Greed by raising expectations in men, serves only to whirl them about, like a vortex of the sea swallows marine animals. Being over powered by greed, we are unable to reach the goal of perfection, like a bird entangled in a snare is kept from flight. Of all worldly evils, greed is the source of the longest sorrow. She exposes even the most secluded man to peril. All our bodily troubles are avoided by abstaining from greed, just as we are freed from fear of night demons at the dispersion of darkness. As long as men remain in dumbness and mental delirium, they are subject to the poisonous colic of greed. Men may get rid of their misery by freeing themselves from anxieties. The abandonment of cares is said to be the best remedy for greed.

1. 1
Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 17
Rama on Greed
Book I, Chapter 17
Rama on Greed
Rama speaking:
1I see our vices like a flock of owls flying in the
region of our minds, under the darkness of our
affections, and in the longsome night of our greed.
2I am parched by my anxieties like wet clay under
the sun, infusing an inner heat by extracting its
soft moisture.
3My mind is like a vast and lonesome wilderness,
covered under the mist of errors, and infested by
the terrible fiend of desire that is continually
floundering about it.
4My wailings and tears serve only to expand and
mature my anxiety, as the dews of night open and
ripen the blossoms of beans and give them a
bright golden colour.
5Greed by raising expectations in men, serves only
to whirl them about, like a vortex of the sea
swallows marine animals.
6The stream of worldly greed flows like a rapid
current within the rock of my body, with
precipitate force and loud resounding waves.

2. 2
Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 17
Rama on Greed
7Our minds are driven by foul greed from one
place to another, as dusty dry hay is carried away
by winds, and as moisture loving Chataka
cuckoos are impelled by thirst to fly about.
8It is greed that destroys all the good qualities and
grace that we have learned in good faith, just like
a mischievous mouse gnaws the strings of a
musical instrument.
9We turn on the wheel of our cares, like withered
leaves upon water, like dry grass blown by wind,
and like autumn clouds in the sky.
10Being over powered by greed, we are unable to
reach the goal of perfection, like a bird entangled
in a snare is kept from flight.
11I am so greatly burnt by the flame of greed that I
doubt whether this inflammation may be relieved
even by administration of nectar.
12Like a heated mare, greed takes me far and farther still
from my place, and brings me back to it again and
again. Thus it hurries me up and down and to and fro
in all directions forever.
13The rope of greed pulls us up and cast us down
again like a bucket into a well.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 17
Rama on Greed
14Man’s greed leads him about like a bullock of burden.
His avarice bends his heart as fast as the rope does
the beast, and it is hard for him to break.
15As the hunter spreads his net to catch birds, so
does our affection for friends, wives and children
stretch snares to entrap us every day?
16Greed like a dark night terrifies even the wise,
blindfolds the keen-sighted, and depresses the
spirit of the happiest of men.
17Our appetite is as heinous as a serpent, soft to feel, but
full of deadly poison, and bites us as soon as it is felt.
18It is also like a black sorceress who deludes men by
her magic, then pierces him in his heart to expose him
to danger afterwards.
19This body of ours, shattered by our greed, is like a
worn out lute, fastened by arteries resembling strings,
but emitting no pleasing sound.
20Our greed is like the long fibered, dark and juicy
poisonous vine called kaduka that grows in mountain
caves and maddens men by its flavour.
21Greed is as vain, empty, fruitless, aspiring, unpleasant
and perilous as a dry twig of a tree that bears no fruit or
flower, but is hurtful with its prickly point.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 17
Rama on Greed
22Venality is like a mean old woman, who from the
incontinence of her heart, courts the company of every
man without gaining the object of her desire.
23Greed is an old actress who plays her various
parts in the vast theatre of world in order to please
the different tastes of her audience.
24Parsimony is like a poisonous plant growing in
the wide wilderness of the world, bearing old age
and infirmity as its flowers, and producing our
troubles as its fruits.
25Our churlishness resembles an aged actress who
attempts a manly feat she has not the strength to
perform, yet keeps up the dance without pleasing
anybody.
26Our fleeting thoughts are as fickle as peacocks
soaring over inaccessible heights under the clouds
(of ignorance), but ceasing to fly in the daylight
(of reason).
27Greed is like a river during the rains, rising for a time
with its rolling waves, and afterwards lying low in its
empty bed.
28Greed is as inconstant as a female bird that
changes her mates at times, and quits the tree that
no longer bears fruit.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 17
Rama on Greed
29The greedy are as unsteady as a springing monkey
that never rests at any place but moves to places
impassable by others, and craves for fruit even when
satisfied.
30The acts of greed are as inconstant as those of chance,
both of which are ever on the alert, but never attended
with their sequence.
31Our venality is like a black bee sitting on the lotus of
our hearts where it buzzes above, below and all about.
32Of all worldly evils, greed is the source of the
longest sorrow. She exposes even the most
secluded man to peril.
33Greed, like a group of clouds, is filled with a thick
mist of error obstructing the light of heaven and
causing a dull insensitivity.
34Penury, which seems to gird the breasts of
worldly people with chains of gems and jewels,
binds them like beasts with halters about their
necks.
35Covetousness stretches itself long and wide and
presents to us a variety of colours like a rainbow.
It is equally unsubstantial and without any
property as the iris, resting in vapour and vacuum
and being only a shadow itself.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 17
Rama on Greed
36It burns away our good qualities as fire does dry hay.
It numbs our good sense as frost freezes the lotus. It
grows our evils as autumn does the grass. It increases
our ignorance as winter prolongs the night.
37Greediness is as an actress on the stage of the world.
She is like a bird flying out of the nest of our houses,
like a deer running about in the desert of our hearts,
and like a lute making us sing and dance at its tune.
38Our desires like great waves toss us about in the ocean
of our earthly cares. They bind us fast to delusion like
chains bind an elephant. Like the banyan tree, they
produce the roots of our regeneration, and like
moonbeams they put our budding sorrows to bloom.
39Greed is a jewel-encrusted box filled with misery,
decrepitude, death, disorder and disasters like a mad
drunken dance.
40Our wishes are sometimes as pure as light and at other
times as foul as darkness; now they are as clear as the
Milky Way, and again as obscure as thickest mists.
41All our bodily troubles are avoided by
abstaining from greed, just as we are freed from fear
of night demons at the dispersion of darkness.
42As long as men remain in dumbness and mental
delirium, they are subject to the poisonous colic
of greed.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 17
Rama on Greed
43Men may get rid of their misery by freeing
themselves from anxieties. The abandonment of
cares is said to be the best remedy for greed.
44As fish in a pond fondly grasp bait in expectation of a
morsel, so the avaricious lay hold on anything, be it
wood or stone or even a bit of straw.
45Greed like an acute pain excites even the gravest of
men to motion, just like the sunshine raises lotus
blossoms above water.
46It is comparable to bamboo in its length, hollowness,
hard knots, and thorny prickles, and yet it is entertained
with hopes that it might yield manna and pearls.
47It is a wonder that high-minded men have been able
to cut off this almost un-severable knot of greed by the
glittering sword of reason, 48because neither the edge of
a sword, nor the fire of lightening, nor the sparks of a
red-hot iron are sharp enough to sever the keen greed
seated in our hearts.
49It is like the flame of a lamp which is bright but
blackening and acutely burning at its end. Fed by the
oily wicks, it is vivid but never handled by anybody.
50Penury has the power of demeaning, in a
moment, the best of men to the baseness of straw
in spite of their wisdom, heroism and gravity in
other respects.

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 17
Rama on Greed
51Greed is like the great valley of the Vindhya Hills,
beset with deserts and impenetrable forests, terrible
and full of traps laid by the hunters, filled with dust
and mist.
52One single greed has everything in the world for
its object, and though seated in the breast, it is
imperceptible to all. It is like the undulating
Milky Ocean in this fluctuating world, sweeping
all things yet regaling mankind with its odorous
waves.
*******
[Rama’s observations herein above are a lesson for all
seekers of Truth. “Greed by raising expectations in
men, serves only to whirl them about, like a vortex
of the sea swallows marine animals.”
“Being over powered by greed, we are unable to
reach the goal of perfection, like a bird entangled
in a snare is kept from flight.”
“Of all worldly evils, greed is the source of the
longest sorrow. She exposes even the most
secluded man to peril.”]
[Greed: An excessive desire to acquire or possess more
than what one needs or deserves, especially with

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Yoga Vashishtha of Valmiki
Book I, Chapter 17
Rama on Greed
respect to material wealth; excessive consumption of or
desire for food; gluttony.
Avarice: Extreme greed for riches; cupidity; insatiable
greed for riches; inordinate, miserly desire to gain and
hoard wealth.
Venality: Prostitution of talents or offices or services
for reward; the condition of being susceptible to
bribery or corruption; the use of a position of trust for
dishonest gain.
Parsimony: Extreme care in spending money;
reluctance to spend money unnecessarily; frugality;
niggardliness; stinginess.
Churlishness: Having a bad disposition; surly.
Penury: A state of extreme poverty or destitution;
scarcity or lack; insufficiency.
Covetousness: An envious eagerness to possess
something; excessively and culpably desirous of the
possessions of another; extreme greed for material
wealth.
Anxiety: A vague unpleasant emotion that is
experienced in anticipation of some (usually ill-
defined) misfortune; (psychiatry) a relatively
permanent state of worry and nervousness occurring in
a variety of mental disorders, usually accompanied by
compulsive behaviour or attacks of panic.
Care: A burdened state of mind, as that arising from
heavy responsibilities; worry; mental suffering; grief.