— Bhagavad Gita 16.21 (tr. Swami Swarupananda, 1909)
About this quote
हिन्दी में
काम, क्रोध और लोभ—ये तीन नरक के द्वार हैं, जो आत्मा का नाश करने वाले हैं; इसलिए इन तीनों को त्याग देना चाहिए।
What it means
Notice what the verse calls these three: a gate. Not the punishment, not even the sin as such, but an entrance — what matters is where they lead rather than how ugly they look. And what they destroy is named exactly: the self. The harm identified is not an offence given to heaven or to other people; it is damage done to the one doing it.
Read as a list of vices to feel guilty about, it turns into scolding. Read as written, it is nearer to a piece of engineering advice: one gate with three leaves, named together because they operate together — wanting, the anger that arrives when wanting is blocked, and the holding-on that wanting becomes once it is fed. The prescription then matches the diagnosis precisely. Forsaking is a recommendation to stay outside, not to fight your way back from the far side.
What it teaches you
The usable claim is that these three arrive as a single mechanism, which is why handling them separately keeps failing. The next time you are properly angry, look underneath for the specific thing you wanted and did not get — a plan, a piece of recognition, someone’s agreement — and it is usually findable within a sentence or two. The same move applies to a possession you cannot let go of: ask what it is standing in for. Working on the anger alone leaves the gate exactly as open as it was.
अर्थ और सीख
गीता यहाँ काम, क्रोध और लोभ को केवल पाप नहीं, ‘द्वार’ कहती है—यानी बात इतनी नहीं कि ये बुरे हैं, बल्कि यह कि ये ले कहाँ जाते हैं; और नुक़सान किसी और का नहीं, स्वयं का बताया गया है। तीनों को एक साथ गिनाया गया है क्योंकि ये एक ही तंत्र के हिस्से हैं: चाह, उसके रुकने पर उठता क्रोध, और उसी चाह का जमा हो जाना यानी लोभ। इसलिए अगली बार क्रोध आने पर उसके नीचे दबी उस चाह को खोजिए जो रुक गई थी—अकेले क्रोध से लड़ते रहने पर द्वार खुला ही रह जाता है।
Where it comes from
This verse comes from Chapter 16 of the Bhagavad Gita, Daivasura Sampad Vibhaga Yoga (The Divine and Demonic Natures) — the two inheritances: qualities that liberate — fearlessness, purity, compassion — and the lust, anger and greed that destroy.
The Bhagavad Gita — ‘the Song of the Lord’ — is the dialogue between Krishna and the warrior Arjuna set within the Mahabharata, and one of the most influential spiritual texts ever composed. English translation by Swami Swarupananda (1909), a public-domain rendering from the Sanskrit; the exact chapter and verse are cited with this quote.
