The collection of wealth was found useless. But renunciation of wealth also went waste.
A PARABLE TO MEDITATE UPON
One king was very famous.
The good news of his charities had spread far and wide. His humility, renunciation, simple living and simplicity were praised by all people; and the result was that his pride knew no bounds. He was as far away from God as a man could be. How easy it is to rise in the eyes of man but how difficult it is to be near God!
And one who is desirous of rising in the eyes of men, invariably falls down in the eyes of God; because he is just the opposite inside of what he appears on the outside. The physical eyes of man cannot enter that depth and therefore he falls to self-deception. But does not his inner sight also reach that depth?
In the end, there is no value of the image he creates in the eyes of man. What is valuable is the image that unfolds before his own inner eyes. The same image of man, in greater nakedness, reflects itself in the mirror of God. In the end, what the man is before himself, he is also before God.
The fame of that king went on increasing; but his soul kept on drowning. The fame kept on spreading and the soul kept on shrinking. His branches were spreading but the roots were getting weak.
He had a friend. That friend was the Kubera of the day. Just as the rivers and rivulets meet in the sea, similarly several canals of wealth met in his treasure chest. He was entirely different from his king-friend. He would not part with a penny in the name of charity. He was very infamous.
The king and the rich man both became old. One was filled with pride, the other with remorse. Pride was giving pleasure and remorse was pricking the soul. As the death appeared nearer to the king, he was holding faster to his pride. He had something to hold. But the remorse of the rich man at last became a revolution in him. It could not be his support. It was necessary to give it up. But let us remember that remorse is also the reverse side of pride, and therefore that is also difficult to leave.
Very often when it is turned up, it becomes pride. For the same reason the pleasure-seekers become saints and the greedy, the charitable and the cruel become pitiful. But basically there is no revolution in their souls.
That rich man went to a good teacher.
There he told him:
"I am perturbed. I am burning in fire. I want peace".
The good teacher asked:
"Could you not find peace with so much of wealth, fame, power and ability?
He said: "No. I have fully realised that there is no peace in wealth."
The good teacher then said:
"Go and throw away your all wealth to those from whom you have snatched it. Then you come to me. Come to me after you have become simple and poor."
The rich man did it. When he came back the good teacher asked - "How now?"
He said: "Now I have no support except yourself."
But that good teacher was very strange.
We might say he was mad. He turned out that poor rich man out of his hut and closed his doors. The night was dark and the forest was lonely. In that forest there was no other shelter except that hut.
The rich man had thought that he had returned after doing something big. But what was this welcome, what was this reception he got.
The collection of wealth was found useless;
but the renunciation of wealth also went waste.
That night he slept under a tree without support. He had now no support, no friend, no home.
He had neither wealth nor power; neither collection nor renunciation and when he got up in the morning he found that he was submerged in peace which cannot be described in words. The mind without support finds the support of God without any difficulty.
He ran to fall on the feet of the good teacher. But he found that the good teacher himself fell down on his feet.
That good teacher embraced him and said:
'It is easier to give up wealth but difficult to give up renunciation. But he alone who can give up renunciation can really give up wealth. It is easier to renounce the world but difficult to give up the teacher. But he who can give up the teacher also can find the great Teacher. Whether it is the support of wealth or of renunciation, of remorse or of pride of the world or of saintliness, in fact wherever there is support, there is obstruction in the way to God.
As soon as the other supports fall off the supreme support is gained. Whether I look out for the support of wealth or of religion, as long as I search for support, I am only searching for protection for the pride. As soon as I give up that support, as soon as I become supportless and unprotected, the mind gets submerged in the basic existence of the self. This is peace, this is salvation, this is Nirvana. Do you want to find something else also?'
That man, who was now neither the master of wealth nor poor, said: 'No. The very thought of possession was a mistake. I was lost only on account of that. Whatever is to be found has already been found. Only in the race of possession the ever-found was lost. Now I do not want peace nor even God. I am also not there, and what exists is peace itself, God and salvation.
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