Swami Ram Tirtha
There was a prime minister of a king who
underwent all the ascetic practices, which are
necessary, to see the Goddess of Fortune in flesh
and blood before him. Well, he practised all those
mantrams, incantations and charms. A million times
he repeated sacred mantrams that were calculated to
make him realise the presence of goddess Lakshmi.
She did not appear. Three million times he
underwent all the ascetic practices; still the goddess
was not visible.
He lost all faith in these things and renounced
everything in the world, took up Sannyasa (monk
life) and became a monk. The very moment that he
embraced Sannyasa (monk life) and left the palace
and retired into the forests he found the goddess
before him. He cried, 'Go away, goddess, why are
you here now? I want you no more I am a monk.
What has a monk to do with luxury, with riches,
with wealth and worldly enjoyments? When I
wanted you, you came not; now that I do not desire
you, you came before me." The goddess replied,
"You yourself stood in the way. So long as you
desired, you were asserting duality, you were making
a beggar of yourself, and that kind of being can have
nothing. The moment you rise above desires and
spurn them, you are a god, and to gods belongs the
glory." That is the secret.
MORAL: Rise above desires and they are fulfilled;
beg and their fulfillment recedes further from you.
Vol. 1 (181-182)
Comments