Mind and Money by Rishi Nityapragya
In the process of exploring different sections of our own life, I recommend that you keep the bird’s eye view of looking at your own life. What I mean is, if you look at your own existence, for millions and millions of lifetimes, the process of evolution has being going on, for you to be here today and it will go on even after you drop this body. This eternal journey is going to continue.
Now, in that process of billions of years, if that vastness of space and time is not kept in our memory and the reference is only of this lifetime; suddenly the whole experience is so very different. What I mean is, if you feel this lifetime is the beginning and this lifetime is the end; with the birth the whole story began and with the death it will all end, then the experience is so shallow and so narrow. The truth of life is that for you or me to be what we are today, for any soul to be what it is today, billions and billions of years have gone by for that soul to become like this.
Importance of money and wealth in human life:
Now once we recognize this limitlessness of the infinity of the existence and suddenly we have this beautiful opportunity of being in the human form, let’s understand what is the importance of money in this human life. What is the importance of wealth? Now look at your lives. Because we are so sure money is so important, we need to do our jobs or businesses, the money earning processes, we call them our profession. Now I am saying, let us look at what is the importance of money in sanskrit language. When I say money, I mean all kinds of a business.
In India it is worshipped in the form of Lakshmi ji. What is the importance of Goddess Lakshmi? I would say it has the ability to open doors for you, for you to do whatever you want to do in your life. Whichever direction you want to take your life to, money-wealth has the potential to open the doors for you. Money can open doors for you to take your life to where you want to go, to do what you want to do in your life! My question is, what is it that you want to do? What is it you want to achieve? I'm saying, understand this broader perspective, there are three directions from which you seek happiness, seek joy, seek pleasure.
Three outer world sections:
First is the outer world pleasure, the people situations and things. By accumulating people situations or things, by these three outer world sections you feel your life will be worth, you feel the sense of satisfaction, sense of fulfillment, sense of success or failure, sense of security. When we attach our security with the outer world, look at that illusion connected with them. Till we possess something, it gives you an illusion of joy and as soon as you possessed it, as soon as you got your hands on it, poof the soap bubbles always burst.
So the outer world illusion of sukha- the pleasure is always called maya - illusion - mirage. You are so sure. Water is there. You could see it right at the horizon, but as soon as you walk towards it, you reach that spot. It never quenched your thirst, the water always went further away. The water was never there. That is the game of the outer world. The Game of Maya.
The 2nd direction is the game of five senses, limited amount of joy, but long term drop of energy through all these five senses.
The 3rd direction is of Sadhana Satsang Seva and Swadhyay; where initially you have to put effort and then you get the treasure of joy, happiness, bliss and blast of energy. Your whole consciousness completely changes its states, expands to the level that you want to expand it and it's all your choice.
Direction you give your mind:
My point is the wealth, the money has the ability to open doors for you in whichever direction you give your mind to. That's the power of money. Now look what is that it can do. Imagine a simple example of dollar a day program that Gurudev has given us, what a beautiful program it is! Dollar a day gives you an opportunity to donate 1$ for 365 days so $365 being donated to take care of one child. And in those $365, one child gets education for the whole year with the uniform that they get to wear, with the books, shoes, all other expenses.
Imagine the same $365 being spent in a party somewhere for alcohol for some food, some decadence. The same amount of money created extraordinary value when it was given for a particular activity of service and the same amount of money created demerit, created disaster when it is sent in the wrong direction. My point is money generates value when it gets translated in some experience. That's my point. Till it doesn't get translated into an experience, it is just an accumulation.
As soon as it gets translated into experience suddenly it generates its value. My point here is same amount of money with a dharma oriented person can create miracles. Same kind of money, same amount of money in dangerous hands can create disasters, we have so many examples, right? A wealthy family and children, if they are not diverted, you know, groomed in the right direction with alcohol and other vices, they can create disaster.
Karma of your soul:
My point here is money getting translated into an experience and suddenly it generates its value. What kind of experience it is generating is the value of the money. It's a subtle reality of life in the realm of karma. What is karma about a particular soul? Whatever emotion, whatever impression is generated in other soul’s minds becomes the karma of this soul. If about your soul, I'm giving an example, what other people feel about your soul is the karma of your soul.
When money and wealth is extensively exhibited, look what it manages to trigger people's minds about you. If you have, if you are exhibiting a lot of wealth, all you attract from people is almost negative emotions and jealousy and people feel you are being snobbish and showing off and nobody likes that egoistic behavior. Imagine you have this beautiful wealth that can be utilized for creating transformation and if you are utilizing it for impressing people and creating your own imagined, just look what it is creating for yourself. And that's precisely why in our ancient scriptures, in the guidelines of spirituality, they have always guided us not to exhibit your strengths too much. Be humble about it, be almost low key.
Beautiful opportunity to contribute:
Let people not see that superiority complex in you. I'm saying, if you understand superiority complex, why do you have this? Why do you have this need to portray yourself superior and create your image using your money? I would say you should go deep within you and you will see there is some lack somewhere, if your heart is not full of love, devotion, celebration, that sense of lack makes you want to impress others and for that the money is used. I'm saying, what's the point? What do you want to create? Are you able to win friends? Are you able to trigger love in people? People are just maybe getting impressed a little bit. Maybe they will massage your ego for a little while, but as soon as something non favourable happens for them, they will complain too.
The point is, money has this ability to create what you want to create. I'm saying, what is it that you want to create for yourself? For that? That you should earn money for that. You should spend money for that. I'm saying divine has given this beautiful opportunity to contribute in others life. Imagine through your contribution, maybe monetary contribution through your contribution of wealth, if abundance, joy, celebration and beauty is created in somebody's heart, somebody's life, a beautiful merit gets created.
I'm saying through your contribution, if you're able to create something very beautiful in somebody's life that blossoming of somebody's life generates punya, generates merit and that merit will open doors for your own blossoming. My point is money has tremendous value. I am saying, use it wisely! Earn a lot of money, but I'm saying, spend it wisely. It has the ability to create ways for you for moksha. It also has a dangerous ability of creating hell for you.
Lots of love to everybody.
- Rishi Nityapragya