There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed… Mahatma Gandhi
Most of us have routinely heard or read somewhere that greed is a vice. We all have the potential for greedy tendencies, but in people with a strong fear of lack or deprivation, greed can become a dominant pattern. Not many realize how lowly and mean a person can become under its influence. Few are aware that it brings more grief and sorrow to its perpetrator than to its victim. The moment greed enters bliss exits.
Greed, like gluttony & lust, is traditionally considered a sin of excess. Both gluttony & greed correspond closely with what Buddha called desire,i.e an over-attachment to the material world and its pleasures which is at the root of all human suffering. Greed is about never being satisfied with what one has, always wanting and expecting more. It is an insatiable hunger and a profound form of gluttony. It makes a man blind to the stark reality that he is a mere mortal with a limited span of life and his body is subject to disease and ageing and the functioning ability of its organs is limited by the laws of nature. He forgets that his lifestyle may bring grief in place of joy if he crosses certain limits. T
here is a wise old saying that ‘too much of anything is bad. Hence, overdoing anything will bring disease and cut short the normal span of life. That’s why the greedy are responsible for making the vast majority of homo sapiens needy to the point of abject poverty.
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So where & how does greed breed? Well!! greed grows from ignorance of one’s self. It is closed to all reason and reasoning & shuns advice from all sides. It pollutes the mind, perverts the intellect and suppresses the voice of conscience, thereby resulting in spiritual darkness at noon. With the ‘fuse’ of divine insight blown off, the intellect begins to ‘confuse’ and the mind begins to sink in the quagmire of illusions.
The ghost of greed plays havoc with the lives of millions, even billions when it possesses those who wield power and authority. Not satisfied with their lion’s share of income, these individuals, caucuses or corporations are always busy refining their tools of exploitation. Little do they realize that not only are they depriving more and more of the vast majority of their fellow beings, spiritual brethren of even their bare necessities of life, but their misdeeds automatically recoil on their own lives, as per the Law of Karma (as you sow, so you reap) and greed, in fact, is a curse that has befallen them.
The sooner this truth dawns on the leaders of our times, the closer will come the dawn of the new golden era of complete purity, peace and abundance.
