CHENNAI: 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 deprivation, greed can become a dominant pattern.
Not many realise, how low and mean a person can become under its influence. Greed, like gluttony and lust, is traditionally considered a sin of excess. Both gluttony and greed correspond closely with what Buddha called desire — an over attachment to the material world and its pleasures which is at the root of all human sufferings.
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 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 aging 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. 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, caucus or corporations are always busy in refining their tools of exploitation to amass more wealth and in the process creating more disparity.
Little do they realise 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).
Greed, in fact, is a curse that has befallen them. The sooner this truth dawns on the leaders of our times, the closer will be the dawn of a new golden era of complete purity, peace and abundance.