Chapter 16 · Divine and demonic natures
Bhagavad Gita 16.21
Three gates to ruin: desire, anger, greed.
Shri Bhagavan
त्रिविधं नरकस्येदं द्वारं नाशनमात्मनः ।
कामः क्रोधस्तथा लोभस्तस्मादेतत्त्रयं त्यजेत् ॥
trividhaṁ narakasyedaṁ dvāraṁ nāśanamātmanaḥ / kāmaḥ krodhastathā lobhastasmādetattrayaṁ tyajet
This gate to hell is of three kinds, and it destroys a person: desire, anger and greed. Therefore one should let all three go.
हिंदी · नरक का यह द्वार तीन प्रकार का है, और यह मनुष्य को नष्ट कर देता है: काम, क्रोध और लोभ। इसलिए इन तीनों को छोड़ देना चाहिए।
What it means
Three gates to ruin: desire, anger, greed.
Three gates lead to the ruin of the self — desire, anger and greed. Therefore give up all three.
This is the Trust’s own reading, written for this site. The verse above it is the text.
Where this verse stands
Three gates and scriptural discernment
Chapter 1616.21–24
Desire, anger and greed are named as destructive gates; shastra becomes a standard for action.
This verse opens the movement.
Three gates to destruction
Desire, anger and greed are gathered into a memorable triad. The verse should be used for self-examination, not quick moral labeling of others.
Read deeper · Read with 2.62–63, 3.37–43 and 17.5–6.
Hansi Gita Bhawan Trust · The Gita for Life
Verses that share its vocabulary
Near it in the text’s own words.
- 5.26For those who have put desire and anger aside, who strive and hold their minds in check, and who have known the self, the peace of brahman lies close on every side.
- 16.18Leaning on ego, force, arrogance, desire and anger, these fault-finding people hate me where I stand, in their own bodies and in the bodies of others.
- 2.62Dwelling on things, a man grows attached to them. From attachment desire is born. From desire comes anger.
- 3.37It is desire, it is anger, born of the guna of rajas. It devours everything and does great harm. Know this to be the enemy here.
- 5.23The man who can bear the force that rises from desire and anger here itself, before he is freed from the body, is a man of yoga, and he is happy.
- 16.12Bound by a hundred cords of hope, given over to desire and anger, they work to pile up wealth by unfair means, to spend on the pleasures they want.
Chosen by shared uncommon vocabulary, weighted so that a rare word counts for far more than a common one. A reading aid, not a claim that these verses mean the same thing.
Common questions
What does Bhagavad Gita 16.21 mean?
Three gates to ruin: desire, anger, greed. Three gates lead to the ruin of the self — desire, anger and greed. Therefore give up all three.
Who speaks Bhagavad Gita 16.21?
Shri Bhagavan. The speaker is taken from the text’s own उवाच line as transcribed, not inferred from the verse number.