🪔 Shadripu / Arishadvarga – The Six Enemies of The M...

Shadripu / Arishadvarga – The Six Enemies of The Mind!

According to Hindu scriptures, these six enemies tie the soul to the cycle of life and death and confine it to this material world (the Mayan or relative existence of confinement). Especially the first three are said to be the road to hell. The first two bring up the difficult experiences we face in our lives.

What Is Shadripu/Arishadvarga ?

In Hindu theology, Arishadvarga or Shadripu / Shada Ripu (Sanskrit: षड्रिपु means 6 enemies) are the 6 enemies of the mind.

These are the basic beliefs of Kali-yuga (The Dark Age)

Kama

Lust, craze, desire

The Kama means desire. Kama means wanting something without self-control, without caring about how one gets that thing/situation. The word Kama means selfishness, concern only with oneself. Kama means that the highest goal is one’s comfort. Kama is a fire that is difficult to put out. Kama usually means the desire for some emotional gratification from another person or the attraction to another person.

Krodha

Anger, hatred

Krodha means anger, and it stems from the frustration of desire. We want something. We can’t get it. We become angry. We crave for something in any way, that is, to hurt, to hurt, to destroy, to destroy and to fight for it.

Lobha

Greed, miserliness, narrow-minded

Lobha Greed. We want everything only for ourselves. We should have everything. Everyone else should have nothing. Greed springs from desire and causes anger. We will not give anything to anyone. It makes your hand or mind stick to something. The craving for worldly things could be overcome by the postures of feathers who were great or Sannyasins. They have overcome greed for material things.

Moha

Delusory emotional attachment

Moha makes us live in a dream world. I think I will be happy if I get the first place. I would be happy if I could work for 50,000 rupees a month. These are all illusions (Moha). We must learn to see reality. You need flexibility to do this. The Yogic people see the world clearly without illusions. The Yogic people’s view is the opposite of Bhogic.

Mada

Pride, stubborn mindedness

The ego can never love or be loved. The ego can not be intelligent. The ego swells like a blowfish, full of self-worth and pride. To overcome this, one must learn to surrender and show reverence and gratitude.

The ego is so strong that it expects everyone and everything to succumb to its wishes. One can combat this by learning to bend before higher intelligence, creating a flexible spine. One can develop respect, gratitude, and love.

Matsarya

Envy, jealousy, show or vanity, and pride

Jealousy is as malicious as a mouse, bites everyone, and is full of hatred and hatred. Jealousy is like a poisonous snake. Jealousy is a poison-filled scorpion. Some yoga exercises, such as Bujangini Mudra, can easily remove the poison. You can open your mind and realize that all beings are one. How can I be jealous of myself? Namaste Mudra teaches us that God lives in everything. How can I be jealous of someone?

Shadripu and Soul

According to Hindu scriptures, these tie the soul to the cycle of life and death and confine it to this material world (the Mayan or relative existence of confinement). Especially the first three are said to be the road to hell. The first two bring up the difficult experiences we face in our lives.

No matter how powerful, rich, successful or outwardly happy we are, we cannot be considered mature if we are immature. These six internal enemies have not yet been conquered. In fact, Sanātana Dharma says that unless we defeat these six enemies – “Shadripus”, our hearts will never be truly happy and peaceful.

It’s also pointless to practice “good behavior” if we haven’t defeated Shadripa. For example, speaking the truth motivated by greed is worse than speaking it without any desire for wealth. Who is better, the person who calls the police to inform them of the whereabouts of a wanted criminal in order to receive a reward, or the person who does so even if no reward is offered for arresting the criminal? The concept of Shadripu in Sanatana Dharma makes us responsible for our own successes and failures. In the Gita, Bhagavan Krishna says:

Man must elevate himself; you can’t humiliate yourself. Verily, only the mind is man’s friend and only the mind is the enemy.”

The Experience

These six enemies are not completely independent of each other. But they’re all united against us and they want to destroy us completely! For example, a person cannot be jealous and at the same time completely free from anger, because jealousy inevitably breeds a sense of anger towards our external “enemy”. Another example is that excessive greed for money is in itself motivated by excessive desire and can lead to pride or self – control when the person is truly rich. So here we have three of the six enemies who are united against us.

Sri Krishna explains one possible relationship between some of these six enemies in the following verses.

“Dwelling or thinking on the objects of the senses a man develops attachment for them. From attachment, desire is born. Desire gives rise to anger. From anger arises delusion. From delusion arises a failure of memory. From the failure of memory results destruction of the intellect; and through the destruction of intellect, total destruction ensues.”

When an individual experiences something, it may or may not make an impression on their mind. If one thinks about the thing again it becomes an impression. If one continues to think about or associate with the subject, a desire is born to re-experience it or even to own it. Then the person acts to fulfill that desire. And the more intense the desire, the greater the need to fulfill it. Anything that comes in the way of gratification arouses anger.

The following Shloka from Vairagya Dindima explains the Shadripu very well- कामः क्रोधश्च लोभश्च देहे तिष्ठन्ति तस्कराः। ज्ञानरत्नापहाराय तस्मात् जाग्रत जाग्रत॥३ Kama Krodascha Lobhascha Dehe Thishtanthi Taskarah। Jnana Ratno-paharaya Tasmat Jagrata Jagrata.।।

“Desire, anger, greed, attachment, pride, jealousy — these dacoits are residing within your own body. They are not outside. They are residing as fifth column enemies within you. And, why are they there? To loot you of the Jnana-Ratna, to rob you of the precious gem of spiritual wisdom or atma-jnana, to loot you and deprive you of the precious gem of Self-awareness and make you forget your Self and weep and wail and be in ignorance. In order to deprive you of this jewel of atma-jnana, they are there. Therefore, oh man, oh Sadhak, Jagrata, Jagrata. Beware, beware. In this way, from the submerged level of the chitta or the deep within, various samskaras and vasna are brought into activity.”