(Contd.........Part 4)
The rich think of
wealth, you think of God, the Wealth giver
Those who are very rich, have their attention directed the whole day, to money, interest on moneys, bank balances, bargains and other allied things. In short, their communication is constantly with material wealth in one form or the other. They have no time to remember their father. But, he who has not much wealth or is moderately affluent, can link himself to God by intellectual communion, and earn prosperity and happiness in balance. He is comparatively greatly fortunate because his yoga is of a high order and this achievement immeasurably great.
As against this, how the wealth of the very wealthy people is spent. On the one hand, they spend sizable sums on marriages, honeymoons, the pictures or other allied spectacles, and on beautiful and pleasing materials or for sexual indulgence. Besides these trappings of sensuality, they are influenced by the passion of making huge improper profits and take to adulteration or black-marketting in articles of common use, dishonestly in preparing income-tax and sales-tax returns, and to bribing authorities to obtain permits and licenses.
Often enough, they are haughty because they have some to have excessive wealth, and in order to maintain their prestige and pride, they spend on otherwise useless customs and adornments to put forth a big show. To their earnings they have their own attachment, and their attention is directed, without remission, to the articles they buy with their money. Their minds are, so to say, glued to those thing. Thus, when they are intoxicated with riches, and have savoured the very essence of greed and are sunk in or soaked through and through with attachment, they are in a rage when anyone of their desires is not fulfilled or when their instructions are violated by anybody.
In this fit of anger, a rich man would file a suit against one, be un-even with another or, have his revenge against a third one, either through the police or through hired hoodlums. No expense is too high for him to translate his ideas of retaliation into action. If nothing of this kind offers itself for an outlet to his ill temper and petulance, his money would flow away over cigarettes, over dainty bits, or over pampering his palate with other tasty things. In short, his wealth is used up in answering the call of the vices.
What they earn from occupations of this kind in sin and sin alone. From the standpoint of good karmas, they become paupers, and thereby invite uneasiness by yielding to vice. Man must have either his mind, body or wealth to employ for the purpose of doing an action whether good or bad. Hence, those who are very rich, purchase vices and vicious impressions with the money they have, if they have no Godly knowledge to control or restrain them.
Today, there is hardly a rich man who is not given to vice, and, so, all people are restless. On the other hand, he who is moderately rich should think that it is all to the good that he is not very rich in this last life because he is thus safe from bad actions. I am not intellectually in communication with the jobs of the household or of my other possessions. For me, it is now easy to employ my intellect in remembering the Supreme Soul who is the bestower of true wealth, all because my faculties are not entangled in wordly compulsions to any appreciable extent.
The lesser the
wealth the fewer the vices?
Learning thus from his experiences, man should be able to observe cases of people who are very rich and have the wherewithal, i.e. Artha as it is called in Hindi, for the purposes of life. They employ this wherewithal for purposes of anartha (in Hindi it is the antonym of artha) i.e., contrary to the purpose for which wealth is meant to be spent. He should know that he is safe from wrong ways as God has made him understand the real meaning of all actuality. In other words, He has made him have a vivid picture of what is meant by the soul, Brahma Tattwa, the Transcendental World, deities, the mind, action, renunciation, yoga, salvation, etc. So, he should think thus : “If the generality of people have what is called money, I have true wealth in the form of divine knowledge, which puts an end to inequality and sorrow.
They have wealth but they have not their feelings under their control. Their self has been, as one might say, seduced by wealth, lack of peace and the entanglements of the world, whereas my inner self is joyful, peaceful and stable, and is thoroughly well-placed firmly in remembrance of the Supreme Soul and, consequently, imbued with bliss. They may have hoards (kosha, **) of wealth, but they have not contentment (santosh, **). They are always looking for more and more wealth. They have wealth in the form of money, but I am rich in contentment. Even with a little of money I find peace and happiness but no amount of money, however large, would satisfy them. In short, they have an insatiable longing for money. They may have enough and to spare, but they are still hungry for more and more. How awful!”
Mammon is not for
you, why don’t you be God’s
It would be easy for anyone to think thus, “My conditions, if it is financially low, has taken this present form to ensure me God’s many secret gifts. This is because I am not involved in the several kinds of distracting engagements which a very rich man has to grow through during the day. I, therefore, find myself absorbed in contemplation of God as My Lord, instead of constantly reciting, as the rich people recite to themselves, the words, “money, more money!” If I had been very rich, I would have been so greatly absorbed in thoughts of material things that I would perhaps never think of sucking in the ecstasy of yoga. But this penury is a blessing in disguise for me, for it has turned over my thoughts to God.
So, I conclude with joy that I am neither miserable nor unlucky; rather, there is none so rich as I am, because I have amassed untold wealth in the form of Godly remembrance. The world, as it is at present, is for the rich whereas I, though poor in that sense, have Bhagwan – God Himself, the lord of the Universe, to bank upon. He is all joy; my state is not one to cause me any worry. The world today may not respect me, but I have honesty and, on account of my piety, which is the true income that one should have, I shall surely have a respected position in God’s great Audience Hall.
I should not, therefore, consider myself a pauper but should regard myself as righteous and religious, earning without interruption the wealth of knowledge, purity and peace. In spite of my limited means, I should consider myself very lucky in as much as this wealth of divine knowledge and purity are the best of God’s gifts, which only the very lucky obtain.”
You may have less
money, but you can have more means
Reflecting in this manner, man should keep contented and be well-pleased with what is instead of pining for what is not. On the basis of the divine knowledge gained, he should realise that, though is worldly means are limited, he has gems of knowledge and wealth of spiritual efforts to enable him to rise in life. By means of these, he shall become very rich and continue to be so for 21 lives, and be fully and untouched by any pain or unrest. Hence, he should fully carry out God’s instructions which are that he should be a yogi and holy in his ways. Pledging himself to a holy life will ensure him noble gains sooner rather than later.
He who lacks wealth should promise to be pure, and be thoroughly true to his word, and the time is not off when all his sorrows have ended. He who fulfills his promise is bound to have promising future and excellent results. What we observe these days in contrary to what man ought to do. They, whose means are inadequate, excuse themselves by saying that an empty stomach does not allow of religious worship (Bhookhe Bhajan na hoi Gopala!). Whatever time they find, they spend in preparation for making money, in eating and then earning again.
They have no leisure to receive Godly knowledge or remember Him. Strangest of all, they would say, “It is this yoga, and the allied exercise that have reduced us to poverty! Those countries where people turn away from yoga and similar occupations and attend to business, factories and other means of making money have now become very rich, and have, consequently, gone far ahead of us.” But, such people as make these declarations, do not understand that wealth is not the only object of life. It is a means and not an achievement of life.
The aim, in other words, the success in life, connotes complete peace and happiness. Wealthy countries of today are not blessed with complete peace and happiness, for the very simple reason that fear of bombs is ever present, augmented by the fires of vice and the passion for enjoyment. The prime cause of unrest, pain, poverty, etc. is that man has forgotten all about himself and about the Supreme Soul. Even those who remember God, do not, in many cases, know Him well, and they do no good action. Hence, the need today is that man should able to acquire knowledge of the Supreme Soul and also of the abstruse ways that actions once done, take to produce results here or hereafter.
There is also as much need of his becoming stable in remembering Him with the aid of divine knowledge, and being righteous in actions before he endeavours to earn wealth. Then alone will be ended the present day scenes of unlawful gain and pillage, greed, vice, unrighteousness, and evilful injury to others and the unrest that has bedevilled people’s minds. Everywhere you would then see happiness and affluence. You will have peace and plenty and should have no fear of the rapacious rich.
Give the wealth of
knowledge to others if you wish to be wealthy
Everyone should try to understand well the significant fact that he earns wealth by means of his actions here or as a result of his charitableness in his previous life whereby he is born here in a rich family. And, if he has not given anything in charity in that life of his, he shall have now to work and to earn wealth. But, if he is aged, diseased or is unable to do any work owing to some circumstances, peculiar to him, he should do the righteous deed of acquiring divine knowledge and transmitting it to others and advising them on the employment of this knowledge in daily life.
By this means of making this excellent gift of divine knowledge, he will surely obtain happiness in heaven. And so far as his present life goes, the Supreme Soul, who is the Ocean Knowledge, will Himself arrange the means of livelihood for him who is religious and propagates true knowledge founded on logic, because it is the bounden duty of every member of society to do this great service to people.
When people worship Shri Lakshmi and Shri Narayana, asking for grant of wealth, they should try to know how these asking for grant of wealth, they should try to know how these became worthy of worship and so wealthy as to fulfil worshippers’ wishes. How did those whose currency was valid and whose writ then ran, were born in a royal family? What was that doctrine of action that worked in this respect?
Shiva, the Supreme Soul, has made us learn that Shri Lakshmi and Shri Narayana, who were respectively Jagadamba Saraswati and Prajapita Brahma in their previous life, has earned highly useful divine knowledge in a abundance, and give generously to others. Secondly, with respect to the fact of birth in a royal family, Bhagwan Shiva, have, in their previous existence, given away wealth to poor people.
Thus it needs extraordinary ability to understand that he, who equips people with the badly wanted two virtues of peace and purity by giving them the wealth that divine knowledge is, will undoubtedly come to possess happiness that deity sovereignty brings with all its additional comforts. Therefore, divine knowledge transforms a pauper into a nobleman, and man should, without delay, start acquiring it and never have feeling of pain and unrest.
Shiva, the Supreme Father says, “Most surely will this unrighteous world which is fallen into irreligion, misconduct, false knowledge and is divorced from God, meet destruction in the near future when bombs and the dogs of war are let loose. Those who have amassed wealth shall lose it, as the popular verse1 says, by its being confiscated by the Government, stolen by thieves or be missed in the debris of fire and earthquakes! He alone will reap its fruits who uses it for divine ends.
In a few years, material wealth will become useless, while those who have acquired the wealth of knowledge, will be the only ones contented amidst the surrounding calamities. They alone will have a bright future. Learning these priceless truths, man should not waste time, but pass these coming few years in contentment and due endeavours, and make his life successful by acquiring the wealth that there is in divine knowledge, yoga, purity and good conduct.
1. ******
World peace and
peace of mind
Seeker – Sister dear, the problem of World Peace is the biggest problem of the day. Take the example of India. India has two enemies – China and Pakistan. Conditions of other countries also are about the same. Their armies stand poised for war. Lethal weapons and atomic and hydrogen bombs are there to be used in these wars. Between the armies of Israel and of the U.A.R., skirmishes take place now and then. Between the great Powers, Russia and China, there are disputes.
Tension between West Germany and East Germany has also not been eliminated for ever. In short, everywhere in the world, there is the atmosphere of discord. Bharat is no exception. Here, now and then, there are firings and lathi-charges. Clashes between the police and the masses are to common. At all places, the atmosphere of strafes is being built up. Sister dear, in the domain of divine knowledge, is there any solution to this wrangle?
Brahma Kumari – As you now know, the divine knowledge is there to ensure peace to man’s mind and to the whole world? Its aim is to equip us so that a new world, in which unrest does not at all exist, is made. But, its laws and view-point are unique.
Even others, not acquainted with this system of divine knowledge, are employing several methods in order to establish peace in the world. For example, religious-minded people perform either Rudra yagyas or hold Peace Conferences, called Shanti Sammelans. Presidents of various countries hold what are called Summits Conferences and discuss ways and means of effective disarmament. Some countries have already set up Shanti Senas, i.e. Peace Corps. The U.N.O. also gets, now and then, engaged in its own ways to work for Peace. But we observe that as strenuously and frequently people invokes Peace so quickly does Peace fly away. In spite of numerous efforts people are getting farther and farther away from the goal. Now-a-days, Governments, each one of them, are increasing their expenditure on Defence and are building bigger stocks of arms.
The fact is that evil does not die unless and until it is pulled up by the roots, whereas efforts made now-a-days touch just the fringe, like lopping off a branch here and there of the Tree of Discord. Its roots, its stem and its numerous branches are growing apace. This reminds me of an event that occurred sometime ago in my neighbourhood.
A few years ago, near a drain pipe in the wall of a house, next to the house in which our divine service centre is located, a Peepal plant began to grow. In the beginning it was thin and soft, and a small twig cropped out of the wall. The owner of the house did nothing effective to root it out. By degrees, it grew in size. He would just come out, say once in a fortnight, and hew the projecting part of it with his axe, but the root lay safe inside the wall, growing strong and spreading its tentacles. Sometime after, one fine morning, the wall crumbled down, causing a huge loss!
What is meant, therefore, is that the growth of an evil cannot be stopped till its roots are taken out. Exactly this applied to the case of World Peace. We have to reach the roots of this problem of world peace in order to solve it.
Seeker - Pray tell me what is, from your point of view, the cause of this situation?
Brahma Kumari – Viewing in a casual manner, we find that there are about ten main causes of discord in the world. And those ten causes have their origin in some thing else.
Class difference of
difference of economic ideologies
One of the ten causes mentioned here is class difference. The world is divided into ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. Now-a-days, in Russia, China ad the other Communist countries, people consider themselves leaders of backward and poor labourers while they recognise America, France, England etc. only as capitalist countries. In the domain of economic policy, there are two schools of thought, and in certain cases, there is severe conflict between these two schools. The troubles in Vietnam, Laos, Cuba, Bharat, China etc. are due to class differences. In Bharat, you find the Communists and the factory-owners or Communists and the right-wing parties against each other.
Contd....Part 6
Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya
