# Leela Square 4: Greed (lobh) Meaning

Square 4 in Leela is Greed, lobh in Sanskrit. Harish Johari describes it as inner emptiness mistaken for a lack of things: the more you take, the deeper the hole. Players arrive here when the snake of Jealousy on square 16 bites. The square asks a plain question: what emptiness are you trying to fill?

## Meaning

Johari defines greed as confusing inner unfulfilment with material need. A sense of something missing is real, but it is placed on the wrong object. Possessions, food, attention or success are gathered, and because they never touch the actual gap, acquiring more only deepens the emptiness.

The Sanskrit lobh (lobha) means craving or covetousness. Johari connects it with the snake that ends here: "Greed is the tail-end of the snake of jealousy." Jealousy, born of fantasy in the second row, is fear of losing what you have to a rival. When that fear takes hold, energy drops back to the first chakra and starts clutching.

Greed sits in row 1, The Fundamentals of Being, linked with Muladhara, the root chakra, and the earth element, the level of survival and possession. In that light greed is a survival reflex aimed at the wrong target. The square teaches discernment. Before reaching for more, ask what is actually lacking, and whether anything external could supply it.

In play, this square is a mirror for ordinary habits: the extra purchase, the second helping, the hours of scrolling, the hunger for one more success. None of these is condemned. The point is to notice the pattern, feel the gap underneath it, and ask what would actually meet that need instead of covering it.

## On the board

Square 4 is reached through the snake of Jealousy: a player who lands on square 16, in the second row, slides down to Greed. Ordinary forward play starts on square 6, so a normal count does not stop here unless an earlier fall has placed the symbol on 2 or 3. Square 4 has no arrow or snake of its own. From here the player moves on through row 1, The Fundamentals of Being.

Gita 14.17 names greed as a product of rajas that, with desire and anger, leads into darkness. The game of dice in the Mahabharata shows where the restless wish for more can lead, as a kingdom, brothers and finally Draupadi are staked.

## Questions

- What emptiness am I trying to fill?
- What would be enough, if I said it in plain numbers or plain words?
- Which fear of losing something is making me hold on tighter?

**What happens when you land on square 4 in Leela?**
Square 4, Greed, is a plain square: no arrow and no snake. Players usually arrive by the snake from square 16, Jealousy. The symbol rests here until the next throw. In reflective play the stop invites an honest look at where you are trying to fill an inner gap with outer things.

**Why does jealousy lead to greed in Leela?**
The snake of Jealousy on square 16 ends on square 4. Johari writes that "greed is the tail-end of the snake of jealousy". Jealousy is the fear that someone will take what you have; once that fear takes hold, energy drops to the level of survival and begins to grasp. The board turns that inner sequence into a single move.

**What does lobh mean?**
Lobh, or lobha, is the Sanskrit word for greed or craving. In Leela it names square 4, in the first row linked with Muladhara, the root chakra. Johari reads it as inner unfulfilment mistaken for material need, so that every acquisition leaves the real lack untouched and the sense of emptiness grows.