Lobha, the Root of Vices

Lobha, “greed”

Kāma has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kāma. Rajas has other meanings too: see all meanings of Rajas.

Lobha means greed: the constant craving to get and to hold more. The Śānti Parva of the Mahābhārata names lobha as the root from which a whole web of faults and harmful habits grows. Its teaching says that from lobha alone come more than forty harmful qualities, including krodha (anger), moha (delusion), mātsarya (envy), dambha (pretence), śoka (grief) and, in the end, adharma (wrongdoing) in every form.

This teaching comes in the Āpaddharma Parva section of the Śānti Parva, in Chapters 158 and 163. Lobha is shown not just as a personal weakness, but as a sickness that spreads through the world, ruining kingdoms, families, friendships and spiritual progress.

The Agni Purāṇa names lobha among the inner enemies a king must wholly give up, among the faults from which the best king is free, and as one of the three sources through which men enter into lawsuits.

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells that lobha came forth from the lower lip of Brahmā and is the lower lip of the Virāṭ Purusha, and names Lobha in the line of Adharma, born of Dambha and Māyā and father of Krodha and Hiṃsā. With kāma and krodha it is one of the three enemies of the jīva. Nārada Maharshi teaches that it alone does not end even when the whole earth is conquered, and that it goes only when one sees that heaped-up wealth brings nothing but calamity; the brāhmaṇa of Avantī learns that even a little greed spoils fame and virtue as a white spot spoils a beautiful form. Lobha, the offspring of rajo-guṇa, was sent by Indra against Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi and fell back from his tejas, and Indra praises Śrī Kṛshṇa as the one in whom greed and anger have no place.

Lobha as the Root of Vices

The Āpaddharma Parva teaching points to lobha as the one source from which adharma spreads. Other faults may stand on their own, but lobha gives birth to others as its natural children. The chain begins like this:

• Lobha gives rise to krodha (anger, which comes when greed is blocked)
• Krodha gives rise to moha (delusion, which clouds good judgement)
• Moha gives rise to mātsarya (envy, comparing oneself with others and wanting what is theirs)
• Mātsarya gives rise to dambha (pretence or hypocrisy, hiding one’s real motive)
• Dambha gives rise to ahaṃkāra (pride and self-importance, claiming to be better in order to hide one’s weakness)

Beyond this main chain, lobha is said to directly produce:

• kāma (uncontrolled desire)
• rāga (too much attachment)
• pramāda (carelessness, being drunk on pleasure)
• harsha (false excitement)
• śoka (grief)
• bhaya (fear)
• duḥkha (suffering)
• vivāda (quarrels)
• and finally the breaking of friendships (mitra-bheda) and the ruin of the family (kula-kshaya)

Lobha and Kingship

The Āpaddharma Parva speaks especially about the danger of lobha in a king. A king in whom greed has taken root:

• Uses his spies and daṇḍa (the power to punish) to get things for himself, rather than to protect dharma
• Treats ministers, allies and subjects as tools for his greed, not as people who matter in themselves
• Breaks the rule of āpaddharma (the special duties allowed only in real emergencies) by treating every situation as an emergency, so that he can take extra from the kingdom’s wealth
• Ruins the long-term stability of the kingdom for short-term gain

The teaching compares the king to fire. When it is kept within limits, fire gives warmth and is useful; when it is out of control, it burns everything. Lobha is the force that breaks down the limits around the royal fire of daṇḍa.

The Cure

Throughout its teachings, the Śānti Parva gives the same remedy for lobha: viveka (wise discernment), supported by vairāgya (non-attachment), and grounded in five purifying practices: yajña (sacred offering), dāna (giving), dayā (compassion), study of the Veda, and satya (truthfulness). Among these, dāna is the special cure for lobha’s grasping energy. Giving freely turns the current of greed around.

The Shaḍgītā teaching (Chapter 167) adds one more point. Yudhishṭhira‘s answer there is that moksha (liberation) stands above all three of the purushārthas (goals of life): dharma, artha (wealth) and kāma. This suggests that the final answer to a life driven by greed is to see that getting more can never satisfy. Only freedom from the urge to acquire can do that.

Per Agni Purāṇa

Lobha and the king

In the Agni Purāṇa, Agni Deva tells Vasishṭha Maharshi the rāja-nīti that Śrī Rāma taught Lakshmaṇa. The king, says Śrī Rāma, becomes happy if he wholly gives up the group of inner enemies: kāma (desire), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (delusion), harsha (elation), mada (pride), mātsarya (jealousy) and māna (arrogance). The senses are elephants running in the great forest of the sense-objects, and must be held with the goad of jñāna (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 238).

Among the qualities of the king’s own excellence (ātma-sampatti), Śrī Rāma names freedom from the faults of krodha, lobha, bhaya (fear), droha (treachery), obstinacy and fickleness. Among the five things that cause fear to the people he names the officials, thieves, enemies, the king’s relatives and the king’s own greed; the king should prevent these fears (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 239). Among the kings with whom no treaty should be made, but only war, are those whose servants are greedy (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 240).

Lobha and the lawsuit

In his teaching on vyavahāra (the hearing of disputes), Agni Deva says that a man enters into a lawsuit through kāma, krodha and lobha; therefore vyavahāra is tri-yoni, “having three sources”. The king should appoint as sabhāsads (assessors) men who know the Vedas, who see enemy and friend with an equal eye, and who are free from greed. If the sabhāsads, from attachment, greed, fear and the like, give decisions contrary to the dharma-śāstra and good conduct, the king should fine each of them twice the amount in dispute (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 253).

Per Bhāgavata Purāṇa

The birth of lobha

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa tells of lobha from the very beginning of creation. Maitreya tells Vidura that, as Brahmā created the worlds, kāma (desire) came forth from his heart, krodha (anger) from his eyebrow and lobha (greed) from his lower lip. In the Virāṭ form of Parameśvara that Śuka describes to Parīkshit, modesty is his upper lip and greed his lower lip.

In the line of Adharma, Maitreya tells Vidura, Dambha (hypocrisy) and Māyā had a son, Lobha, and a daughter, Nikṛti (secret harm). Lobha and Nikṛti had a son, Krodha, and a daughter, Hiṃsā (violence). Krodha and Hiṃsā had a son, Kali (strife) and a daughter, Durukti (harsh speech), and Kali and Durukti had a daughter, Bhī (fear), and a son, Mṛtyu (death). The text explains: when kapaṭa (deceit) joins dāmbhika (hypocrisy), lobha is born. The hypocritical rob people of their wealth by deceitful means, and in that effort secretly do harm to others. Anger always clings to greed; when greed bears no fruit, anger breaks out at once, and from anger arise quarrel and mutual abuse.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 1; Skandha 3, Chapter 12; Skandha 4, Chapter 8

Lobha among the enemies of the jīva

When the four Kumāras pronounced their śāpa on the door-keepers of Vaikuṇṭha, they sent them to the worlds full of pāpa, where, they said, jīvas have three enemies: kāma, krodha and lobha. Bhagavān Kapila teaches his mother Devahūti that the mind is the cause of both bondage and moksha: from the abhimāna “this is I, this is mine”, faults such as kāma and lobha arise in it, and on the day they leave the mind there is neither swelling with pleasure nor sinking in sorrow, and the mind becomes clear and calm. He teaches too that however hard a man strives for his livelihood, at times it fails, and one whose mind is overcome by greed can never earn wealth to match that greed; then he casts his eye on the wealth of others.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapters 15, 25, 30

Greed that never ends

Nārada Maharshi teaches Yudhishṭhira that the joy of the discerning one who rests content in his own svarūpa cannot be found by one who runs in all directions out of greed for enjoyments and wealth. A contented man can live happily drinking only water, but through greed for sense-enjoyments and the fickleness of the tongue man behaves like a house dog. When hunger and thirst are satisfied, the desire to eat and drink comes to an end; anger too ends when its work is done; but though a man conquers and enjoys every direction of the earth, his greed does not come to an end. Many learned paṇḍitas who preside over assemblies still fall for lack of contentment.

Each fault, Nārada says, is conquered in its own way: by giving up the imagining of enjoyments, kāma is conquered; by giving up desires, krodha; and by recognising that if one goes on heaping up wealth only calamity remains, lobha goes away. The highest purpose of all the rules taught in the śāstra is to bring under control the six enemies, kāma, krodha, lobha, moha (delusion), mada (pride) and mātsarya (envy). The jñānī who knows his own svarūpa as Parabrahma has no sense of being an enjoyer, so for what would he again become greedy? And among the enemies the sādhaka must overcome on the chariot of the body, Nārada names rāga (attachment), dvesha (hatred), lobha, śoka (grief), moha, bhaya (fear), garva (pride), abhimāna (conceit), avamāna (dishonour), asūyā (finding fault in others’ good qualities), deceit, hiṃsā and mātsarya (not bearing others’ prosperity).

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 15

The brāhmaṇa of Avantī

Śrī Kṛshṇa tells Uddhava of a brāhmaṇa of Avantī who grew very rich by farming, trade and other work, but was given to tormenting others, lustful, greedy and very quick to anger. He did not honour his kinsmen or guests even with a word, and like a yaksha who guards wealth but does not enjoy it, he was ruined for this world and the next. In a man’s wealth five have a share, the devatās, the pitṛs, men, other beings and the ṛshis; and the five yajña-devatās were angered with this man, who would not give alms even to a cat. Then his wealth was lost: his relatives seized a part, thieves carried off a part, a part was lost by daiva and a part by time, other people took a part and a part went to the king’s treasury. Grieving long, he was filled with a very great vairāgya, and he saw: “The wealth of those given to tormenting others seldom gives happiness; in this world they make the body suffer, and when they die they go to naraka as well. As a white spot spoils even a beautiful form, so greed, even a little, spoils the pure fame of the famous and the praiseworthy virtues of the virtuous.” In gathering wealth, increasing it and guarding it, people suffer toil, fear, anxiety and delusion. He named the fifteen evils rooted in wealth: in gathering it, stealing the property of others, tormenting others for money, speaking untruth, hypocrisy, greed for wealth and the anger when it is not satisfied; after it is gathered, pride, contempt for others, the sense of “great and lesser people”, enmity, distrust, excessive rivalry, and the three vyasanas (vices) of lechery, drinking and gambling. These fifteen are the causes of sorrow, and all have wealth alone as their root, so the seeker of moksha should keep far away from it. Brothers, wife, parents and friends, bound in love, quarrel over a quarter-rupee and at once become enemies.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 23

Lobha sent against Mārkaṇḍeya

Sūta tells Śaunaka that in the Vaivasvata manvantara, Indra, fearing that Mārkaṇḍeya Maharshi‘s tapas would endanger his own position, sent the gandharvas, the apsarās, Manmatha, Vasanta (the spring), the Malaya breeze, and Lobha and Garva (pride), the offspring of rajo-guṇa, to the maharshi’s āśrama on the northern side of the Himavat, by the river Pushpabhadrā. Vasanta, Lobha and the other servants of Indra tried to make the maharshi’s mind waver. But all their effort was in vain: scorched by the tejas of his tapas, they turned back at once, like children who go to play with what they think is a rope and find it is a snake. Though they had done him harm, no anger arose in Mārkaṇḍeya.

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 12, Chapter 8

Free from lobha: Śrī Kṛshṇa

When Śrī Kṛshṇa had lifted Govardhana, Indra came to him and praised him: “O Īśvara! Greed, anger and such states are the marks of the ignorant; they are born of ignorance and are the causes of saṃsāra. Where could they come from in you? Even so, to punish the wicked and protect dharma, you carry out punishment.”

Source: Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 27

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Āpaddharma Parva, Chapters 158 and 163
• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Chapter 167 (Shaḍgītā)
• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 238–240, 253
• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 1; Skandha 3, Chapters 12, 15, 25, 30; Skandha 4, Chapter 8; Skandha 7, Chapter 15; Skandha 10, Chapter 27; Skandha 11, Chapter 23; Skandha 12, Chapter 8