For years or ages we have been hearing that lust, anger and greed are the gates of hell and unfortunately our whole life revolves around these three, so are we all standing at the gate of hell? Are we in hell? Is it possible to live without lust, that is, without desire or wish? Also, the anger that comes when the desire is not fulfilled is inappropriate? Isn’t it natural to arouse greed in fulfillment of desires? In order to get the answer to all these questions, I believe that first of all, lust-anger-greed has to be understood in detail and the concept of hell has to be studied in real sense. Otherwise for the entire life “lust-anger-greed is the gate of hell” kind of statement cannot be properly understood. I think it is necessary to first understand what is hell and then to think about its gate. Before identifying the door of any palace or house, it is imperative to identify the entire palace or house. What to do without knowing the whole, just knowing its gate? That is, what to do without recognizing the gates of hell without understanding hell?
According to my personal understanding, hell is not a place, it is a mental or psychological condition of human. We humans normally create the world as per our mood that makes a person happy or unhappy. Happiness or sorrow is not based on destiny or planets but our thinking nature or instinct. If there is goodness in life, there is purity, there is positive thinking, there is welfare rites, there is altruistic instinct, then paradise is formed where one lives. But if there is selfish, evil, demonic violent thinking nature or instinct, even in a luxurious palace, the torment of hell is obtained. Hell means to be petty, poor, inferior, helpless male. To be a male who has not even imagined intellectual spiritual happiness other than material happiness is hell. The three main gates of such hell are lust, anger and greed. lust Anger and greed are actually demonic traits or demonic possessions. Through which many vices and afflictions usually enter human life. So lust anger and greed are called the gates of hell. If we are happy to be a petty, poor, helpless male then lust, anger and greed are very useful tools. But if we want to get rid of helplessness from life and become powerful, if we want to achieve a higher state from a lower state, if we want to get a fragrant life by removing the foul-smelling humility, then it is inevitable to consider lust, anger and greed as gates of hell. I think it is necessary to understand the true nature of it before leaving lust, anger and greed as the gates of hell.
Anger – Anger means lack of restraint. Lack of self-control. The arrogant man is usually angry because he thinks he is smart, special and so much right. So that he finds others weak, inferior, false and without reason the arguments, the controversy escalates which makes life complicated such as hell. The egoistic man does not believe in compromise or adjustment so he behaves with more ferocity. Anger makes man an animal, he doesn’t realize what he is doing? His conscience is destroyed. Scientific research shows that anger shortens life expectancy. Increases disease, increases stress, causes BP, heart attack, brain hemorrhage, paralysis etc. Anger always comes to a vulnerable, stressed, afflicted person more than a normal person. Anger reduces the power of the mind and soul. Anger reduces enthusiasm so that life begins to feel burdensome, relationships fall apart and a peaceful life ends. Now tell me, what can be more painful than this? Can’t we consider this anger as gate of hell which increases to much pain in life?
Greed – The man of Kali Yuga is very selfish and greedy. There is no such thing as contentment. The reality of human life is that nothing comes together after death and we all know this fact. Everyone comes with empty handed and has to go with empty handed. Moreover death is certain, there is no doubt about it. No one is born with an immortal belt, yet it is not understood that a human being, the most intelligent animal of the universe, spends his whole life for running behind money, putting moral principles aside and crossing the rights of others in an immoral way. Greed and greediness compel man to accumulate which adds incredibly to the troubles of others as accumulation is a violation of the rights of others. Mankind is so preoccupied in making tomorrow happy that at the cost of today he is in a race of securing the future. The funny thing is that he even doesn’t know if tomorrow is coming or not because life is highly uncertain. Yet ignorantly he is accumulating things constantly. Probably a factor behind this kind of activity is lack of faith on god. Other animals that are not as intelligent as humans also have faith in God so they never accumulate anything. They know that he who has given food today (Lord) will give it tomorrow. But the so-called intelligent animal man is far from such a philosophical understanding. Here’s a story I remember. There was a peddler (hawker) who went from house to house selling small routine things. At noon he sat in the shade, ate and slept for a while. A rich man passing by saw him lying down and thought that the reason why some people remain weak and poor is because they do not know the art of making good use of time. If this peddler had not slept like this in the afternoon, he could have gone more houses and sold more things, earning more. A rich man has woke up him, giving advice as per his beliefs.
Hawker asked him if you are rich and happy then why do you run all day long? In reply rich man said that as long as there is age Let’s do hard work so that we can have a peaceful sleep at a later age, that is, in the future (tomorrow). Thus rich man is doing hard work today to improve tomorrow. “just now I’m doing the same what you’re going to do tomorrow,” hawker replied. What am i doing wrong? This story teaches us how sensible and contented the peddler is despite being less educated. He does not waste today in worrying about tomorrow. Who is more sensible if the peddler is taking the sleep of peace that a rich man is running to improve tomorrow or to get the sleep of peace tomorrow. Life does not require much hard work if the needs, desires or aspirations are limited. Have you ever seen grass work harder to grow? It grows spontaneously, the God who gave it life has given us life. God understands everyone’s hunger or need. To be honest we are not just rushing to meet the need but our lust or desire to get ahead of others forces us to run more. There is no need for such hard work, running or bloodshed to meet the remaining basic needs (bread, clothes, house). If we keep a record of our household expenses every month, we will find that in the total cost the cost of amenities and luxuries is much higher than the cost of basic needs. Which we have increased due to showoff status or following others. There is actually no need of it in life. In fact, our happiness has been destroyed by such madness and life has become like hell. So greed is called the gate of hell.
lust – lust means not only physical appetite or the need for sex but also many other things. lust means innumerable desires and needs. As soon as one is completed, another is born. Human beings perish rather than fulfill desires, but lust or desires are not fulfilled. Which makes man run and get tired. There is no end to such desires, it is infinite so it is impossible to fulfill them. By understanding this only, man can save his life from the torment of hell. A man who constantly contemplates some desires or wishes develops attachment to those subjects, attachment produces the lust and interruption in desire creates anger, anger leads to stupidity, stupidity leads to amnesia. Amnesia destroys the intellect. With the destruction of the intellect the man falls from his excellent position. In fact the state of the soul is excellent but the relentless desire and unique attachment of the subjects makes him fall. One should try to stay away from demonic lust, anger and greed. These three are the gates of hell which force man to live a petty, miserable, lowly, helpless life. Who can see nothing but only material pleasures which can enjoy only by senses. One cannot even imagine intellectual or spiritual happiness. Due to not avoiding the three gates of hell (lust, anger and greed) many evils and miseries enter into life which we have no choice but to endure because we have accepted these three in life with deep sensibility, invited them with deep understanding that is deep ignorance.
lust arises due to attachment, if its fulfillment is hindered then anger is born and if the desire is fulfilled then greed of other desires is born. Thus lust, anger and greed are always connected with each other. lust is nothing but material pleasures or innumerable desires are the root of many pains. That is why lust is called the gate of hell. From which other vices like anger, greed, selfishness, theft, untruth, dishonesty are born. There is only one way out of such hell and that is abandonment. Abandon the first desire so that the abandonment of greed will be automatically possible and through it anger will be control. Victory over these three can only be achieved by following the path of restraint. lust, anger and greed can be avoided by the principles shown in the scriptures and advice by saints such as restraint of mind, restraint of speech and restraint of karma. Heaven can be enjoyed by rescuing life from hellish pain. So let us walk on the path of restraint from today itself and develop the spirit of renunciation and fill our lives with heavenly happiness.
Shilpa shah, professor HKBBA college
