"dhanya": The Giver of Wealth

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

These are tense and grim days that we are all going through in

Kuwait. With war-clouds gathering around us, the rumour mills around

are working overtime. We hear stories and see pictures being painted

that make us more anxious about a situation than we ought really be.

 

Let us not give way to unnecessary anxiety or "bheeti". Let us be

alert; but let us not get unduly alarmed. Let us put our faith in the

care of the Almighty and stay calm.

 

Let me tell you about an effective way to remain calm which works for

me. I'm not afraid or ashamed to readily recommend it to you. I

recite the Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam, twice daily before meals,

regularly for the past several days and I find it really soothing on

frayed nerves. There is nothing like "divya-nAma" to put a lid upon

the fear of the unknown that lurks within us and keeping it firmly,

tightly sealed.

 

Yesterday, after I had finished reciting the Sahasranamam, for some

strange reason, the "nAma" of "dhanya" in Stanza #80 stayed stuck in

my mind. Throughout the day I found myself mentally repeating it

again and again:

 

"... sumEdhAh mEdhajah dhanyah satyamEdhAh dharAdharah"

 

The 'nAmA' "dhanya" means "Treasure". The Almighty is a "Treasure",

says the Sahasranamam, that one should go doggedly in search of

throughout one's lifetime.

 

Most of us left our homes way back in India to go away to far off

lands like the US, Europe, Dubai or Kuwait in search of a different

kind of "dhanya" -- the treasure of material wealth. We continue to

pursue it faithfully even now and, for sure, without any let we will

continue until almost to the end of our lives. There is nothing wrong

in such a pursuit as long as we know for sure what will be the

outcome of it all. The question however many of us find difficult to

answer, even to ourselves, is this:

 

Do we really know what kind of 'dhanya' lies at the end of the road

as ultimate reward for the lifelong trouble we took? Do we know?

 

In order to find some answers adiyane picked up, once again, my

current favourite book, "Thousand Names of Vishnu" by Sri.Eknath

Easwaran and turned to see what the author has to say on the Lord's

"nAma" of "dhanyah" and was delighted to read the following excerpt.

I hope you will all also share in my delight:

 

QUOTE:

 

Just as dioxin or vinyl chloride seeps into the soil to pollute water

and food, mental toxic wastes like greed, the lust of possession,

seep into the mind from our sensory environment and gradually poison

our actions. In magazines and newspapers, on television and radio, in

popular songs, we are told everyday how wondeful life will be when we

own certain things or have certain experiences for ourselves.

 

The desire for wealth is the most obvious kind of greed, and I see it

played up everywhere. I think it was G.K.Chesterton who warned that

currency is graven images. We haven't lost religion, he says; we have

simply substituted money for God. The great banks are cathedrals to

money; the stock exchange is a temple. When friends once took me to a

brokerage house, the lofty ceilings, hushed tones, and the air of

reverence around made me feel as if I were intruding on a sanctuary.

Market quotations flickered across the wall like a continuous prayer,

invoking bulls to protect against the bears. When the Dow went up, it

lifted worshippers into an exalted stae of mind; when it fell, they

slipped into depression. In ancient times, devotees inhaled the smoke

of burning laurel leaves or drank 'soma' to alter states of

consciousness; today we need only a digital display.

 

The desires of a society are a very important educational influence,

more so even than the curricula of its schools. Nobody escapes this

influence. It is perhaps the primary way in which we raise the next

generation. And what are we teaching? To judge from the way we spend

our time and money, from what we read and talk about and pay most

attention to, an impartial observer from another planet would

conclude that the things in life we find most important are pleasure

and profit. Few people would come out and say it, and I think few

truly desire it, but that is the atmosphere in which our children are

growing up.

 

California, where I live, must be one of the richest states on earth.

Around the globe, wherever Hollywood films have gone, it symbolizes

plenty. Yet within a few months after the state lottery system was

launched, half the people in California had bought tickets. ANy

elementary school child will tell you that the chances of winning a

big prize are less than one in a million. A friend of mine who is a

scientist likes to point out that my chances of winning the lottery

without a ticket are virtually the same as if I had one. But all over

the state people are standing in line for a chance to get rich quick.

 

My objection to this kind of activity is rather unusual. I don't

argue that gambling is sinful, although I do think it is silly. What

bothers me is the injection of more toxic waste - greed - into the

mental environment in which we live. I never look at people or events

without considering the mental state beneath the surface and the

mental state here is poisonously seductive. With the constant

bombardment of media, you can scarcely go into a store, read a paper

or magazine, or turn on the radio or TV for half an hour in

California today without having an unctuous voice whisper, "Hello!

Wouldn't you like to get a lot of money free?"

 

What we think about constantly, we become; that is the secret of

meditation and prayer. Here we are educating people to worship money.

When Jesus said long ago, "You cannot worship God and mammon", it was

a living warning which we need urgently today, because almost

everybody has been caught. It is not for love of money that we should

live; it is for love.

 

Another mental pollutant we might never suspect is a different form

of greed: obsession with pleasure. Bumper stickers and T-shirts ask

plaintively: "Are We Having Fun Yet?". It seems like such a

reasonable demand. We sit by the sidewalk with a little tin can and

beg of life, "I don't ask for much. Won't you just drop in a little

pleasure for me today, just one thing that I enjoy?" It may not sound

very mature, but where is the harm? Doesn't everyone deserve to have

fun?

 

Here let me say quickly that there is nothing wrong in enjoying

life's innocent pleasures. Recreation has an important place in

spiritual living, as long as it is not at the expense of any

creature's welfare -- including our own. But again we should look at

the mental state behind those T-shirt slogans, behind the huge surge

in revenue to the entertainment, gaming, recreation, and tourist

industries. What pollutes the mind is not enjoying life but living

for enjoyment, making pleasure a major personal goal. Pleasure

pollutes because it focuses us on ourselves. If we had a drug that

could extract pleasure and numb us to any pain, which of us would

ever grow? Nothing I can imagine could make a person more selfish,

less able to deal with the inevitable ups and downs of life and of

other people.

 

I don't think any sensitive person can be satisfied with having fun,

no matter how much of it we may cram into our lives. Our need is not

for pleasure but for joy -- a deep sense of fulfillment that not only

never leaves us but actually increases with the passage of time. Fun

is living for ourselves; joy comes from living for others, giving our

time and love to a purpose greater than ourselves. "This is the true

joy in life," George Bernard Shaw proclaims: "the being used for a

purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one;.. the being a force

of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and

grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to

making you happy."

 

UNQUOTE

 

Regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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