Interpretation

Freedom from the three gates — desire, anger, and greed — doesn't lead to a bland, desireless existence but to liberation's positive content: acting for the welfare of the soul (sreyas — the ultimately beneficial, the spiritually nourishing) and thereby attaining the supreme goal (param gatim). The negative (freedom from) enables the positive (movement toward). When desire, anger, and greed no longer dominate the inner landscape, the soul naturally moves toward its own deepest good — toward the Supreme. This is the positive vision underlying all the chapter's warnings.