Go On Moving
To accept yourself wherever you are.and don’t think in terms of competition. You need not be anywhere else. Wherever you are, if you can be happy there, you have become religious, you have become spiritual. Spirituality knows no competition, spirituality knows no greed, spirituality knows no ambition – because spirituality means desirelessness.
But people go on changing from one side to another side, from one extreme to the other. That’s why Buddha insists so much on being in the middle. You can drop all your money, you can dispense with your bank balance, you can renounce the world, but then you will start hoarding some subtle money, some subtle currency of virtue, punya. You will start collecting: “How many fasts have I done, and how many good deeds have I done?” You will keep an account to show to God: “These good things I have done: now what is my award?”
To think in terms of award and result is to think in terms of greed. To think in terms of joy, to be joyful herenow whatsoever you are doing and never be bothered about the result of it, is to be out of greed. Then you can live in a palace and you can be surrounded with all the riches possible and still you will not be greedy. Or you can renounce the world and live in a cave in the Himalayas, but if you are still ambitious, desirous, then you are greedy and you are worldly.
To be desireless is to be other-worldly.
The last anecdote:
Harry and Tilly were celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary and invited their three sons, their wives and grandchildren, to join them for a party.
The oldest son stood up and proposed a toast to his parents. He said, “Mom and Dad, I want you to know that no matter what I could think of to give you as a gift, I really could not think of anything good enough to give parents as wonderful as you.”
The middle son stood up and said, “Mom and Dad, I hope you understand why I didn’t bring you a present to celebrate this occasion. But I am sure you understand that we are in the midst of refurnishing our new summer home and we just could not find the time.”
The third son, smiling, said, “Mom and Dad, I am sure you know how much I love you. Bringing you a present would not show you how sincere I am in my emotions.”
The father then stood up, turned to his sons, and said, “My dear children, now that mother and I have celebrated fifty years of living together, I feel it is time to tell you something. You know, when mother and I met I was poor, she was poor, I did not have a job, we didn’t even know where our next meal was coming from. Would you believe it? We didn’t even have enough money to buy a marriage license.”
The eldest son stood up, enraged, and asked, “Are you trying to tell us that we are bastards?”
The father smiled and answered, “Yes, and cheap ones too!”
Excerpted From The Discipline Of Transcendence, Vol. 4 CH: 6
