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.
Showing posts with label naashanam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label naashanam. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Bhagavad Gita Verse 41, Chapter 3
tasmaattvamindriyaanyaadau niyamya bharatarshabha |
paapmaanam prajahi hyonam jnyaanavijnyaananaashanam || 41 ||
Therefore, first control the senses, O excellent among Bharataas, and with force, definitely kill this destroyer of knowledge and wisdom.
tasmaat : therefore
tvam : you
indriyaani : senses
adau : first
niyamya : control
bharatarshabha : excellent among Bharataas
paapmaanam : mighty sinner (desires)
prajahi : kill with force
hi : definitely
enam : this
jnyaana : knowledge
vijnyaana : wisdom
naashanam : destroyer
Having revealed the location of desire, Shri Krishna now provides a method of taming desire. He advises Arjuna to first control desire at the level of the senses. Desires originate in the likes and dislikes present in the senses, and therefore, that is where we should go after them.
This requires us to be constantly aware and alert of our likes and dislikes, and not to get overpowered by them once we see them arise. For example, we can detect anger towards someone we dislike arise in our mind. We may try to suppress angry thoughts, but that is not feasible. Therefore we should first learn to control anger at level of the tongue by not speaking any harsh words towards that person.
How do we remain alert? There are several techniques to make us alert and bring us to the present moment. The simplest technique is to take a few breaths and just focus attention on the inhaling and exhaling. This will immediately stop all mental "chatter".
Shri Krishna also mentions here that desire not only destroys knowledge but also wisdom. So let us correctly understand what is meant by wisdom here. Essentially, knowledge + experience = wisdom. If we read something in a book, then it is knowledge. But if we experience something on our own, then we own it and it becomes wisdom.
With this shloka, Shri Krishna answered the question raised by Arjuna, which was in regards to obstacles to karma yoga. He also provided a simple technique that only begins to address the obstacles, but does not completely eradicate them. In the next two verses, he concludes the topic of karmayoga by providing the advanced technique of removing these obstacles.
paapmaanam prajahi hyonam jnyaanavijnyaananaashanam || 41 ||
Therefore, first control the senses, O excellent among Bharataas, and with force, definitely kill this destroyer of knowledge and wisdom.
tasmaat : therefore
tvam : you
indriyaani : senses
adau : first
niyamya : control
bharatarshabha : excellent among Bharataas
paapmaanam : mighty sinner (desires)
prajahi : kill with force
hi : definitely
enam : this
jnyaana : knowledge
vijnyaana : wisdom
naashanam : destroyer
Having revealed the location of desire, Shri Krishna now provides a method of taming desire. He advises Arjuna to first control desire at the level of the senses. Desires originate in the likes and dislikes present in the senses, and therefore, that is where we should go after them.
This requires us to be constantly aware and alert of our likes and dislikes, and not to get overpowered by them once we see them arise. For example, we can detect anger towards someone we dislike arise in our mind. We may try to suppress angry thoughts, but that is not feasible. Therefore we should first learn to control anger at level of the tongue by not speaking any harsh words towards that person.
How do we remain alert? There are several techniques to make us alert and bring us to the present moment. The simplest technique is to take a few breaths and just focus attention on the inhaling and exhaling. This will immediately stop all mental "chatter".
Shri Krishna also mentions here that desire not only destroys knowledge but also wisdom. So let us correctly understand what is meant by wisdom here. Essentially, knowledge + experience = wisdom. If we read something in a book, then it is knowledge. But if we experience something on our own, then we own it and it becomes wisdom.
With this shloka, Shri Krishna answered the question raised by Arjuna, which was in regards to obstacles to karma yoga. He also provided a simple technique that only begins to address the obstacles, but does not completely eradicate them. In the next two verses, he concludes the topic of karmayoga by providing the advanced technique of removing these obstacles.
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