Trividham – Further Reading

Trividham Narakasyedam dvaaram naashanam aatmanah
Kaamah Krodhas Tathaa Lobhas tasmaad etat trayam tyajet

Passion, anger and greed make up the three gates of hell and bring about destruction of the self. Therefore, these should be abandoned.

Passion was responsible for the downfall of Raavana. He had to see the destruction of his kith and kin, his kingdom and the whole of Lankaa. That itself was hell for him.

It took thousands of years for Vishwaamitra to achieve control over his anger. When ultimately he could control his enemies, i.e., anger, passion, ego, greed, jealousy and delusion, he became a Brahma Rishi.

When Kaama(desire for the pleasure) occupies the heart , its minions anger, greed, pride, pomp and hatred also troop in and hold sway. Kaama or lust destroyed Ravana, who was a great scholar and mighty hero. It can overwhelm and neutralize every good quality in man and reduce him to the level of a beast.

Lobha – It is the greed to earn money by any means, as fast as possible. This leads to the evils we see in society today.

Krodha or anger can seize the treasure chest of wisdom and break it to smithereens. The mainspring of all these faults is egoism or identification with the material self. This is due to Ajnaana.

In order to understand the principle if Atmaa, we have to develop good qualities. Evil qualities like anger, lust, greed etc., are like pests that center into the roots of the tree and eat it up.

Baba says, once you recognize the defects in the objects of the world, you soon lose your desire to possess them.

The quality of Vairaagya is most important for a Saadhaka. This quality helps you to introvert your minds and internalize the vision.

Baba says that life is like a limited company. You cannot do unlimited business with a limited company. So also we have to impose restrictions to our behaviour and actions. We must have a ceiling on our desires. We have to give up the sense of possessiveness or my-ness. There the objects of the world will cause no harm.

Explanation:

Our Lord Baba has explained that Hell and Heaven are conditions created by the mind.

When Kaama (desire for pleasure) occupies the heart, its minions – anger, greed, pride, pomp and hatred also troop in. Kaama or lust destroyed Raavana who was a great scholar, emperor and a mighty hero.

What is Kaama or desire ? It is the constant flying of an individual’s thoughts towards an object. When the steady flow of these thoughts of possessing the object are deflected by some obstacle the result is anger. Disappointment brings in a revolt and storm of thoughts arises bursting forth in anger.

Thus disappointment of a desire results in anger. But when a desire gets fulfilled, a thirst for more and more arises. One desire sometimes gives rise to newer desires. In an in-disciplined man, there seems to be no satisfaction at any time. Even if his desires are satisfied, he wants more and more joy and his appetite gets sharpened. If he was a poor man and somehow he gets a few lakhs of rupees, he still craves for more and is restless and unhappy until he invests and makes more money. This is greed which gives no peace of mind.

Baba tells us in the ‘Geeta Vahini’ that these three qualities form the fundamental basis of all demonic nature. These Kaama, Krodha and Lobha destroy the self and foster the demon in man. They have to be overwhelmed and overcome by the divine qualities of Vairagyam, Shantam and Tyagam – detachment, equanimity and renunciation.

Story:

The heaven and hell – both are created here by our actions. There is no hell except our selfishness. There is no heaven other than our own selfless love.

Once a group of people wanted to know what makes hell and what condition makes heaven. Where all suffer, it is called hell and where all enjoy it is called heaven.

So the committee of the people wanting to know how hell is made, first went to hell, where all people were suffering. What they saw in hell surprised them very much because hell looked a very rich place where every enjoyable object was available in plenty. Why anyone should suffer here, they wondered.

As it was the lunch time in hell, all the denizens of hell were in the dining hall and the committee went to investigate whether there was any food problem. Again what met their eyes surprised them beyond words, because the dining table was full of variety of delicacies in abundance and no one need starve for lack of food. Yet the most puzzling thing of all was the fact that all the hell-dwellers who were gathered there looked, hungry and angry. They were quarrelling and shouting at one another blaming one another in abusive language.

The members of the investigation committee closely scrutinized the people who were thus quarrelling and fighting. They found that the persons in hell had no elbow joints in their arms, because of which they were unable to bend their hands and feed themselves, though food was plentiful and available easily. So all of them starved and had no joy. The committee felt that it was a cruel joke to play upon the people. Why give them plenty of food, if it was not meant to feed the people? They then went to see how things were in Heaven and went there in time to see the heavenly beings at lunch. Heaven was exactly like hell and looked very rich with all enjoyable things of life. As they approached the dining hall, they could hear the loud cries of satisfaction and joy emanating from the hall. The committee members hastened to the hall wondering what was making these people so happy. They came in and witnessed a marvellous spectacle. The dining table was full with delicacies just as in hell. The people looked happy, well fed and contented and they were eating. There was exuberance of joy around. Now the committee members watched closely and saw how their arms were. Here too they saw that the arms of the people were without elbow joints. They too could not bend their forearms to feed themselves. Still they were not unhappy. They understood that the delicious food in front of the, was not given to them to feed themselves, but was meant for serving others. So they collected enough food from the table and fed the others. When each one fed the others, all of them got plenty to eat and nobody starved. All were happy and it became a true heaven. In the other place, hell, they did not know that their hands were given to serve others. When they tried to be selfish and serve themselves and since they had no elbow joints, they could not. Thus it became a hell for them filled with crying, distress, hunger and anger.

Questions:

1. What is the three –fold gate of hell?
2. Why do we feel angry?
3. What should we do to control anger?
4. Too many desires for luxury and comfort give rise to laziness and disease. Is this true?
5. What are good and noble desires?
6. Where does ‘greed’ and ‘attachment’ lead?