In today’s world, where Kaliyug prevails, majority of people are ready to go to any extent to earn money and become prosperous in life, even if it means adopting dishonest means to get there!
One may:
× exert undue pressure on his old father and grab away his hard-earned money, thinking it is his due right to do so,
× do tricks and evade taxes,
× learn black money through illegal ways,
× cheat the customer to make greater profits,
× Gamble or keep buying lottery tickets to get money the easy way.
When a person is thinking only about himself and his short-term advantage and is trying to become prosperous through selfish means at the cost of others, such prosperity never lasts. Since the intent of such person is ill or negative, he is sowing the seeds of bad luck. Hence it can never bring true prosperity.
True prosperity
True prosperity is one that yields peace, harmony and happiness not only to us and our loved ones, but to everyone around us and to the entire society at large. The kind of deep intent present within decides the quality of prosperity that we attract outside.
Today, we shall discuss what attracts true prosperity, from both material and spiritual perspective.
First of all, let’s talk about material prosperity.
Example: If someone builds a hospital and he keeps his main goal to serve the poor or needy people, then as a by-product he will gain a lot of money. Why? from all corners! Since his intent is very noble and humble; money isn’t his primary goal, his goal is to help others; so loads of money pour in automatically from all corners as a by-product. Such prosperity is not short-lived; it is there to remain and it spreads goodness, love and light all around.
“Selflessness” is the key quality that attracts true prosperity and drives away bad luck.
Selflessness means caring for the other person more than your needs and wants.
To develop selflessness, what kind of intent should we have in life?
Our basic intent in life should always be, “I do not want to cause slightest hurt to any living being through my mind, body and speech.”
We can further intend that, “I want:
✔to render selfless service to all living beings with love from the bottom of my heart;
✔to donate a part of my earnings for the benefit of society,
✔to practice honesty in all my dealings.
Render Selfless Service:
We must always try our best to help our parents, teachers, friends, relatives and even strangers. We don’t need any extra money to do that. But it fetches lot of extra amount of prosperity. For example,
✔It is our moral duty to take good care of our parents, especially when they get old and they need help to go to the doctor, buy medicine or do simple household things! When we help them in every possible way with a good intent to serve them happily, we attract prosperity. Parents’ blessings carry a lot of value which in turn brings us prosperity and happiness that stays forever!
✔When we see some aged fumble or struggling to cross the road and we come running to their help by providing support, we attract true prosperity.
✔If our neighbor is studying in school and he is weak in “Mathematics”, we can give him a free half-an-hour tuition so that he gets good marks!
✔When we use our talents and hard work to make someone’s life better or for the benefit of society at large, we again attract worthy prosperity in life.
We bind bad karmas due to our wrong intent. It may happen that even after rendering good service, we may be insulted or may receive bad behavior in return. This is because of our bad karma done in past life that are giving results. But if we stay in equanimity and accept, “Because I had made mistakes in my past life, I am getting this result”, the bad time will pass and good times shall follow since our intent is good.
Donate a Part of your Earnings to Others
Whether your income is less or more, try your best to donate a part of it to others. What you give is what you get in return. eg: A school going kid gets pocket money of 50 rupees a month from his parents. At his school canteen, he spends money on feeding other two children as they are from a poor background. Once his curious parents ask him, ‘where do you spend the 50 rupees?’ The kid does not say anything. The parents ask him again. He replies, “I spend that money to help my two classmates who don’t have enough food and resources. I buy them pencils, erasers, notebook or even food sometimes. His parents immediately increased his pocket money to 100 rupees a month! This is how the law of Nature operates. So have a humble heart and donate from whatever you have with utmost noble intent.
Practice Honesty in all Dealings
Always be honest to yourself and to others. Never cheat people or indulge in illegal activities. Or else nobody will trust you again. Trust and honesty are the main ingredients needed to rise higher in life and prosper. So practice honesty through your mind, speech and actions too.
The ultimate prosperity
I too used to struggle with lot of hardships in making the two ends meet, owing to my bad luck. I often asked myself, “Is there no way to be happy and prosperous forever?” Just then, I came across a book of Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan.
He says, when you attain Self-Realization, you attain the real prosperity. It is because our real Self is the Soul, and Soul is an abode of infinite prosperity. After Self-Realization, we experience peace and happiness wherever we go! So Self-Realization is the ultimate thing that helps attract permanent prosperity. But how do we attain Self-Realization?
Attaining Self-Realization becomes very easy in case there is presence of Akram Gnani.
As soon as I came to know about it, I immediately went and attained Self-Realization in a 2-hour ceremony conducted by Pujya Deepakbhai, the present Akram Gnani. After Self-Realization, I experience enormous peace and happiness inside! The main thing is I have become indifferent towards poverty and prosperity of the material world now; because what attracts me now is the spiritual prosperity towards which Gnani is guiding me day and night.
Wouldn’t you like to attract this prosperity too? If yes, why wait? The doors of Gnani are open for all. Reach out to Him and attain Self-Realization; it is totally free! For details of where all you can meet Pujya Deepakbhai, please visit https://www.dadabhagwan.org/schedule/satsang-q-a-session/
Ambalal M. Patel was a civil contractor by profession. In June 1958, spontaneous Self-Realization occurred within Ambalal M. Patel. From this point on, Ambalal became a Gnani Purush, and the Lord that manifest within him became known as Dada Bhagwan. A Gnani Purush is One who has realized the Self and is able help others do the same. Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan used to go from town to town and country-to-country to give satsang (spiritual discourse) and impart the knowledge of the Self, as well as knowledge of harmonious worldly interactions to everyone who came to meet him. This spiritual science, known as Akram Vignan, is the step-less path to Self-realization.