त्रिविधं नरकस्येदं द्वारं नाशनमात्मनः ।
कामः क्रोधस्तथा लोभस्तस्मादेतत्त्रयं त्यजेत्॥
Trividham
Narakasyēdam Dvāram Nāshanamātmanah l
Kāmāh Krōdhastatha Lōbhastasmadētatrāyam Tyajet
ll
According to this Slok, the author shows a way
or advises us not to fall down in the hell or refrain from hell. There are three kinds of doors to abandon from the hell. Those are Kāmāh (Sexual
pleasure), Krōdhah
(Hatred) and Lōbhah
(desire).
Therefore, we have to comprehend the Slok
and have to practice in our day today life as well as have to abandon from
these three kinds of hellish doors. By abandoning these three kinds of doors,
we can reach to the heaven or we can receive the salvation.
Kama
Kama in a broader sense means desire
and in a narrow sense sexual desire. Both Hinduism and Buddhism consider desire
as the root cause of human suffering. According to the Bhagavadgita,
desire leads delusion and bondage to the cycle of births and deaths. The way
out of suffering is to become detached from the sense objects through such
practices as yoga and meditation and perform desire less actions as sacrificial
offerings to God with a sense of duty, accepting God as the doer and without
hankering after the fruit of one's actions. According to Manusmriti man
performs sacrifices because of the desire for rewards, with the expectation
that his actions will bear fruit. Not a single act of him here on earth appears
ever to be done by a man free from desire. So he who performs his prescribed
duties out of desire in the right manner will obtain the fulfillment of all the
desires and reach the deathless state or even beyhond1. As we can see the right
way to fulfill one's desire is by performing one's obligatory duties in the
right manner but not by neglecting them so that the way of the dharma also
becomes the way of fulfillment of desires.
Hinduism differs from other religions
in its interpretation and approach to the subject of sex. Sex can be either a
means to liberation and happiness in life or a great hindrance and cause of suffering
depending upon how we approach it. In any case ultimately one has to overcome
it to achieve salvation. It can be done either by abstaining from it or by
indulging in it. The former is the way of the Vedanta and the latter the way of
the Tantras. One is the way of suppression and the other the way of
expression through detachment and understanding in which sexual energy is
sublimated and transformed into a higher form of energy. It is just the
way you learn to handle fire. In both cases the difficulties are way too many
and so are the risks. Sexual desire is the ultimate of all desires and unless
it is overcome one is not free from the taints of maya.
In Hinduism there is permission for
sexual activity up to a limit, so long as it is not in conflict with the
principles of dharma and used for the purposes of procreation, perpetuation of
family and social order, within the boundaries established by tradition, social
norms and scriptures. Sexual activity is part of obligatory duty and not
to be misused for enjoyment as it would lead to attachment, delusion and one's
downfall. Sexual relationship outside marriage is not permitted except in
special circumstances as laid down in the Dharmashastras. Marriage is a
sacred institution in which both the husband and wife join their energies and
destinies to promote each other's liberation by performing
their respective obligatory duties, which only married couple, can
perform. Through the bonds of marriage they also bind their respective
karmas.
While the law books draw a clear
demarcation between legitimate and illegitimate sex, sex by itself is not
considered unclean or sinful. Sexual desire is an important and legitimate
aspect of manava dharma (human obligations) and is created by nature to
perpetuate life in the material plane. Creation itself is a continuation of the
union between Purusha and Prakriti, the male and female aspects
of the manifest universe, which is symbolically represented in the form of Sivalinga.
Creation ends when this union ends. Sexual desire is also the last stronghold
of Prakriti and the final refuge of our attachment with samsara.
It is the most difficult spiritual obstacle to be overcome. In most people it
perpetuates the delusion of the mind and serves as an important force of Prakriti
by which she maintains her stranglehold upon them and keeps them bound to the
cycle of births and deaths.
The ambivalent attitude of Hinduism on
the subject of sex is rooted in its historical growth during which it
assimilated divergent traditions and practices of which some were derived from
ancient fertility cults. It becomes evident as we go through the scriptures and
find in them various stories related to the libidinous activities of various
gods and goddesses. While on the one hand we have an established school of
opinion that considers celibacy as a great virtue and a necessary condition for
liberation, on the other we have stories from the Hindu Puranas which
depict the sexual exploits of gods and goddesses and the odd situations that
develop out of them.
Some of the stories give us an
impression that the gods are oversexed beings who cannot control themselves
from temptation in the company of beautiful women. Besides sensuous gods, there
are celestial nymphs of indescribable beauty who add passion and drama to Hindu
mythology through their activities. At times they descend to earth to disturb
and distract the minds of ascetic people who are absorbed in deep meditation.
Even Siva, Vishnu and Krishna are not above reproach. Many divinities and legendary
heroes, including Bharata the founder of the Indian race are born out of
illegitimate sexual conduct. Scholars however tend to consider these stories of
sexual union to be symbolic in nature and not to be taken literally.
Whatever may be the truth, sex constituted
an important aspect of Hindu society from ancient times. The Dharmashastras
prescribed a definite code of conduct to safeguard the social and moral order.
Married women were not allowed to meet men in private when they were not
accompanied by their husbands or, in their absence, any other male member of
their families. Women whose husbands died were allowed to beget children
through their brother-in-laws Gautama 18.4. A marriageable maiden who was not
given in marriage had the freedom to choose her sexual partners after giving up
the ornaments she received from her family and parents Gautama 18.4. To avoid
misuse of this provision, the scriptures recommended that girls should be
married before they reached puberty. Adultery was a punishable offence while
killing an unchaste woman or a prostitute was not Gautama 18.4. Mental
attitude, the state of mind and the dominant quality of Prakriti at
the time of sexual union were considered important because they impacted the
children who were born out of such unions. Polygamy was an accepted social
norm. It bred intrigue and jealousy among women who shared a common husband.
Women were sold and brought in the market place. While sex with unmarried
maidens was a lesser taboo, adultery was a punishable offence. More so if it
happened between a lower caste male and higher caste female.
According to Hinduism, sex in an
important aspect of human life, but lust is not. Lust is one of the chief
enemies of man. It is a demonic quality, just as greed and pride are, and one
of the biggest hurdles on the spiritual path. All lustful activity would result
in sin with unhappy consequences for all those involved in it directly or
indirectly. Even gods are not spared from the consequences of lustful
sex. However, prostitutes and pleasure girls added color and zest to
ancient Hindu society. Some of them were highly skilled in the art and science
of sex. They were patronized and frequented by men of repute. They employed
various tricks to attract men and keep them under their charm. Prostitution
is still a rampant problem in India and one of the chief concerns of women
activists and welfare organizations.
One of the notable developments within
Hinduism during the post Mauryan period was the rise of tantrism
which upheld sexual activity and considered it to be an expression of the
divine. The Tantrics indulged in various kinds of esoteric sexual rites
to experience the blissful nature of God. They believed in the possibility of
sublimating sexual energy through austerities and penances to transcend one's
lower nature and achieve higher states of consciousness. They practiced various
breathing and yoga techniques to prolong their sexual prowess so that they
could experiences higher states of blissful consciousness during sexual union
practiced with detachment. These sects continue to remain on the fringes
of society attracting ridicule and criticism and largely unknown and
misunderstood by the general public. For the vast majority of Hindus, sex is a
taboo unless it is in tune with the social, moral and religious laws.
Krodha
Unable to control this basic instinct
present in every human since birth ... Is the foremost of all ills practiced by
human beings today. Cause of differentiation between an ordinary human being
and a man of wisdom, this is the last of all instincts controlling which every
human being can become a living God ... A true Mahavira, Buddha
or a Jesus Christ!
Think
of it and think seriously? Why do people from the western world don't fret and
fume over petty matters. They are sort of immune to Krodha (Anger). One
will rarely witness a westerner getting angry in general. Remaining calm and
peaceful they concentrate their energies on more fruitful jobs. Reverse is the
case with an Indian. One adverse remark about his integrity can cause him to
flare up even though the act was unintentional.
Living in India a common man mostly
remains bogged down by the social circumstances not within his control. The
moment the same person lands on the foreign soil, particularly the Western
sector comprising of USA, UK and Europe ... He is a changed personality.
Totally free of the social barriers, we see the best in them. The affect of the
social culture and the most beautiful natural surroundings results in our
hearing of an Indian student topping the math’s Olympiad, a geek having become
a famous computer personality or one getting a Nobel Prize. Sky is the limit
for such Indians living abroad. Same Indians if forced to live in India will
most likely behave like an ordinary Indian.
Lobha
In
Buddhism, there is no "problem of evil." Suffering is a normal part
of life, but the nature of suffering is determined by how one responds to it.
The first sermon that the
Buddha preached after his enlightenment concerned the Four Noble Truths. This is
the most well known of Buddhist doctrines in the west, and there are some
fairly standard English translations (“Life is suffering. The cause of
suffering is desire,” and so forth), but the standard translations are somewhat
misleading. First, these are not truths that are noble, but truths that have
been realized by the (spiritually) noble. They might more accurately be called
four realities of life known to those who are spiritually aware. These four
realities are: the truth of suffering, the truth of arising, the truth of cessation,
and the truth of the path.
Suffering:
The word often translated
as suffering has no English equivalent. The meaning of the phrase is not that
"life is miserable," as the English translation might seem to
indicate, but that some pain is inevitable in life. Birth is painful, sickness
is painful, aging is painful, and death is painful. It is painful to experience
unhappiness and displeasure; it is painful to want something and not be able to
have it; it is painful to have something and lose it; it is painful when a
pleasurable experience ends.
What the Buddha had been seeking when he
became enlightened was a way out of Samsara, the endless cycle of
death and rebirth. The Hindu texts, the Upanishad, which were written at around
the same time, had argued that the way out of the endless cycle of death and
rebirth was to realize that one's individual self or soul Atman is a
part of the world soul Brahman.
Some scholars argue that
the Buddha's solution to end this cycle was to realize that there is no self,
no atman. If there is no self, there is nothing to reincarnate, nothing to
endure this endless cycle. Others scholars argue that Buddha refused to answer
questions about the self, and that to deny the existence of the self is just as
much of an obstacle as is the self.
According to textual
accounts of his first sermon, written long after his death, what the Buddha
said was that the forms of suffering he listed (birth, sickness, aging, loss,
etc.) are examples of "the five aggregates subject to clinging."
These five aggregates, or Skandha, are what makes up the self: form,
sensation, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. Each of these
constituents is constantly changing, constantly in flux; therefore the
"self" is also constantly changing. Thus while there may be an
experience of selfhood, there is no permanent, unchanging self.
Arising:
Humans tend to
long for what they do not have, or to wish for their lives to be different than
they are; they often fail to fully appreciate what they do have. This longing
(craving, desire) gives rise to, or causes, a new cycle of life and death.
The Four Noble Truths are often understood as a series of propositions, or
as a prescription for approaching disease: symptom/cause/elimination of cause/remedy.
In this formulation, cause, or arising, is the pivotal moment. Buddhist scholar
Donald Lopez says, "If it is possible to identify a particular
contribution of the Buddha to the philosophies of his day, it would be the
thoroughgoing emphasis on causation as an inexorable force whose devastating
effects can be identified and destroyed, the effect is also destroyed.
Cessation:
It is possible to stop this cycle. The path to the end of suffering is the
Noble Eightfold Path (that is, the eightfold path for the spiritually aware):
right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood,
right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
This remedy of the
Eightfold Path may seem like a moral answer to a philosophical problem, and to
some extent, it is. Ashoka, when
spreading his edicts about the teachings of Buddhism, focused on moral guidelines
rather than complex philosophical ideas. On another level, this list is a
response to the audience, to
which it is addressed, the men with whom Buddha had practiced extreme
asceticism before deciding that it was not the right path for him. According to
the texts, the Buddha began his sermon by saying that one should follow a
middle path between asceticism and hedonism, and then he listed the elements of
the Eightfold Path, repeating them again shortly afterward when presenting the
four truths. Thus, one meaning of the Eightfold Path is that extreme approaches
to seeking enlightenment are not necessary. In Buddhism, while life may be full
of suffering, it is not evil, nor are there evil entities in the world tempting
people to sin and self-destruction. This is not to say that there are no
demonic forces in the Buddhist world. There are demons that can cause disease
or other misfortunes, and demons to punish wrongdoers in the Buddhist hells,
but an angry deceased relative can be equally dangerous.
Often Buddhists enlist
demons into the service of the good. For example, before beginning to make a
sand mandala,
Tibetan monks will capture demons and install them at the four corners of
the mandala to protect it.
In Japan one can obtain a "traffic demon" amulet as protection from
automobile accidents. Buddhists have long been regarded as specialists who can
be counted on to defeat or convert demons, which they do through spells,
rituals, or dialogue. They may also transfer merit or otherwise meet the
spiritual need of the demon, and thus convert it.
If there is
"evil" in Buddhism, it is the greed, anger, and delusion that give
rise to samsara. Human
nature is not evil, but it can give rise to suffering. The goal of the Buddha's
dharma is not to eliminate all suffering
or to create a perfect life or world, but to learn how best to deal with the
suffering that is a normal part of human life. When one gets disgusted
with sense-enjoyments and acquisition of wealth and aspires for final emancipation
(moksha). The one embraces what is called nivritti dharma,
characterized by renunciation of all worldly desires and selfish actions, and
resorting to spiritual practice to attain liberation. Man rises from animal to
human level by accepting pravritti dharma i.e. by observing social
injunctions. He ascends to godhood and becomes divine by embracing the nivritti
dharma. This Hindu concept of liberation, in turn, is based upon another concept
of an ever pure, ever free, ever perfect, ever conscious spiritual entity in
man called Atman (soul).
Anyway, if one abandons from these three
kinds of the doors such as Kāmāh
(Sexual pleasure), Krōdhah
(Hatred) and Lōbhah
(desire) that the one (man) can reaches to spiritual
life.
Ven. Loka Mittra Bhikkhu,
Mahachulalongkornrajamahavidyalaya,
Buddhism
Faculty,
Major
Sanskrit.
My Condolence
