Once, a female disciple asked Swami Muktananda, “Gurudev, once you said ‘One cannot repay one’s debt to the Guru.’ Isn’t there any way to repay the debt?”
Muktananda said, “The Guru, who transferred His inner power to his disciple and transformed the latter’s inner state to His own state, then what does the disciple possess to repay the debt he owes to his Guru? Can he repay by giving a piece of land, a thousand or two thousand rupees, or a piece of cloth of two to four square metres? Saint Jnaneshwar Maharaj says on this matter: “There is no wealth on earth by which the disciple can repay his debt to the Guru. Therefore I give my own self totally to Him. After giving ‘I’-ness, the matter of repaying something is resolved. When ‘I’-ness vanishes the repayment also vanishes.”
The real wealth and true vision
Another female disciple asked a question: “Babaji, when I see such affluence in this ashram, sometimes my mind gets disturbed because of my samskaras, since I know that there is too much poverty in our country. Please remove my doubt.”
Muktananda said, “This is the poverty of your mind. Is your heart pleased with beggarliness? A person should be equipped with discernment. In my opinion, every ashram should be perfect; there should be no scarcity of anything in the ashram. The man of the poor mentality will see only defects in the ashram, the man of mediocre mentality will find it normal and the person of rich mentality will perceive everything perfect.
Those who have seen extreme poverty in many births would be aggrieved on seeing prosperity, just like the rich are aggrieved on seeing poverty. Is beggarliness a means to the attainment of God? You are aggrieved only due to your old samskaras. For a discerning person, even the possession of only external wealth is akin to beggarliness. I sometimes call Mr. Birla a beggar. Without self-satisfaction, he is also a beggar. What do you consider is wealth, silver and gold or wealth of the Self? What is the wealth of this ashram –trees, plants, buildings, elephant or you people?
There is a doubt in my mind too, whether you consider the elephants-horses as the wealth of the ashram or whatever you have attained, and what you want to attain by living here, forgetting all rest and comforts and do the work (selfless service and spiritual practice, etc.) here throughout day and night? For me, the man having self-satisfaction is the only rich man.”
That female disciple received the right vision and she became instrumental in providing a chance of clearing the viewpoint of other people having similar tendencies.
[ Issue 307]
