Lust, anger, greed- nobody likes what the Gita calls the three gateways leading to hell. And the six enemies of the mind include lust, anger, and greed and also envy, madness and illusion, all of which can become purified or spiritualized by connection to Krsna in devotional serivce. It is similar to putting iron into fire, making it also fiery. Krishna is the purifying fire...
"Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung in his prema-bhakti-candrikā, 'krodha' bhakta-dveṣi jane: anger should be used to punish a demon who is envious of devotees. Kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mada and mātsarya—lust, anger, greed, illusion, pride and envy—all have their proper use for the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotee."
And two other negatives- fear and lamentation- are also included in the following:
PURIFYING LUST (KAMA):
There is no danger desiring and hankering for shelter at Krishna's lotus feet or to see the ever blissful pastimes of Radha and Krsna., but as for the example set by the gopis, there is a proper way and mood to develop by taking shelter and instruction from a bona fide guru and there is the improper way of the sahajiyas, a dangerous pitfall on the path of devotion. More on the basics of conquering lust was previously discussed here.
PURIFYING ANGER (KRODHA)
Defending the Vaisnava and Krishna is the best use of anger. Sometimes someone may become antagonistic or even dangerous towards the Lord and his servants. Yet, it is not that a devotee is a dead stone and makes no response to such a situation. Out of love for the Lord, he will sometimes even sacrifice his life to protect the deity or another devotee. Prabhupada wrote in this regard: "One should not at any time tolerate blasphemy and insults against Lord Vishnu or His devotees. A devotee is generally very humble and meek, and he is reluctant to pick a quarrel with anyone. Nor does he envy anyone. However, a pure devotee immediately becomes fiery with anger when he sees that Lord Vishnu or His devotee is insulted. This is the duty of a devotee. Although a devotee maintains an attitude of meekness and gentleness, it is a great fault on his part if he remains silent when the Lord or His devotee is blasphemed" -SB 4.14.32
On the other hand, an advancing devotee never becomes angry when he himself is taunted or abused or even cursed to die. Rather, he is situated on the transcendental platform which sees all reverses as blessings and all living entities as the Lord's instruments; he is able to forgive his tormentors.
PURIFYING GREED (LOBHA)
When a devotee becomes extremely eager to relish the nectar of Krishna's lotus feet, the quality of greed also finds its true purpose. One can become very greedy for Krishna's devotional service and likewise eager to become fully Krishna conscious in this lifetime. Prabhupada remarked:
"Just like gopis. They were always hankering: 'When we shall see Krishna? When we shall see Krishna? When I shall...? When I shall meet?' Caitanya Mahäprabhu said, sünyäyitam jagat sarvam govinda-virahena me. 'Oh, I see everything vacant without Govinda.' This is ecstasy of lobha, to meet Krishna. So when you will be strongly hankering after Krishna, lobha, greedy... then lobha is properly utilized." - conversation, 1/5/77 Bombay
PURIFYING MADNESS OR IGNORANCE (MADA) AND FEAR (BHAYA)
Just turn on a news cast, the material world is a fearful and disturbing place. Yet, fear becomes a good friend when one feels impetus for fleeing maya and moving towards Krishna. Furthermore, a strong link with Krishna (the meaning of yoga) banishes all fears. Prabhupada said, "Just like a small child He can challenge a very big man because he knows, 'My father is there.' He is catching the hand of the father, and he's sure that 'Nobody can do anything to me.'" One is eager, therefore, to abandon all sinful activity, all unwanted things that stand between him and the Lord.
Fear involves worrying about the future. Developing our faith and trust in the Lord, however, removes that fear and we find our time is better spent in Krishna's service rather than worrying. Also, since death may strike at any time, constant engagement in Krishna's service keeps a devotee always in the safest position.
Furthermore, Prabhupada points out the fear of being a person, because personal relationships are often difficult and troublesome. Wholeness and spiritual health is achieved, however, when this ignorance is given up for Krishna's sake, due to eagerness for a relationship with Krishna. "So, by the slow process of devotional service, under the guidance of the bona fide spiritual master, one can attain the highest stage, being freed from all material attachment, from the fearfulness of one's individual spiritual personality, and from the frustrations that result in void philosophy. Then one can ultimately attain to the abode of the Supreme Lord."--Bg 4.10 p
Transcendental fear, on the other hand, involves fearing for the spiritual lives of the conditioned souls, as shown by Prahlad Maharaja, or for Krishna's safety, as in the case of Yasoda and Devaki. It is an anxiousness that instead of being self centered, revolves around Krishna or Krishna's deity, etc.
PURIFYING ILLUSION, PRIDE (MOHA)
First of all, a devotee humbly realizes that, "I am not the proprietor. All personal assets are the mercy of the Lord and His devotees. My own body belongs to Krishna, the materials that frame my home, the food that I eat comes from His earthly creation and so on. So what right do I have to use it for my own ends? Even the flowers I offer to the Lord each day were not my creation. So what can I really give to Krishna? Everything is being provided by Him. He is maintaining everything and everyone. Everything is therefore meant to be utilized for His service. "
Furthermore, no one can take full credit for any achievement or praise. That's because actually we are only cooperators. The person receiving a diploma, for example, got to that position with the help of so many others -his teachers, parents, well wishers and so on. This mood of cooperation extends all the way to Krishna. Krishna is very great while the living entities are always very small and infinitesimal and as common as the grass on the walkway. We are meant, therefore, to cooperate with His will as parts of a whole, rather than concoct our own.
Bhagavad gita written from the devotional perspective stresses this fact; it is our constitutional position. Our happiness comes from a dependence and sense of belonging to Krishna. We all are meant for His pleasure, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Such knowledge brings big relief to the living being. We don't to have to play God anymore. Let Krishna be God, supremely independent and one without a second. Devotees are able to relish, therefore, the glories of the Lord and His pure devotees, rather than seek glory themselves.
AND ALSO LAMENTATION (SOKA)
Meanwhile, troubles one encounters in life are helping one to become sober and prideless. The reverses Krishna sends serve as good reminders that the tiny jiva is not ultimately in control. For example, a painful toothache can suddenly cancel that otherwise enjoyable snack. Yet, by Lord's grace, a devotee sees the bigger picture by which mishaps are taken as Krishna's mercy. He accepts responsibility for his adversity as a token of his past misdeeds, and as such humility increases, so does the pleasure of chanting the Lord's holy name. He is always offering Krishna obeisances from the core of his heart.
A devotee may even feel like a failure both spiritually and materially. He may have followed the path of Krishna consciousness strictly for many years, yet feel that any spiritual perfection still alludes him. And because of such devout following, he may have neglected his material life to the point where he feels like a failure in that realm also. He feels like chinnabrahm, the riven cloud described in the Bhagavad gita that has no sense of place in either sphere- spiritual or material. Simply lossed in limbo. Yet, when he sees how all this is due to his relentless eagerness to know and surrender to Krishna, how such distress is related to Krishna, it is that connectedness to Krishna that transforms the situation, sweetening it. Why else does He continue to hope against hope? He has no other recourse. Like a sold out animal. Gradually, his feelings of lamentation intensify into feelings of loving separation from Krishna, the real reason for any unhappiness. Lord Caitanya lamented, "O Govinda, feeling Your separation, I'm considering a moment to be like twelve years or more." Such feelings of lamentation are not a sign of serious depression; they are relishable due to their connection to Krishna.
PURIFYING ENVY (MATSARYA)
In this material world, it is evident that everyone is in competition with everyone else. Everybody wants distinction and to be worshiped as the most beautiful, famous, wealthy, the best friend of everyone else, etc. It's good to realize that in Vaikuntha, however, all of the Lord's servants there are blessed with eternal beauty and opulence in all respects. So, beyond acting for the Lord's pleasure in His pastimes, where is their reason to feel envy?
The service mood also keeps envy in check. It grants the vision that every living being behaves as one's guru in some way to learn from how to offer more and better loving service to the Lord. It causes one to emulate another in order to bring Krishna happiness, thus bringing about a sort of transcendental competition. One becomes eager to hear about, glorify and gain the service mood and good qualities of another through transcendental association and humble assistance. Everyone has a chance to develop their transcendental desires in this way.
Materially, envy is a separatist, busy trying to separate from or bring down the object of envy. The mood of cooperation for Krishna's sake is absent.
THE PERSONAL PATH
The point is, the above feelings are not to be feared or negated. They are part of what it means to be persons, regaining our individual, spiritual personhood. They are only distasteful in material consciousness.
Krishna consciousness, on the other hand, gives positive life. In the spiritual world, there is a positive form for everything in existence. All so-called negative emotions are because of Krishna and therefore, although somewhat bitter, taste simultaneously very very sweet and ecstatic.
(More evidence may be found in a continuous study of "The Nectar of Devotion".)