RICHES AND THE SPIRITUAL ASPIRANT

Referring to the fact that the pursuit of wealth diverts an aspirant from the path of God, the Master once said to a young disciple: " Like a man of the world you have accepted a paid appointment. But you are working for your mother. Otherwise I should have said, For shame ! For shame !' " He repeated this several times and then said, " Serve the Lord alone."

Referring to the degradation that service undertaken for the sake of money brings about, the Master said to a young disciple: "A change for the worse has come over his face. A dark shadowy film seems to have spread over it. All this is due to office work. There are the accounts and a hundred other matters to attend to.'

Money is an Upadhi (a deceptive influence) of a very strong nature. As soon as a man becomes rich, he is thoroughly changed. A Brahmin who was very meek and humble used to come here (Dakshineswar) every now and then. After some time he stopped his visits, and we knew nothing of what happened to him. One day we went to Konnagore in a boat. As we were getting down from the boat, we saw him sitting on the bank of the Ganges, where, in the fashion of big folk, he was enjoying the pure breeze of the river. On seeing me, he accosted me in a patronising tone with the words, "Hallo, Thakkur! How do you do now?" At once I noticed the change in his tone and said to Hriday who was with me, ' I tell you, Hriday, this man must have come by some riches. See what a great change has come over him ! " And Hriday burst into laughter.

Money can fetch you bread alone. Do not consider it as your sole end and aim.

There are some who boast of their wealth and power, of their name and fame, and high status in society ; but all these are for a few days only. None of these will follow them after death.

On two occasions the Lord smiles: First when the doctor comes to the bed-side of a patient who is seriously taken ill and is about to die, and says to his mother, " Why, madam, there is no cause for anxiety at all. I take upon myself the responsibility of saving your sons life." Next He smiles when two brothers, who are busy partitioning their land, take a measuring tape, put it across the land and say, " This side is mine, that side is yours.

There is nothing to be proud of in money. If you say you are rich, there are richer and richer men than you. in comparison with whom you are a mere beggar. After dusk when the glow-worms make their appearance, they think, ' We are giving light to the world." But when the stars begin to twinkle, the pride of the glow-worms is humbled. Now the stars begin to think, " We are illumining the universe.' But after a while the moon ascends the sky, and her silvery light humiliates the stars and they pale away in sadness. Again, the moon grows proud and thinks that by her light the world is lighted and bathed in beauty. But presently the dawn proclaims the ascent of the sun on the eastern horizon. And where is the moon now !

If they who think themselves rich ponder over these facts of Nature, they would never, never boast of their riches and power.

Water always flows out under a bridge but never stagnates; so money passes through the hands of the free, and is never hoarded by them.

He is truly a man to whom money is only a servant ; but, on the other hand, those who do not know how to make proper use of it, hardly deserve to be called men.