faults in front of everyone is harshness at the speech level.
 
The primary devilish quality is that of ajnyaanam or ignorance. From a day to day standpoint, not knowing which action is right versus which action is to be avoided, this is ignorance. Chasing momentary pleasures in the material world without regards to actions and consequences constitutes ignorances. From an absolute standpoint, it is the ignorance of our true nature as existence, awareness and joy that is the fundamental devilish quality.