We Are All Beggars

There was a good-natured millionaire in the town. Three beggars thought of approaching him for help. The first man went to the millionaire and said: "O Lord! I want five rupees. Please give me." The millionaire was taken aback at this man's impudence. "What! You demand five rupees from me as though I owe you the money! How dare you? How can I afford to give five rupees to a single beggar? Here, take these two rupees and get away," he said.

The man went away with the two rupees.


The next beggar went to the millionaire and said: "Oh Lord! I have not taken a square meal for the past ten days. Please help me." "How much do you want?" asked the millionaire.

"Whatever you give me, Maharaj," replied the beggar.

"Here, take this ten rupee note. You can have nice food for at least three days." The beggar walked away with the ten rupee note.


The third beggar came. "Oh Lord, I have heard about your noble qualities. Therefore, I have come to see you. Men of such charitable disposition are verily the manifestations of God on earth," he said.


"Please sit down," said the millionaire. "You appear to be tired. Please take this food," he said, and offered food to the beggar. "Now please tell me what I can do for you."


"Oh Lord," replied the beggar; "I merely came to meet such a noble personage that you are. You have given me this rich food already. What more need I get from you? You have already shown extraordinary kindness towards me. May God bless you!"


But the millionaire, struck by the beggar's spirit, begged of the beggar to remain with him, built a decent house for him in his own compound, and looked after him for the rest of his life.


God is like this good millionaire. Three classes of people approach Him, with three different desires and prayers. There is the greedy man full of vanity, full of arrogance, full of desires. He demands the objects of worldly enjoyment from God. Since this man, whatever be his vile desires, has had the good sense to approach God, He grants him some part of the desired objects (even these very soon pass away, just as the two rupees the first beggar got are spent before nightfall).


The other type of devotee prays to the Lord for relief from the sufferings of the world, but is better than the first one, in as much as he is ready to abide by His Will. To him the Lord grants full relief from suffering, and bestows on him much wealth and property.


The third type he merely prays to the Lord: "O Lord, Thou art Existence-Absolute, Knowledge-Absolute, Bliss-Absolute, etc., etc." What does he want? Nothing. But the Lord is highly pleased with his spirit of renunciation, of desirelessness and of self-surrender.

Therefore, He makes him eat His own food, I.e., He grants this man Supreme Devotion to Himself. Over and above this, He makes the devotee to live in His own House For ever afterwards this devotee dwells in the Lord's Abode as a Liberated


Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Money and Illusory Sense of Security

Money gives us a sense of freedom and ownership. We feel that with money, we can own anything or put a price tag on anybody’s services.

Ownership of something means total control of its existence from beginning to end. When we pay for a piece of land, we feel that we own it, although the land continues to exist even after the owner is long gone. How can you own something that outlives you?

Money also gives the idea that you are powerful and independent, blinding you to the fact that we live in a world of interdependence. We depend on farmers, cooks, drivers and the services of so many other people around us. Even an expert surgeon cannot operate on himself; he depends on others.

Why are most rich people arrogant? Because of the feeling of independence that money brings. The awareness of dependence, on the other hand, makes one humble. The basic human tenet of humility is taken away by this false feeling of independence.

Today, we have gone to the extent of measuring people in terms of their net worth on the money scale — “so-and-so is worth five hundred million” etc. Can money reflect the worth of a person? Calling someone a millionaire or a billionaire is not a compliment. You cannot assign a monetary value to human life.

When people lack faith in divinity, in their own abilities and in the goodness of society, they suffer from a deep sense of insecurity. Then, all that appears to provide security is money. Some among the wealthy feel insecure in relationships — they don’t know whether their friends are truly their friends or are interested in their fortune. For a while, money can provide an illusory sense of security.

Wealth is attained through one’s skills and abilities, inheritance or through corrupt means. Each means of attaining wealth brings with it its own consequences. The very motive for corruption is peace and happiness. Yet peace and happiness remain elusive when the means are corrupt.

 

Due to the illusory notions of independence, ownership and security that it brings, money is considered a part of maya: miyate anaya iti maya means “that which can be measured is maya”. Hence everything in the world that can be measured is considered maya, money being one such measure. Human values are eroded when you try to put a price tag on all that cannot be measured, like love, truth, wisdom and life itself.

On the other hand, there are those who criticise money and blame it for all the ills of society. There are some others who even consider it as evil. Not only does possessing money bring arrogance, rejecting it does, too. Some people who renounce money take pride in their poverty just to draw attention and sympathy.

However, the ancient sages never denigrated money or maya. In fact, they honoured it as a part of the divine and thereby transcended the grip of its illusion. They knew the secret that when you reject or hate something you can never transcend it.

They honoured wealth as Goddess Lakshmi, the consort of Narayana. She is born out of Yoga (yogaje yoga sambhute). It is Yoga that transforms the bad karma and brings out latent skills and talents. It also brings up ashtasiddhis — the eight perfections, and nava nidhis — the nine wealths.

It is this wisdom of Yoga that transforms one from arrogance to self-confidence, from meekness to humility, from the burden of dependence to the realisation of interdependence, from craving for freedom to the recognition of unbounded-ness, from a limited ownership to oneness with the whole

Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You