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| Broaden Your Identity If You Want Richness | | |
Most of us want to live in richness - richness in the tangible, physical form. There is basically nothing wrong in being materially rich. Wealth and physical prosperity are good and useful things.
In fact, some of the great sages and teachers in the past have been great kings and princes. Having wealth is one thing, cleaving to wealth another.
Richness of mind and heart is of a different kind, it is a deeper richness. It is limitless vision of wholeness and compassion, of serving and sharing. It is a life of purity and abiding happiness.
One usually turns to inner riches after having lived long under the spell of a self which considers itself different from others and which therefore seeks evanescent pleasures, wealth and power for itself even at the cost of others - till recurring pain, disappointment and disillusionment gradually begin to impress upon the consciousness that lasting happiness does not lie there.
Richness of inner life comes when we rise above narrow identities. Till then we are really not rich, free, or powerful.
J Krishnamurthy explains: “To be consciously anything is not to be free. As a cup is useful only when it is empty, so, only when one is as nothing, it is possible to receive the grace of God or Truth or what you will”. Spells of pain may still come and they are bound to come as long as karmic debts remain unpaid, but they do not touch or disturb us as much as they used to earlier.
Richness lies in selflessness, and as we give selflessly, we acquire more power, and riches come to us to serve others. In Tagore’s Gitanjali, in a poem about a beggar and a king, the king suddenly stops his chariot and asks the beggar: “What hast thou to give to me?” The surprised beggar slowly takes out the last little grain of corn he has in his bag and gives it to the king. But how great is his surprise when at the end of the day he empties his bag to find a tiny grain of gold in the poor heap. He bitterly weeps and wishes that he had had the heart to give the king his all!
Great sensitivity comes as one grows pure and rich in heart - sensitivity to the beauty of Nature, to the delicate harmony in which all life is meant to move on. We also become deeply aware of how our thoughts and words affect others. Up to a stage in our lives our thoughts are usually vague; they’re not well formed. But as we grow pure in heart, our thoughts become precise, more rich and powerful. Every thought of ill-will, every word of disparagement, makes an impact on the persons towards whom it is directed, and so also every positive helpful thought and word of encouragement, good cheer and love.
Sages have said that one who has risen above narrow selfish desires becomes free from anxiety, fear and worry and is always tranquil, calm and joyous. Such a one is ever helpful to all, living like a king who is responsible in richness. In the Yoga Vasishtha such a person is spoken of as one from whom good qualities emanate all around, as white swans fly all over from a pure lake, having seen whom, having heard about whom, having met with whom and having remembered whom, all creatures feel joy. It then adds: “Him from whose heart emanates purity all around, the guardian angels of the world protect and support”.
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