Lobha

By Swami Harshananda

Lobha literally means ‘greed’.

All religions in general stress on the importance of cultivating some basic ethical principles and one of these is eschewing greed.

Lobha is the excessive desire, especially the desire to appropriate to oneself what belongs to others; that too against the principles of dharma.

The Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad in its very first verse advises us not to covet anyone’s wealth and possessions. The Bhagavadgitā calls it as a gateway to hell and exhorts the aspirant to give it up.

Lobha is classed among the ariṣaḍ-vargas or six enemies of man. The other enemies can be denoted as:

1. Kāma - lust
2. Krodha - anger
3. Moha - infatuation
4. Mada - intoxication
5. Mātsarya - jealousy

References

• The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

Contributors to this article

Apurva Mahendra Bhangdia, Deval Sancheti

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