The Lord indicates here that there are three gateways to reach HELL. Earlier in a stanza, in the very same chapter, He described that HELL and HEAVEN are conditions created by the mind only; they are merely subjective experiences in life, and the three false values mentioned here are the main causes of the former.

DESIRE, ANGER, GREED — The main theme of the entire chapter is to call man away from a life of sense-gratification into the ampler fields of desireless actions and egoless perfections.

Where there is desire, anger is a natural corollary. The constant flying of an individual’s thoughts towards an object of gratification is called ‘desire,’ and when the steady flow of these thoughts of aggrandisement and possession are deflected by some obstacle, the refracted thoughts are called ‘anger.’ When disappointed in desire-gratifications, a storm of revolt rises in the mind, as a consequence of which anger soars up to toss, wreck and sink the boat of life.

If ANGER is thus the thought-storm arising in our mind at the disappointment of a desire, GREED is the erosion of our mental strength and inner peace when desires are more and more satiated. When a desire gets fulfilled, an insatiable thirst for more and more joy holds the individual, and this endless appetite ruins the mental strength and saps dry the personality-vitality in the individual. Greed is a sense of dissatisfaction constantly pursuing and poisoning the sense of satisfaction that we have already experienced. In an undisciplined man, there can be no satisfaction at any time; even when his desires are satisfied he is unhappy, because his appetite for enjoyment is thereby sharpened and he hungers for more; if the desires are throttled, the disappointment brings into him anger, and he suffers the consequent wretchedness.

If this logic about the action and interaction between desire, anger, and greed is accepted, then we are forced to accept Krishna’s conclusion in this stanza: “THEREFORE ONE SHOULD FORSAKE THESE THREE.”HERE FOLLOWS THE PRAISE OF THE RENUNCIATION OF EGO, ANGER AND GREED:

Idam, this; dvaram, door; narakasya, of hell-for entering it; which is the nasanam, destroyer; atmanah, of the soul; is trividham of three kinds. It is that by the mere entry into which the soul perishes, i.e., it ceases to be fit for attaining any human goal. hence it is said that it is the door which is the destroyer of the soul. Which is that? Kamah, passion; krodhah, anger; and also lobhah, greed. Tasmat, therefore; tyajet, one shoud forsake; etat trayam, these three. Since this door is the destroyer of the soul, therefore one should renounce this group of three-passion etc. This is a eulogy of renunciation.