What Hinduism say about greed (lobha) (Bhagavad Gita) (how to deal it) | Why do bad things happen in Hinduism? | How to overcome suffering in Hinduism? | What is Moha in Hinduism
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Just before moving towards to know about “What Hinduism say about greed (lobha) (Bhagavad Gita) (how to deal it) | Why do bad things happen in Hinduism? | How to overcome suffering in Hinduism? | What is Moha in Hinduism“, let us know a brief, basic and very important information.
Lobha (Greed) is one among the arishadvarga or shadripu (six enemies) and others been Kama (desire / passion), Krodha (anger), Moha (bondage), Mada (ego / pride), and Matsarya (jealous). Lobha in Sanskrit literally means greed or covetousness.
Greed or covetousness (lobha) is excessive desire, especially the desire to appropriate what belongs to others against the principles of Hindu Sanatana Dharma. It is a never ending disease. It is a state of mind that is not satisfied even though it has what it wants.
Sometimes greed (lobha) tempts people to do immoral, illegal and unethical (someone which is against Dharma) things in pursuit of earning more wealth, woman and land. Being unsatisfied even after obtaining the object of desire means that the person is greedy (lobhi).
Let us understand greed (lobha) by taking few examples from the Bhagavad Gita and also knowing few stories about the greed (lobha) from the Puranas.
In Bhagavad Gita sloka (verse) 14.17 – Lord Sri Krishna says to Arjuna that:
सत्त्वात् संजयते ज्ञानं रजसो लोभ एव च |
प्रमादमोहौ तमासो भवतोSज्ञानमेव च || 14.17 ||
ಸತ್ತ್ವಾತ್ ಸಂಜಾಯತೇ ಜ್ಞಾನಂ ರಜಸೋ ಲೋಭ ಏವ ಚ |
ಪ್ರಮಾದಮೋಹೌ ತಮಸೋ ಭವತೋSಜ್ಞಾನಮೇವ ಚ || 14.17 ||
Sattvāt san̄jāyatē jñānaṁ rajasō lōbha ēva ca |
pramādamōhau tamasō bhavatōSjñānamēva ca || 14.17 ||
Word to word sloka meaning : sattvāt—from the mode of goodness; sañjāyate—arises; jñānam—knowledge; rajasaḥ—from the mode of passion; lobhaḥ—greed; eva—indeed; cha—and; pramāda—negligence; mohau—delusion; tamasaḥ—from the mode of ignorance; bhavataḥ—arise; ajñānam—ignorance; eva—indeed; cha—and
Brief meaning of the sloka : From simplicity and goodness comes knowledge, from the passion of desire greed takes birth, from ignorance comes negligence and delusion.
Elaborate meaning of the sloka : Those influenced by Satvika Guna (quality) have a measure of purity, virtue, knowledge and selflessness. Therefore, their actions are performed with relatively pure intentions and the results are uplifting and satisfying.
Those affected by Rajasika Guna (quality) are agitated by the desires of their greed, senses and mind. The motive behind their works is primarily self-admiration and sense-gratification for themselves and their dependents. Thus, their works lead to the enjoyment of sensual pleasures, which further fuel their sensual desires.
And those who are dominated by Tamasika Guna (quality) have no respect for scriptural injunctions and codes of conduct. They commit sinful acts to enjoy perverted pleasures, which plunge them further into delusion.
In Bhagavad Gita sloka (verse) 16.21 – Lord Sri Krishna says to Arjuna that:
त्रिविधं नरकस्येदं द्वारं नाशनमात्मन: |
काम: क्रोधस्तथा लोभस्तस्मादेतत्त्रयं त्यजेत् || 16.21 ||
ತ್ರಿವಿಧಂ ನರಕಸ್ಯೇದಂ ದ್ವಾರಂ ನಾಶನಮಾತ್ಮನ: |
ಕಾಮ: ಕ್ರೋಧಸ್ತಥಾ ಲೋಭಸ್ತಸ್ಮಾದೇತತ್ತ್ರಯಂ ತ್ಯಜೇತ್ || 16.21 ||
Trividhaṁ narakasyēdaṁ dvāraṁ nāśanamātmana: |
Kāma: Krōdhastathā lōbhastasmādētattrayaṁ tyajēt || 16.21 ||
Word to word sloka meaning : tri-vidham—three types of; narakasya—to the hell; idam—this; dvāram—gates; nāśhanam—destruction; ātmanaḥ—self; kāmaḥ—lust; krodhaḥ—anger; tathā—and; lobhaḥ—greed; tasmāt—therefore; etat—these; trayam—three; tyajet—should abandon
Brief meaning of the sloka : The atma (soul) has three gates to the Naraka (Hell) of self-destruction, that is – lust, anger, and greed. Therefore, all three should be abandoned.
Elaborate meaning of the sloka : Lord Sri Krishna in this sloka explains the origin of the demonic nature of humans and identifies lust, anger and greed as the three causes. Lord Sri Krishna says that lust, which later transforms into anger, is the all-consuming enemy of the world.
Lust, anger and greed together are the foundations for the development of demonic vices. They become embedded in the mind and make a suitable ground for all other vices to take root.
As a result, Lord Sri Krishna names them as the open and entry free gates of Naraka (Hell) and strongly advises them to avoid them to shun self-destruction. Those who seek welfare must learn to fear these three and carefully avoid their presence in their own personality.
In Bhagavad Gita sloka (verse) 2.71 – Lord Sri Krishna says to Arjuna that:
विहाय कामान्य: सर्वान्पुमांश्चरति नि:स्पृह: |
निर्ममो निरहङ्कार: स शान्तिमधिगच्छति || 2.71 ||
ವಿಹಾಯ ಕಾಮಾನ್ಯ: ಸರ್ವಾನ್ಪುಮಾಂಶ್ಚರತಿ ನಿ:ಸ್ಪೃಹ: |
ನಿರ್ಮಮೋ ನಿರಹಂಕಾರ: ಸ ಶಾಂತಿಮಧಿಗಚ್ಛತಿ || 2.71 ||
Vihāya kāmān’ya: Sarvānpumānścarati ni:Spr̥ha: |
Nirmamō nirahaṅkāra: Sa śāntimadhigacchati || 2.71 ||
Word to word sloka meaning : vihāya—giving up; kāmān—material desires; yaḥ—who; sarvān—all; pumān—a person; charati—lives; niḥspṛihaḥ—free from hankering; nirmamaḥ—without a sense of proprietorship; nirahankāraḥ—without ego; saḥ—that person; śhāntim—perfect peace; adhigachchhati—attains
Brief meaning of the sloka : A person who renounces all material (mundane) desires and lives free from greed, possessiveness and egoism attains perfect peace.
Elaborate meaning of the sloka : In this sloka (verse), the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna lists the things that disturb one’s peace and then asks Arjuna to give them up.
Material (Mundane) desires – The moment we have desire, we walk into the trap of greed and anger. Either way, we get caught. So the path to inner peace does not lie in fulfilling desires, but in getting rid of them.
Greed (covetousness) – First, greed (covetousness) for material progress is a waste of time. Second, it’s an endless chase. In developed countries, few people are deprived enough to eat and clothe themselves, and yet they suffer. This is because their longing is still unsatisfied. Thus, those who have the wealth of contentment have the greatest wealth of life.
Ego (pride) – Most of the fights between people are born out of ego and pride. Nowadays it is common that “Most corporate executives have humongous ego and pride”.
Statistics reveal that most executives who lose their jobs at the senior management level, do so not because of professional incompetence, but because of interpersonal problems like ego and pride. The way to peace is not to nurture and increase ego and pride, but to eliminate it.
Ownership – The feeling of ownership is based on ignorance because the whole world belongs to Lord Sri Krishna (Vishnu). We came into the world empty-handed and we return empty-handed. So how can we think of worldly things as ours?
True story of Srinivasa Nayaka (Purandara Dasa – An avatar of Devarishi Narada) and his greed is as given below:
Here is a true story of how an insatiable greedy person in his life was transformed into a great donor and became a great devotee of Lord Sri Vishnu by the grace of Lord Sri Vishnu (Krishna) himself.
The main character in this story is called as Srinivasa Nayaka, who later became famous as Purandara Dasa or Dasaru (Kannada word). Purandara Dasa was born into a great Madhva Brahmin community in Kshempura village near Tirthahalli in Karnataka state.
Srinivasa Nayaka’s parents were Varadappa Nayaka and Rukmini (also known as Leelavati). Srinivasa Nayka was born into a wealthy family that traded in diamonds and gemstones, he received a good education and became proficient in Kannada, Sanskrit and classical music.
Srinivasa Nayaka married a pious and divine woman named Saraswati Bai. As Srinivasa Nayka’s father was old, he took care of the whole business himself. Although Srinivasa Nayaka prospered in the said business and acquired abundant wealth, he was very greedy and covetous.
When Srinivasa Nayaka’s father falls ill and needs medicinal care, he refuses to spend money on the medicines to cure his father disease under the influence of his greed, thinking that his father is very old and will die one day anyway. Srinivasa Nayaka lost his parents when he was 20 years old.
Many years later, one day a poor Brahmin approached Srinivasa Nayaka with folded hands for help in need of money to perform his son’s Upanayanam (Yajnopaveetham / Janeu, wearing the sacred thread and initiation into the Gayatri Mantra) ceremony.
This poor Brahmin’s words were rejected by Srinivasa Nayaka and thus that poor Brahmin approached Saraswati Bai for help. She gave her precious नासाभरण (nāsābharaṇa) (nose ring) to that poor Brahmin, who went to Srinivasa Nayaka’s shop to sell it.
Recognizing the nose ring as his wife’s, Srinivasa Nayaka got angry and was eager to know the truth. Srinivasa Nayka went to his wife Saraswati and demanded that she show her nose immediately. Sensing her husband’s anger, she prepared poison in a pot to swallow it and end her life.
When Saraswati Bai was about to drink the poison, suddenly a nose ring appeared in the bowl. She gave it to her husband. Then, Srinivasa Nayaka immediately rushed to his shop and he found that the nose ring which the Brahmin had brought for sale was missing from the shop and also that poor Brahmin was not there either.
Srinivasa Nayaka could not sleep that whole night. He concluded that it must be Lord Sri Vishnu who appeared as a poor Brahmin for help. The next day he said to his wife: “You have opened my eyes, all my life I was blinded by the influence of greed and the desire to acquire more and more wealth”.
Srinivasa Nayaka continued – “Now with the same greed I was about to lose you today, what a miser I was. But how blessed you are to have selflessly given a nose ring jewel to a poor Brahmin, and you also showed immense mercy towards that poor Brahmin”.
From that day itself Srinivasa Nayaka had a great change of mind and from that very first day he started donating his wealth to the poor and needy. Saraswati Bai was very satisfied and delighted with the change of her husband.
Later Srinivasa Nayaka became an ardent devotee of Lord Sri Vishnu (Krishna) (Rama). After few days he met a great saint Sri Vyasaraja (Vyasatirtha), who initiated Srinivasa Nayaka into sannyasa, giving him the great and divine name ‘Purandara Dasa’.
Over time, he composed thousands of melodious hymns in praise of Lord Sri Vishnu and his different avatars. This realization made the heartless miser Srinivasa Nayaka into a great and divine saint called Purandara Dasa and gave him the eternal peace one should aspire for.
The story of Purandara Dasa (Srinivasa Nayaka) teaches us that we cannot experience true happiness in acquiring wealth as the ultimate goal of life. This aim makes us too greedy and heartless that not only do we lose love and respect from our near and dear ones, but the society hates us and shows us as miser.
Some people struggle with generosity because they worry that if they donate something to others, their wealth will not be enough or adequate for them and their family, and only God has a responsibility to take care of the poor as He gave them life on this earth.
In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Sri Krishna taught us that lust, anger and greed are the three gates to Naraka (Hell). With this moral lessons, let us try to earn our lives in a right way and not succumb to greed, so that we can escape the hellfire.
Even the Bhagavad Gita also adds that Lord Sri Vishnu (Krishna) loves a cheerful donor. However, make sure that our intention in giving is to help others and not to be blessed with more wealth, because it has already been given to us.
If Lord Sri Vishnu (Krishna) is giving us wealth and prosperity, He probably wants to use it as a tool in His hands to help poor and needy, and we should not show the greediness in our lives.
Let’s understand about greed (lobha) in Hinduism and how to deal it with an example from our Hindu Varaha Purana (King Durjaya’s greed / lobha story):
During Satya Yuga, there lived a king named Suprateeka (सुप्रतीक) (supratīka). Although he had two queens, yet none of them bore any son to him. One day, King Suprateeka went to meet Sage Durvasa (an avatar of Lord Shiva).
Sage Durvasa had his hermitage at the foothills of Chitrakuta mountain and the King Suprateeka had engaged himself in the service of the Sage Durvasa. The Sage Durvasa blessed the king and prophesized that he would become a proud father of a mighty son named Durjaya.
Sage Durvasa’s prophesy came true and King Suprateeka’s eldest queen Vidyutprabha gave birth to a son. The child was named Durjaya. In course of time, Durjaya grew up to become a worthy successor of King Suprateeka.
King Suprateeka decided to spend rest of his life in the service of Bhagavan Lord Sri Vishnu, so he went to Chitrakuta mountain to do tapasya (penance). Mean while, Durjaya being an ambitious king expanded his kingdom by subjugating all the neighboring states.
King Durjaya conquered numerous mighty kingdoms and vanquished almost all the prominent warrior castes like – Gandharvas, Kinnaras, demons and even the Devatas (Demigods).
Lord Sri Indra the lord of the Devatas (Demigods) (Deities) was defeated by King Durjaya and was forced to retreat towards east of Sumeru mountain along with the Lokpals – various Lords protecting different regions of the Universe.
The whole world went into turmoil as the fallout of Lokpal’s power being snatched by King Durjaya. While King Durjaya was returning to his capital along with his victorious army, he met two asuras (demons) namely Vidyuta and Suvidyuta, who had disguised themselves as Sages.
Both the impersonators requested King Durjaya to make some alternative arrangements so that the world could function smoothly. In reality, both of them harbored wishes of having the powers of Lokpal’s, so they offered their services in this regard.
King Durjaya, being unaware of their real identity agreed to appoint them as Lokpal’s and then proceeded towards his capital. While he was passing by, near the Mandarachala mountain, he saw two beautiful women.
King Durjaya was surprised to find them at such a deserted place. As he stood there wondering about their identity, he saw two hermits approaching him. Both the hermits asked King Durjaya – “Who are you? What is the purpose of your arrival?
King Durjaya introduced himself and told them that he was on his way to conquer the whole world. Now, it was the turn of both the Sages to introduce themselves –
“We are the sons of Swayambhuva Manu – Heti and Praheti. We had successfully defeated the deities and driven them out from their abode – Sumeru mountain.”
“All the deities went to seek the help of Bhagavan Lord Sri Vishnu and were successful in getting his assurance. Bhagavan Lord Sri Vishnu then attacked us and vanquished our army, but he spared our lives.”
“Then onwards we became ardent devotees of the merciful Bhagavan Lord Sri Vishnu. Heti, then pointing towards one of the women said – She is my daughter – Sukeshi. The other woman you see is my brother – Praheti’s daughter and her name is Mishrakeshi. Please accept both these beautiful ladies as your wives.”
King Durjaya readily agreed to marry both of them, as they were really very beautiful. He then returned to his capital. Everything was going quite smoothly for King Durjaya, when on one fateful day he met his downfall because of his extreme greed (lobha).
The incident happened as follows – Once, King Durjaya had gone into the forest on a hunting spree, where he met a Sage named Gauramukha. Sage Gauramukha had been blessed by Bhagavan Lord Sri Vishnu with a divine diamond named ‘Chintamani’ which was capable of fulfilling all desires.
Sage Gauramukha gave a royal treatment to King Durjaya with the help of wish-fulfilling diamond. Sage Gauramukha created an illusionary palace and offered variety of delicacies to King Durjaya as well as his whole army.
King Durjaya wanted to have Chintamani diamond at any cost and therefore sent his minister-Virochana to persuade Sage Gauramukha to part with that diamond.
Sage Gauramukha became furious after coming to know about the evil intention of King Durjaya and told Virochana to ask King Durjaya to leave at once.
But, Sage Gauramukha knew quite well that the greedy King Durjaya would not give up so easily and would definitely try to acquire Chintamani by force. So, he requested Chintamani diamond to create a huge army.
Meanwhile, King Durjaya ordered his chief-commander, named Neela to bring Chintamani at any cost. Neela proceeded with a large number of soldiers. A fierce battle took place between both the armies in which Neela was killed and his army got vanquished.
Finally, King Durjaya himself came forward to fight, but even he was defeated. In the meantime, Heti and Praheti got the news that their son-in-law was in trouble. Both of them proceeded with a huge army to help their son-in-law.
But, they were no match for the might of their adversary and both of them eventually died in the ensuing battle. Meanwhile, Sage Gauramukha found King Durjaya standing at the entrance of his hermitage with a small number of surviving soldiers.
Sage Gauramukha sought the help of Bhagavan Lord Sri Vishnu, who appeared within no time. Sage Gauramukha requested him to punish King Durjaya for his evil intention. Bhagavan Sri Vishnu severed King Durjaya’s head with his divine Sudarshan chakra.
The place where King Durjaya was killed later on became famous as Naimisharanya. Sage Gauramukha continued to live at Naimisharanya without any problem.
Let us take another example from our Puranas that is of a crow story as given below:
A black crow lived in the forest and was absolutely happy and satisfied in it’s life. But one day it saw a beautiful white swan. “This swan is so white,” crow thought, “and I am so black. This swan must be the happiest bird in the world.”
Crow expressed it’s thoughts to the swan. “But,” the white swan replied, “I was feeling that I was the happiest bird on earth, but when I saw parrot, which has two colors, now I think the parrot is the happiest bird in the whole world as it is more colorful than me.”
The crow then moved towards two colored parrot. The two colored parrot told, “I lived a very happy life, but when I saw a peacock, which has multiple colors on it’s body, but I have only two colors”
The crow then approached the peacock, and saw that many people had gathered to see it.
When all the people left the place, the crow went to the peacock and said: “Dear peacock,” the crow said, “you are so beautiful with multiple colors on your body. Every day so many people come to see you. When people see me, they immediately shoo me away. I think you are the happiest bird on the earth.”
Hearing these words peacock replied, “I always had the notion that I was the most beautiful and happy bird on the earth, but because of my beauty, I am entrapped in this zoo”.
Peacock continued: “I have examined the zoo very carefully, and now I have realized that the crow is the only bird not kept in a zoo and that too in a cage. So, for past few days I have been thinking that if I were a crow, I could definitely be happily roaming everywhere as per my own wish and will.”
Moral of the story : This shows the greed (lobha) within us too. We always make unwanted comparison with others and become sad. Many of us never value what Bhagavan Lord Sri Vishnu (God) has given us. Thus all these leads to the vicious cycle of unhappiness, unsatisfied life, jealously and greed (lobha).
Thus we need to learn the secret of being happy and discard the comparison which leads only to unhappiness, unsatisfied life, jealously, greed (lobha) etc…
One of the best way to lead a happy and satisfied life is to understand the divine “Srimad Bhagavad Gita”, which was preached by Bhagavan Lord Sri Krishna to his one of the great devotee Arjuna, an avatar of Lord Sri Indra Deva.
Bhagavan Lord Sri Krishna didn’t preached the great and divine Srimad Bhagavad Gita only to Arjuna, but to the entire human clan on this earth.
To know “Most popular Shlokas of Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit, Kannada, English with meaning”, please visit the below link:
Most popular Shlokas of Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit, Kannada, English with meaning
To know “Srimad Bhagavad Gita full lyrics in Kannada”, please visit the below link:
Srimad Bhagavad Gita full lyrics in Kannada
To know “Srimad Bhagavad Gita full lyrics in English”, please visit the below link:
Srimad Bhagavad Gita full lyrics in Sanskrit (Hindi)
To know “Srimad Bhagavad Gita full lyrics in English”, please visit the below link:
Srimad Bhagavad Gita full lyrics in English
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