Namasthe- Manodaaridryam or poverty of the mind.

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

 

There are two types of poverty: material poverty and poverty of the mind. A materially wealthy person can help the materially poor person by sharing his wealth. But nobody can help a man who has manodaaridryam or poverty of mind.

 

Once a very wealthy and greedy business man wanted the blessings of a saint. So he took a lot of money with him and approached a saint. He gave the saint this large amount of money and did namaskaar. Then He requested the saint to bless him to be richer and flourish with all eight aiswaryaas. Saint asked him: " why are you giving this money? I only accept gifts from rich people and then I share that with poor people. Are you rich enough to give me this money? "

 

Business man was kind of annoyed and said. " Swami, I am very rich, I came to you with this to get your blessings to get richer and luckier. This is a paltry sum when compared to what I own and what I desire to own. So please accept it. "

 

Then the saint said: " Dear sir, I do not accept gifts from beggars. In spite if your enormous wealth, you are experiencing poverty of the mind and you are a " big beggar " . So I will not accept this gift. You can take it back. I am wealthy and you can receive this gift back from me. I feel I have enough and I do not need anything. So I consider myself as wealthy. My joy and happiness comes from this satisfaction. Take the money back and you can go now.

 

The businessman left the aashram lost in thoughts. First time in life, he thought about the rich mind of satisfied people and the poor mind of greedy people. He realized his mistake, and started sharing his wealth with needy people. His mano daaridryam or poverty of the mind took the form of kindness and his bitterness took the form of love. With God's presence in his mind, he became a wealthy person materially as well as spiritually.

 

 

Regards and prayers

 

Savitri