Managing the Material Life

Set Priorities

We have several types of problems. What we mean by problem is where moral issues are involved, generally. I don't mean what we understand normally by moral situations, but where there is a conflict between two interests, between two choices. And this can be quite confusing, because even in small things like whether we should attend a party or go to a sitting for meditation this sort of choice can arise. Problems don't have to be big to defeat us. They can be even small ones.

So if you analyse this sort of situation, we find it is generally the conflict between an external fulfillment and an internal fulfillment. The difficulty is that the external fulfillment is easy and we see it before our eyes, we can feel it, touch it sometimes - the inner things like growth, like spiritual development, they are so intangible, and we cannot see them or feel them. Therefore we find this conflict starts even from childhood. Because children, for instance, have this problem of whether to go to school or to play. But when we are young, and even when we are in our youth, fortunately we have the guidance of those who are older and wiser than ourselves, and generally all that is necessary is to be obedient.

But when we become independent, the whole problem starts. Because now we have to decide for ourselves what is right and what should be done. I think one of the reasons why childhood and youth are so happy, is precisely because we don't have to decide what to do; the decision is taken by others. When we grow up, then starts the dilemma.

So you see, we have a big price to pay for being independent. Therefore, growing up is a process of maturity - mental maturity, emotional maturity, both. And of course, if these two are there, and we are blessed by a good education and by a good family background of training, then the probability of a moral maturity is much more than otherwise. That is why the right training, the right environment in childhood and youth, are so important. And if the proper emotional and educational atmosphere is given to us at that stage of life, our inner equipment becomes so sound and perfect that we have no problems, or very little problems.

How to perform our duties in our offices?

Most people, go to office, what they cannot solve, they put off: "We will look after it later. Let us solve all the easy problems first - easier files, easier papers." What happens is, the hard ones always remain at the table; tomorrow it becomes harder, the day after tomorrow it becomes almost impossible to do it.

After I came to Master in 1964, I was able to do more and yet I had more time on my hands. It's from my personal experience that I am telling you this. What is the secret you know? I have evolved a method that I take up the most difficult piece of work first in the morning. Everybody does the opposite. They start with the easiest, and by the time they have finished ten items of work, they are too tired, "Oh, oh, this is too difficult for today, we will take it tomorrow." Tomorrow, it's even more difficult, you see.

Behaviour towards the higher officers should be such that he does not feel the principle of subordination being violated. Whatever is available in return should be considered as coming from God.

Should we not make money?

We have to fly on two wings - which is the Master's instructions - we cannot give up this life. Nor can we ever give it up because, you may not earn money, but you still have to eat and eating is a part of this life, defecating is part of this life, procreating is part of this life. Well, who is going to stop all these things? We minimise it to the necessary level, optimum level, as we call it.

Please remember the poor man is punished with poverty and the rich man is punished with riches. Both are bhoga of their respective samskaras. You are a slave of your riches as he is a slave of his poverty. You have no choice! Can you stop making money?

Make money, by all means. Make it honestly. It doesn't matter if you make a million crores but, for yourself, you shall only keep as much as you need; let the rest flow. This is the ultimate law of handling of resources.

So you see, we must now come to the question or rather the wisdom of acquiring just enough for our purpose, whether it be of power, or knowledge, or wealth, anything. "Do I have enough? Do I have enough of intelligence to go through my life, so that I can earn enough money to live a life in which I can meditate and progress on my spiritual path?" If the answer is yes, then stop all other activities.

So, God does not want us to become paupers to reach Him; He wants us to be honest to reach him. He does not want us to be hypocrites to reach Him; He wants us to be loving to reach Him. You must treat wealth like a river. Take as much of it as you need, and then use the rest for the benefit of your brothers and sisters. That is the right way.

There is no harm in earning money, being a king, being an emperor, so long as your morals, your right living, your right conduct, are established in you, and then your destiny makes you a king or an emperor and at the same time you are a saint. Raja Janaka was perhaps only example of that sort of existence, a Raja Rishi where the two meet - the material excellence and the spiritual excellence or eminence.

Donations

You should not donate even one naya-paisa if you cannot afford it. Because the duty to yourself, to your family is of paramount importance. And anyone who beggars himself or his family on the stupid assumption that Dharma is the most important, is denying that Dharma to his own family. Charity begins essentially at home, always at home, inevitably at home. So in the Sahaj Marg tradition there is no call, no permission of the Master to deny yourself and donate to the Mission. Please remember this. Abhyasis should also bear this in mind. And in those days, Babuji had somehow made a rule that nobody's donation will be accepted which is in excess of one percent of his income and, in some cases where he knew people were really rich, he said six percent, no more.

The idea that we are donating for a Mission and for an Ashram is a bad idea. You set yourself apart as a giver to the Mission, which is dependent upon you and you make your Master into some sort of a beggar, however elevated He may be spiritually - a saintly beggar. If you think that it is your Mission, it is your Master, it is His plant, therefore it is yours, then there is no sacrifice, there is no giving. You are only watering your own plant. Who should give you credit for it?

To think that my Master depends on me, on my donation could very possibly be a sin. Masters exist in a dimension where money does not play any part. Whenever he makes us donate something, he does it to lighten our burdens. Our contributions to our Master's work is perhaps of the same proportion as the squirrel's contribution to Lord Rama's work. What ennobled their work was that they did it with love for the Lord, not out of a sense of helping him. Who are we to help the Lord? But they did it out of a sense of participation, like children participating in the work. Out of love, you see, participation out of love.

If he allows us to participate, it is out of His magnanimity, His love for us, to make us participate, so that, by participating, we become welded into one, we become His family by participation. We have to become children of the Master. The right way of giving is not to give but to participate. We don't ask for money; but everybody contributes.

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