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)
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.
