76. Beware of Lust
A rjuna enquires, “How can a man perform evil even against his will as if he is compelled” (3.36). This is the most common question that arises when the first ray of awareness sets in. Krishna says, “Lust, anger and greed ( kaam , krodh and lobh ) are three gates of hell leading to the destruction of self. Therefore, one should abandon all three” (16.21). Kaam (lust) and krodh (anger) are born out of rajo guna and are great evils full of insatiable craving and we should beware of them, as they are the foulest enemies here on Earth (3.37). Krishna further says that rajo guna is raagatmak (nature of passion) giving birth to the desires and it binds the embodied soul through attachment to action. If we take the example of a car, the movement or speeding up is a quality born out of rajo guna and the accelerator is an instrument to achieve this. Similarly, slowing down or inertia is the nature of tamas and the brake is an instrument. The driver represents satva guna...