GREED CAN NEVER BE FULFILLED

Subhashitham: 013

न जातु कामः कामानामुपभोगेन शम्यति ।

हविषा कृष्णवर्त्मेव भूय एवाभिवर्धते ॥

Na jatu kamah kamanam  upabhogena shamyati ।

Havisha krushnavartmeva  bhuya  eva abhivardhate ॥  mahabharatha

Lust, wanton or greed will not be conquered by satisfying it. It is like trying to douse a fire by adding ghee to it.

This subhashitha occurs in the story of Yayati , in mahabharatha. Yayati was cursed by Sukracharya to premature old age. Yayati, wanted to enjoy the pleasures of  youth, exchanged his old age with the youth of his youngest son Puru.

 After years spent in vain effort to quench his desires by indulgence, Yayati finally realised his folly.. He returned to Puru and said, "Dear son, sensual desire is never quenched by indulgence any more than fire is extinguished by pouring ghee on it.” He then gave back to Puru his youth and ruler ship of the kingdom. .

Further, in the Mahabharatha we have a gem of a sloka explaining the how man’s appetite for more can never be quenched:

पृथिवी रत्न संपूर्णा हिरण्यं पशवः स्त्रियः ।

नालमेकस्य तत्सर्वमिति मत्वा शमं व्रजेत् ॥

pRuthvivI ratnam sampUrNA hiraNyam pashavaH striyaH ।

nA alamekasya tat sarvamapi matva shamam vrajet ॥

This earth gives lot of gems, gold, animals and women. Even if all of that is given to one person he will still not be satisfied. The moral of the story being that greed can not be satisfied by trying to satiate it.

In the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna asks krisna ‘by what compulsion  does man engage in sin ,though un willing, as if by force?

श्रीभगवानुवाच |

काम एष क्रोध एष रजोगुणसमुद्भव: ||

महाशनो महापाप्मा विद्ध्येनमिह वैरिणम् || 37||

śhrī bhagavān uvācha

kāma eṣha krodha eṣha rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ

mahāśhano mahā-pāpmā viddhyenam iha vairiṇam

BG 3.37: The Supreme Lord said: It is lust alone, which is born of contact with the mode of passion, and later transformed into anger. Know this as the sinful, all-devouring enemy in the world.

तस्मात्त्वमिन्द्रियाण्यादौ नियम्य भरतर्षभ |

पाप्मानं प्रजहि ह्येनं ज्ञानविज्ञाननाशनम् || 41||

tasmāt tvam indriyāṇyādau niyamya bharatarṣhabha

pāpmānaṁ prajahi hyenaṁ jñāna-vijñāna-nāśhanam

BG 3.41: Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, in the very beginning bring the senses under control and slay this enemy called desire, which is the embodiment of sin and destroys knowledge and realization.

Sri Krishnaya thubyam nama:

V.N.Mukndan.