Bg 16.21
tri-vidhaṁ narakasyedaṁ dvāraṁ nāśanam ātmanaḥ
kāmaḥ krodhas tathā lobhas tasmād etat trayaṁ tyajet
Bg 16.22
etair vimuktaḥ kaunteya tamo-dvārais tribhir naraḥ
ācaraty ātmanaḥ śreyas tato yāti parāṁ gatim
Translation
21. These three are the gates of hell, destructive of the Self --- lust, anger and greed; therefore, one should abandon these three.
22. A man who is liberated from these three gates to darkness, O Kaunteya, practises what is good for him and thus goes to the Supreme Goal.
Commentary
The Lord indicates here that there are three gateways to reach HELL. Earlier in a stanza, in the very same chapter, He described that HELL and HEAVEN are conditions created by the mind only; they are merely subjective experiences in life, and the three false values mentioned here are the main causes of the former.
DESIRE, ANGER, GREED --- The main theme of the entire chapter is to call man away from a life of sense-gratification into the ampler fields of desireless actions and egoless perfections.
Where there is desire, anger is a natural corollary. The constant flying of an individual's thoughts towards an object of gratification is called 'desire,' and when the steady flow of these thoughts of aggrandisement and possession are deflected by some obstacle, the refracted thoughts are called 'anger.' When disappointed in desire-gratifications, a storm of revolt rises in the mind, as a consequence of which anger soars up to toss, wreck and sink the boat of life.
If ANGER is thus the thought-storm arising in our mind at the disappointment of a desire, GREED is the erosion of our mental strength and inner peace when desires are more and more satiated. When a desire gets fulfilled, an insatiable thirst for more and more joy holds the individual, and this endless appetite ruins the mental strength and saps dry the personality-vitality in the individual. Greed is a sense of dissatisfaction constantly pursuing and poisoning the sense of satisfaction that we have already experienced. In an undisciplined man, there can be no satisfaction at any time; even when his desires are satisfied he is unhappy, because his appetite for enjoyment is thereby sharpened and he hungers for more; if the desires are throttled, the disappointment brings into him anger, and he suffers the consequent wretchedness.
If this logic about the action and interaction between desire, anger, and greed is accepted, then we are forced to accept Krishna's conclusion in this stanza: "THEREFORE ONE SHOULD FORSAKE THESE THREE."
HERE FOLLOWS THE PRAISE OF THE RENUNCIATION OF EGO, ANGER AND GREED:
Those who are avoiding all the three gateways to hell are complimented here. It is promised that those who avoid derailing themselves into any of these dangerous by-paths of self-exploitation and self-ruination, will steadily progress on the straight path to their life's goal. To wander into fields of desire, anger and greed is to dissipate our energies. Devoid of the divine vitality of a fully grown and well-balanced human personality, the seeker feels fatigued and not strong enough to meet the terrible challenges that arise from within himself. To overcome the strong temptations of the sense-objects, the mind and intellect should re-charge the individual's inner abilities with which the individual can strive hard and effectively achieve self-expansion. He who is avoiding THESE THREE GATES OF DARKNESS --- which are sure to lead him into deeper and deeper confusions and despairs and ultimately take him to the sub-human level of existence --- will be, it is promised here, practising WHAT IS GOOD FOR HIM.
The term 'Shreyas' has no equivalent word of the same import in English. It does not merely mean 'good' but it has a deeper and wider import in Sanskrit. Shreyas, when practised, not only brings happiness to the practitioner, but also contributes much to the well-being of the people around him.
Progressing thus in the right direction, the individual "GOES TO THE GOAL SUPREME." Cultural unfoldment cannot be a miraculous overnight development. The bud should grow, open and bloom, under the careful nourishment of steady discipline, vigorous study and perfect understanding. The unfoldment is more delicate than that of a flower.
This stanza explains to the seeker what is to be avoided by him and indicates how he will thereby have a positive development and inner growth. But it may be asked how a POSITIVE growth can be effected as a result of a NEGATIVE act of denial. Avoiding bad food can preserve health but it cannot give the positive joy of taking a healthy full dinner. Similarly, avoiding the dissipation of our energies through desire, anger and greed, would, perhaps, end all our agitations caused by these three. But how can that create any positive development in ourselves? The Geeta preaches a positive way-of-life; and the stanza, as it stands, suggests this positive achievement when it says that such an individual "PRACTISES WHAT IS GOOD FOR HIM."
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
tri-vidhaṁ narakasyedaṁ dvāraṁ nāśanam ātmanaḥ
kāmaḥ krodhas tathā lobhas tasmād etat trayaṁ tyajet
Bg 16.22
etair vimuktaḥ kaunteya tamo-dvārais tribhir naraḥ
ācaraty ātmanaḥ śreyas tato yāti parāṁ gatim
Translation
21. These three are the gates of hell, destructive of the Self --- lust, anger and greed; therefore, one should abandon these three.
22. A man who is liberated from these three gates to darkness, O Kaunteya, practises what is good for him and thus goes to the Supreme Goal.
Commentary
The Lord indicates here that there are three gateways to reach HELL. Earlier in a stanza, in the very same chapter, He described that HELL and HEAVEN are conditions created by the mind only; they are merely subjective experiences in life, and the three false values mentioned here are the main causes of the former.
DESIRE, ANGER, GREED --- The main theme of the entire chapter is to call man away from a life of sense-gratification into the ampler fields of desireless actions and egoless perfections.
Where there is desire, anger is a natural corollary. The constant flying of an individual's thoughts towards an object of gratification is called 'desire,' and when the steady flow of these thoughts of aggrandisement and possession are deflected by some obstacle, the refracted thoughts are called 'anger.' When disappointed in desire-gratifications, a storm of revolt rises in the mind, as a consequence of which anger soars up to toss, wreck and sink the boat of life.
If ANGER is thus the thought-storm arising in our mind at the disappointment of a desire, GREED is the erosion of our mental strength and inner peace when desires are more and more satiated. When a desire gets fulfilled, an insatiable thirst for more and more joy holds the individual, and this endless appetite ruins the mental strength and saps dry the personality-vitality in the individual. Greed is a sense of dissatisfaction constantly pursuing and poisoning the sense of satisfaction that we have already experienced. In an undisciplined man, there can be no satisfaction at any time; even when his desires are satisfied he is unhappy, because his appetite for enjoyment is thereby sharpened and he hungers for more; if the desires are throttled, the disappointment brings into him anger, and he suffers the consequent wretchedness.
If this logic about the action and interaction between desire, anger, and greed is accepted, then we are forced to accept Krishna's conclusion in this stanza: "THEREFORE ONE SHOULD FORSAKE THESE THREE."
HERE FOLLOWS THE PRAISE OF THE RENUNCIATION OF EGO, ANGER AND GREED:
Those who are avoiding all the three gateways to hell are complimented here. It is promised that those who avoid derailing themselves into any of these dangerous by-paths of self-exploitation and self-ruination, will steadily progress on the straight path to their life's goal. To wander into fields of desire, anger and greed is to dissipate our energies. Devoid of the divine vitality of a fully grown and well-balanced human personality, the seeker feels fatigued and not strong enough to meet the terrible challenges that arise from within himself. To overcome the strong temptations of the sense-objects, the mind and intellect should re-charge the individual's inner abilities with which the individual can strive hard and effectively achieve self-expansion. He who is avoiding THESE THREE GATES OF DARKNESS --- which are sure to lead him into deeper and deeper confusions and despairs and ultimately take him to the sub-human level of existence --- will be, it is promised here, practising WHAT IS GOOD FOR HIM.
The term 'Shreyas' has no equivalent word of the same import in English. It does not merely mean 'good' but it has a deeper and wider import in Sanskrit. Shreyas, when practised, not only brings happiness to the practitioner, but also contributes much to the well-being of the people around him.
Progressing thus in the right direction, the individual "GOES TO THE GOAL SUPREME." Cultural unfoldment cannot be a miraculous overnight development. The bud should grow, open and bloom, under the careful nourishment of steady discipline, vigorous study and perfect understanding. The unfoldment is more delicate than that of a flower.
This stanza explains to the seeker what is to be avoided by him and indicates how he will thereby have a positive development and inner growth. But it may be asked how a POSITIVE growth can be effected as a result of a NEGATIVE act of denial. Avoiding bad food can preserve health but it cannot give the positive joy of taking a healthy full dinner. Similarly, avoiding the dissipation of our energies through desire, anger and greed, would, perhaps, end all our agitations caused by these three. But how can that create any positive development in ourselves? The Geeta preaches a positive way-of-life; and the stanza, as it stands, suggests this positive achievement when it says that such an individual "PRACTISES WHAT IS GOOD FOR HIM."
Sources: vedabase.com; The Holy Geeta
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