There are two aspects to this
subject. The first is investment for financial
gain or security. The other is one’s investment
of time and energy. Where the second aspect is
concerned, material success is less tied to money
than to the effort and energy one puts forth.
The first kind of investment
seeks to profit from other people’s time
and energy. This might be called modern absentee
landlordism—a practice which got the French
aristocracy hated by the peasants, and ended in
the social explosion that was the French Revolution.
When an individual invests money in stocks, although
he is helping others to succeed in their business,
he is also hoping they’ll devote their time
and energy to making him rich. Rarely do people
invest in the stock market as a service to others.
Their usual motive is self-service: greed, in
other words.
That is how most people see
their investments. They want to become rich with
as little effort on their part as possible, and
hope to see all their investments grow magically
in value without continuing effort on their part.
A disadvantage to this way of making money is
that it is, of course, risky. In a rising market,
every investor may seem a financial genius, but
when the bottom falls out of the market even those
who may have been brilliant often end up bankrupt.
The main danger, however, in karmic terms, is
that stock market investments are made from a
desire to gain without effort. For business to
be in harmony with karmic law, it should have
also, as an important motive, service to others.
Business nowadays, unfortunately, is becoming
motivated instead by increasing greed.
My purpose in writing this lesson
is not to teach businessmen the principles of
money investment. Those principles are adequately
taught in business colleges. The imponderables
in such investments, moreover, are many, and have
little or nothing to do with our present subject:
material success through yoga principles. Too
often, the main reason behind people’s investments
is in conflict with yoga principles.
I shall begin this lesson by
discussing a probable event in the near future
of which every student of this course ought, I
believe, to be aware. It concerns a financial
crash that Paramhansa Yogananda predicted frequently
toward the end of his life, speaking with great
fervor and conviction. He said it would be disastrous
for humanity, and would come as a simple result
of man’s greed. Greed, in fact, has been
people’s principal motive for investing
in the stock market. Because this prediction was
made by a great spiritual master, and was seen
in visions in a state of divine consciousness,
it deserves consideration primarily for that fact,
and only secondarily as a logically possible outcome
of the present situation. He said it often: “A
great depression is coming.” It would be
well for people everywhere to take this warning
very seriously.
Often I heard him speak of these
things in public. “The next depression,”
he warned, “will be far worse than that
of the 1930s.” A senior disciple of his
told me she had heard him say, “The dollar
won’t be worth the paper it is printed on.”
I never personally heard him make this statement,
but it is perfectly in consonance with everything
I did hear him say.
India’s suffering will,
I suspect, be less than America’s. He was
speaking in America, which has been profligate
in its spending. In India, I believe people are
traditionally more careful to save their money,
and to invest it safely, if at all, instead of
taking foolish risks to achieve wealth without
effort. Americans have been too long accustomed
to overall prosperity, and are to some extent
intoxicated with the expectation that their prosperity
will never end. Thus, instead of saving their
money they spend it “like water,”
going far beyond their actual income by using
credit cards and going into debt. At present,
American personal indebtedness amounts to an average
of $20,000 for every man, woman, and child in
the country.
There is another reason why
I believe that India will suffer less in a global
depression. A person who falls to the ground from
a low ledge may suffer only light bruises. One
who falls to the ground from three storeys up,
however, may be killed. Americans generally speaking
have farther to fall, economically, than Indians,
who are also more accustomed to the sight of poverty.
Thus, Indians may find it easier to adjust to
a serious depression.
Yogananda did not predict destitution
for America. Rather, he said that Americans would
lose half their wealth. So spoiled have Americans
become by wealth, however, that they will see
even a lesser loss as devastating.
There is a positive side to
this picture also, however. My Guru added, “But
they will be more spiritual.”
On one occasion when he was
uttering these warnings publicly, I was startled
to hear him say after a brief pause, speaking
with great force, “You don’t know
what a terrible cataclysm is coming!”
Perhaps he was only emphasizing
his general theme of depression. It seemed to
me, however, that these words were an insertion
into his theme. The word, cataclysm, usually refers
to some massive natural catastrophe,
perhaps threatening the entire planet. I’ve
not known it to refer to a man-made disaster.
In any case, his words were dire enough, whatever
their actual intent. If he meant them only to
emphasize what he was saying about preparing for
economic hard times, it is certain that he meant
at least, “Take my warning very seriously!”
He explained repeatedly that
the reason for the coming depression was greed.
Would it not be fitting, indeed, for such a depression
to begin with a stock market crash? The stock
market is an exact expression of people’s
growing greed, and their hope of attaining wealth
without actual effort.
Money earned by the sweat of
one’s brow, or by straining one’s
intellect, is honorably earned. When people try,
however, to gain wealth by other people’s
efforts, they are treading on “thin ice,”
for the attempt goes counter to karmic law. If
one seeks gain without giving anything in return,
he gains bad karma. Nowadays, more and more of
the wealth of America is being produced in other
countries, where labor is relatively cheap. Can
Americans afford indefinitely to sit back and
let others do their work for them? In what way
can this attitude be considered honorable?
The Indian people, perhaps because
of their long habituation to at least seeing poverty,
may prove more generous than the French peasants,
for they will probably not cast blame on others.
I have not observed in India an envious attitude
toward America, for example. I believe they are
only determined to “come up” economically,
also. I imagine they’ll think, “Well,
we don’t want the Americans to suffer.”
In any case, they may feel that America’s
problems are its own; they may even imagine they
won’t be affected by them. The trouble is,
the whole world’s economy is inextricably
intertwined. That economy, fortunately or unfortunately,
is also tied to the American dollar. As Brazil
has been endangering the planet by clear-cutting
vast tracts in the Amazon jungle, so America is
endangering the whole world by its fiscal irresponsibility.
Will everything work out for
the best in the end? Of course it will! Everything
does, for duality swings back and forth. Good
times will always turn bad again, in the end!
That phrase, “in the end,” however,
can cover a long period of time. My Guru stated
that the coming upheavals will eventually produce
an era of worldwide peace and prosperity. It is
even a good thing for America, in the long run,
that so much of her wealth is presently being
produced in other, relatively poor countries.
Thus, international production is equalizing the
prosperity of all peoples, even if Americans fail
to realize that non-productivity at home will
be, in the long run, to their economic detriment.
Prosperity will eventually become
relatively equal all over the world. Obviously,
such an outcome is desirable. The process, however,
will be initially painful for everyone—for
Americans, because they will wake up to the fact
that, in actually producing less, they have less
real wealth; and for poor countries, because they
are much too dependent at present on the strength
or weakness of the dollar.
No one country deserves to be
singled out for sole blame. What is really happening
is that the leading disease of modern times, greed,
is infecting the whole planet. Until things balance
themselves out, the worldwide upheaval will cause
pain everywhere.
Anyone, moreover, who believes
that world wars are a thing of the past is closing
his eyes to the obvious. Again and again one hears
the comforting words, declared with firm conviction:
“A nuclear war is impossible: No one would
accept something so horrible!” Everywhere,
however, hatred seems to be on the increase; fear
is on the increase; envy, jealousy, and anger
are on the increase. People are willing—indeed,
they seem eager—to blame everyone but themselves!
How can peace come to a planet that seethes with
such negative emotions? If you accept the dictum
I proposed in the last lesson, “Do what
works,” you cannot ignore its obvious
corollary: “Avoid doing what doesn’t
work”!
Understandably, no one wants
to hear predictions of doom and disaster. Most
people, perhaps, would rather stop their ears
than listen to such words.
I myself, as a boy in the 1930s,
lived in Europe. I knew at first hand the fear
Jews held of persecution. I also saw them react
in two ways to that fear. One group emigrated
abroad to safety. The other group kept on affirming
that fear was groundless. “Germany needs
our prosperity,” they frequently insisted.
Someone explained to me years later that the Jews
believed in keeping their money in gold, in addition
to using the official paper currency.
Meanwhile, everyone in Europe
saw Adolph Hitler on newsreels, inflaming his
countrymen with hatred of the Jews. The motivation
for that hatred was envy. Those Jews who decided
it would be wise to leave Europe while there was
still time were the pragmatic ones. The wishful
thinkers dismissed fear as “negative thinking.”
The realists asked, in reply, “What is so
negative about facing facts?”
I was on a train once, traveling
across Germany on my way to school in England.
When the train reached the Dutch border, a man
in my brother’s sleeping compartment was
arrested by the German Gestapo. What could we
assume but that he ended in a concentration camp,
where, as we were to learn in time, millions died?
Terrible things have happened
in our times. Think of the mass slayings, after
the partition, of Hindus by Moslems, and of Moslems
by Hindus. Is it “negative thinking”
to face the possibility that these things may
happen again?
I don’t insist that you
accept this view of the future. I do consider
it my duty, however, to share with you what I
consider to be a more than likely event.
Why not make a few preparations, at least, for
that eventuality? It is evident that there is
a danger of hard times ahead. If I am wrong, you
will anyway have made a sensible investment. If
a global depression does arrive, and perhaps even
a global war of terrible proportions, you may
be able with a little preparation not only to
help yourself and your family, but also to save
many friends as well as others. These are difficult
possibilities to face, but surely it would be
unwise to do nothing to prepare for them. There
are at present too many signs pointing in the
direction of disaster. On the other hand, if no
disaster occurs, at least you will have the satisfaction
of knowing that you took sensible precautions.
Wishful thinking cannot change the world’s
karma. Positive thinking may help to
mitigate that karma, but even mitigation will
require a far greater change in mass consciousness
than we are seeing today. As long as greed rules
the mass consciousness, it must be accepted there
are serious lessons needing to be learned. Since
what I am speaking of concerns mass consciousness,
humanity en masse will have to learn
the same lesson, whatever other lessons they need
also.
Were everybody to turn to God,
the trials would certainly be mitigated. Karma,
however, which is simply energy in action, cannot
be destroyed: It can only be minimized, by an
equal and differently directed energy. How likely
is it that mass greed will be dissolved by mass
love? Not likely at all! Too many people have
turned away mentally from God. Foolishly,
they blame Him for their suffering when it is
something they’ve brought on themselves.
Meanwhile, a consciousness of greed, hatred, and
increasing violence is festering in too many hearts.
“After the coming disasters,”
Paramhansa Yogananda prophesied, “humanity
will have grown so tired of violence that it will
live in peace for three hundred years.”
It will be, he said, a new and wonderful world.
Meanwhile, the question forces itself upon us:
“Have they suffered enough yet?” In
answer to that question, one cannot help observing
that the main causes of man’s present suffering—hatred
and greed—are on the increase. They are
not diminishing.
“Someday,” the Master
predicted, “America and India will join
hands and lead the world to a right balance between
spiritual and material practicality.”
A vitally important question
is sure to be asked: How soon will these dire
predictions be fulfilled? And the truth, surely,
is obvious: their fulfillment has begun already!
Never has the world’s economy been so unstable,
despite everything that politicians and newspaper
editorials declare in an attempt to reassure everyone.
I don’t mean that everything is getting
worse all over the world. India, for example,
still seems to be on an economic upswing. The
American economy still looks fairly strong, but
it is much weaker than the propagandists insist.
Please be very careful from
now on about how you invest your money, as well
as your time and energy. Don’t live in a
dream world of wishful thinking. Numerous investment
newsletters, which are free from the influence
of political considerations, foresee imminent
disaster. Even they, however, try to keep their
readership by promising the possibility of emerging
from hard times more wealthy than ever. I challenge
that promise. The world, instead, is speeding
rapidly toward bitter disillusionment. Even those
newsletters, which are more truthful than the
newspapers, still fan the flames of greed. Humanity
must learn its lesson. Only then will it rediscover
the only thing that, forever, has really worked:
Doing what is right.
Meanwhile, why join the lemmings
crowding forward to leap into the ocean of self-destruction?
The surface of the water shimmers, the radiance
seeming to suggest wealth, but that superficial
appearance is destined to end, with the eternal
impersonality of karma, in the financial drowning
of millions. Follow what my Guru’s guru,
Swami Sri Yukteswar, counseled, “Learn to
be comfortable within your purse.”
In my own life, there have been
times when I’ve had to live on very little.
By the standards of India’s villagers I
was not poor, but by the standards of my own country,
I was well below the accepted poverty line. For
three months I lived on only $10 a month—bare
subsistence, Americans would call it. Nevertheless,
I found that I could actually enjoy my poverty!
It challenged my ingenuity to shop around for
foods that cost little but that were nonetheless
nourishing.
Instead of bread I made chapatis.
Instead of fresh milk I mixed powdered milk with
water at a third of the price. Instead of a bowlful
of dessert I made a single bowlful last me a whole
week by eating only a teaspoonful after each meal.
Well, I don’t suppose Indians need lessons
from me on how to live economically! Still, I’d
like to add this thought: I found the experience
not only acceptable, but enjoyable. All I did
was adjust my expectations. I did lose
a little weight, but not drastically.
People will need to adjust their
expectations to a lower yield. They will find
it not so difficult to accomplish. Think of it
as a challenge, not as a disastrous deprivation.
By glancing even briefly at the innumerable signs
all around us, you may realize even now that the
most practical investment you can make is simply
that: to adjust your expectations. Learn to
think in new ways.
Practical Steps
From today onward,
make it a principle to avoid debt. If for any
reason you need to borrow, make a serious attempt
to pay off that debt as soon as possible. It simply
won’t be worth the cost, in terms of your
peace of mind, to have debt of any kind hanging
over your head like the sword of Damocles.
Try—every week, if possible—to
put a little money aside. Don’t place too
much faith in banks. During depressions of the
past, many banks had to close their doors, leaving
their depositors without recourse.
Above all, don’t place
too much faith in paper currency. The way in which
governments the world over are printing money
these days in attempts to meet their national
commitments, all the currencies of the world may
well lose all their value in time.
In 1958, when I first came to
India, I seem to recall that the exchange rate
was about eight rupees to the dollar. At present,
it is about forty-five and a half rupees. And
what of the dollar? I have read that America is
currently printing one and a half trillion
dollars a year! Where do you think all that
printing will take us? A nation awash in paper
cannot in reality be considered prosperous.
If possible, keep a certain
amount of money in solid assets. Don’t rely
too heavily on your government’s promises.
Democratic governments everywhere try to be responsive
to the will of the people, but that will is guided
almost entirely by self-interest. It is a recipe
for disaster. The question people generally ask,
when voting, is, “What’s in it for
me?” It is this consciousness which elects
their representatives to government posts. The
persons most likely to be elected over and over
again are those who make outrageous promises,
each one of them targeted toward satisfying people’s
greed. Will those promises ever be fulfilled?
All of them? Impossible! Already people’s
mind-set is to get much more than any sane government
can possibly supply. The governments keep on trying,
but they know there is a limit to how much they
get by taxes. The solution they hit upon, inevitably,
is to print truckloads of paper currency. This
is monetary inflation. It is also called “hidden
taxation.” The way governments everywhere
manage to have more money than they dare to demand
in taxes is by way of the printing press.
In Germany, during its time
of hyperinflation (in 1923), the father of a friend
of mine went into a shop and left outside it a
wheelbarrow full to overflowing with his earnings
for the day. The money, being worthless, seemed
safe enough; who, after all, would steal it? When
he came out later, his money was blowing about
in the street: Someone had stolen his wheelbarrow,
first emptying it of its contents!
Gold and silver are better understood
in India than in America, where people have been
conditioned by government propaganda to view gold
as a “barbarous relic.” It isn’t
that those who own gold are less likely to be
spoiled by greed, but at least gold can’t
be printed like paper money. Its relative scarcity
makes it a protection against hyperinflation.
Should the dollar no longer be “worth the
paper it is printed on,” don’t expect
other currencies in the world to fare any better.
Place your trust in God first; then invest some
of your money in things of solid worth. Tomorrow,
paper money may be “gone with the wind.”
Gold and silver are safer investments, and are
likely to increase in value astronomically relative
to the value of paper currency.
I myself have never been interested
in money for money’s sake. As the founder
of several communities, however, which have been
dependent on my practical and not only my spiritual
guidance, I’ve considered it important to
keep abreast of the broader economic picture.
I’ve reflected deeply, therefore, on my
guru’s predictions regarding the world economy.
He, too, was concerned for others’ welfare.
In trying to keep abreast of these matters, I’ve
made a study of things that would otherwise have
been of little interest to me.
From what I have studied, it
seems clear to me that the safest investments,
monetarily, are silver and gold. These investments
are the ones most highly recommended by people
whose counsel I incline to believe.
Of other investments I am more
doubtful, even though these, too, are highly recommended.
I consider the sustained value of such collectibles
as paintings, for example, to be less reliable.
Large items, moreover, are more susceptible to
damage or theft. Gems, though small and easy to
transport, undergo wide fluctuations in their
market value.
Land
What my Guru particularly urged
people to invest in was land. He wasn’t
thinking of its monetary yield; in other words,
he wasn’t counseling people how to be greedy
with safety! Rather, he urged them to think in
terms of having life’s basics, so as to
be free to concentrate on higher things, and of
course especially on the search for God.
Peasants and others who sometimes
live in desperate poverty have no spare time or
energy for seeking God. It is no accident that
most of the residents of ashrams in India come
from well-to-do homes. One who lacks food for
his stomach is too hungry to think of higher matters!
I want to emphasize that the
Master wasn’t recommending investment in
income-producing property such as apartment houses.
Certainly he wasn’t trying to make zamindars
(landlords) of people. His recommendation was
to purchase only enough land as one needs in order
to supply one’s self and a few others with
the basic needs. With land, they could grow their
own food, have a sufficient water supply, and
if they buy with discrimination, not burden themselves
with heavy mortgage payments.
During economic hard times,
the definition of material success is not money,
but security. Whatever assets you have, invest
as much money as you can in things that you can
control. You cannot control the stock market.
The “get rich quick” schemes of stock
investors are as foolish today as would be investments
in sandy wastes with the rationale that there
is oil beneath the sands of Arabia! Put whatever
money you can spare into buying land with arable
soil. Plan to grow your own food. Buy property
in a low-tax area, and preferably where there
is a minimal danger of social unrest.
There is a supposedly true story
about a man who, in the aftermath of World War
I, realized that there was likely to be a World
War II. In an effort to avoid it, he traveled
throughout the world in search of some place that
would, he hoped, be trouble free. Finally he bought
land and settled on the island of Guam. That was
in the mid-1930s. As many still remember, in only
a few years Guam was the epicenter of the Pacific
war theater in World War II!
Place your faith in God above
all. He expects you to use common sense also,
but don’t concern yourself too fearfully
with finding a place of perfect safety. Your very
fear might attract danger like a magnet. Human
life will never be perfectly secure. Do what seems
reasonable to you, then leave the results in God’s
hands. Remember, sooner or later you will have
to leave this world anyway; it is not your true
home. Do what seems reasonable, therefore, but
be free of attachment to the results of your actions.
If you hold that attitude, you
will certainly find it in keeping with yoga principles
to be sensible also. Don’t imagine that
God will be more pleased with you if you face
life passively with the thought, “Whatever
comes is my karma. I can’t control anything
in my life.” The purpose of karmic law is
to teach us, through punishment and reward, to
act always for the best. Don’t
expect to be protected by faith alone—unless,
indeed, your faith is so strong, and focused so
one-pointedly, that all your energy flows
toward God.
Buy land within your means.
If you can’t buy it outright, get property
that you can pay off in a reasonably short time.
Try to settle in the general vicinity of a small
town, where others can help you in times of need.
Don’t get land too near a large city, where
violence might easily erupt during general social
upheaval. If that land should contain a house,
all the better, but if it doesn’t and you
can afford to build, or if you have the skill
to build a home for yourself, it may be to your
advantage to build exactly according to your own
tastes and needs.
Food, clothing, shelter: these
are life’s basic necessities. If possible,
store basic food supplies: foods that will retain
their freshness a long time. Make sure that whatever
food you buy for future use is tightly sealed,
in an air-proof container, safe from mice, insects,
and other pests, and safe also from excessive
heat and humidity.
In this modern age, many people
are accustomed to such amenities as electricity.
In times of emergency, however, electricity can
be dispensed with relatively easily. At Ananda
Village it was years before most of us could install
electricity in our homes. We were perfectly comfortable
with bottled gas for cooking, and, for lighting,
kerosene, candles, or oil lamps. Interestingly,
our homes were more peaceful before we introduced
electricity into them. My impression has long
been that the magnetism generated by electric
wiring in the walls makes a house less peaceful
even if electricity enhances a home’s efficiency.
One thing that will help your
home very much during extremes of cold and heat
will be insulation in the walls—particularly
in the ceilings. That insulation needn’t
be expensive. Even newspapers, wadded up and crammed
into the walls, can be very effective. Books are
available on this subject. Study them, and see
what kind of construction will be the most cost-effective,
efficient, and practical in your area.
If you can’t live immediately
on your property, try to get away to it for weekends,
and also for longer periods occasionally. Even
if there has to be someone on the property to
take care of it, you may be able to supervise
from a distance the creation of a small vegetable
garden.
Energy: Your Most Essential
Investment
The most important investment
to keep at your command is your own energy, mental
as well as physical. All human energy is mental
primarily. I’ve quoted my Guru heretofore
as saying, “The greater the will power,
the greater the flow of energy.”
Some of the wealthiest families
in the world have been reduced to penury as a
result of relying too much, and too passively,
on their handed-down inheritance. India won her
freedom not only because of her moral vigor under
the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, but also because
England had begun to lose its moral vigor—the
consequence of centuries of taking from others
without compensating them generously in return.
Your energy can be expanded, quite literally,
to infinity. Alternatively, it can contract to
virtual nonexistence. Some of the greatest fortunes
on earth have been made by people who started
with almost no money, but with great zeal.
Money is one of mankind’s
three great delusions, the other two being sex
and “wine” (that is to say, intoxication
of all kinds, including hallucinogenic drugs).
Money is listed with these three for several reasons.
One is the expectation it gives of happiness.
The second is the expectation of security. And
the third is the false belief that, with money,
one becomes powerful, important, and superior
to anyone with less money.
With the sense of superiority
money very often gives a further delusion: the
thought that people without money are worthless.
Wealthy people often succeed in imposing this
delusion on the poor, making them, by contempt
for them, actually feel worthless.
What makes these three delusions
supreme is the fact that they strengthen the ego,
alienating people thereby from their eternal reality:
soul-identity with Infinite Consciousness.
The delusion that money can
bring happiness evaporates not long after its
acquisition. Wealthy people are seldom happy.
If they are newly rich, they may delight for a
time in the thought of being able to buy whatever
they want. That delight soon palls, however, for
the very desire for things is itself an affirmation
of lack, which in turn is a kind of poverty. Though
they can remove that lack with money, their very
consciousness that they lack anything becomes,
in time, a habit! The more constant they are in
seeking fulfillment outwardly, the more difficult
they find it to be happy. It is not possible to
fulfill every desire; thus it happens that wealthy
people are often less happy than those who have
relatively little.
In poverty, a person is obliged
to limit his desires to the essentials: food,
clothing, and shelter. The rich, however, want
far more. Their desires are never ending. They
want utterly unnecessary “necessities,”
necessary, to them, only because they imagine
they need them. In fact, these things can become
suffocating luxuries; they create an inner emptiness,
which people excavate with the shovel of ceaseless
desires. Their emptiness of heart may not show
outwardly, but it cries to them from within.
The proof that money doesn’t
bring happiness is underscored by the sad fact
that statistics show suicide to be more prevalent
among the rich than among the poor.
Money, ultimately, brings happiness
only if it is shared. When it is used generously
to help others, one feels happy in himself and
finds his happiness expanding to include others’
well-being. Money, in this case, can be a real
blessing, not a misfortune. Rich people who center
their attention on themselves, and on their own
needs and interests, find the initial sense of
self-expansion which comes with the acquisition
of wealth shrinking in an ever-tightening vice.
The thought that money makes
one powerful, important, and worthy of admiration
seems again, at first, expansive by its swelling
affirmation of the ego. As one basks in the sense
of personal power and of others’ admiration,
however, the heart’s feeling shrinks. And
it is in the heart that happiness resides. Thus,
it becomes increasingly difficult to regard others
with sympathy for their needs. The more one separates
himself, in sympathy, from the needs and interests
of other people, the more constricted his consciousness
becomes. That ensuing narrowness causes him to
suffer. This is the very opposite of fulfillment.
The belief, finally, that with
wealth one is now secure causes some people to
relax their energy output, and others to turn
the energy into a whirlpool of fear. At first,
of course, the acquisition of wealth increases
one’s energy-flow as he realizes he can
accomplish so much more than before. This realization
is embraced with enthusiasm. New wealth, therefore.
conveys the illusion of increased happiness. This
is an illusion, however, and lasts only temporarily.
The expansive sense of self-importance makes one
imagine himself fulfilled. Gradually, however,
he begins to feel the limitations of too many
possessions, as it dawns on him that his sense
of self-importance comes from others, and that
the fulfillment it gives him is entirely vicarious.
Those things which brought satisfaction at first
fade like autumn leaves, then become brittle,
and one realizes that no amount of material security
is a sure protection from personal disasters like
disease, betrayal, and natural calamities. At
such times especially, one is made aware that
material security is an illusion. Misfortune,
when it falls, is the more disappointing for the
fact that delusions of power, self-importance,
and self-assurance have been so fondly nourished.
None of this is to say that
wealth is, in itself, a misfortune. Everything
can be enjoyed, provided certain basic conditions
are met:
First, one must enjoy money—indeed,
all things—in moderation. One must rigidly
exclude the temptation to define himself
by them. Second, he must employ his gifts to be
of help to others also, and not only for selfish
ends. Third, he must develop non-attachment, realizing
that nothing possessed can be permanently one’s
own.
Finally, one must understand
that the source of all happiness lies in oneself,
never in outside things. One must develop an inner
life—particularly by meditation, and by
offering himself to God.
Years ago I prepared a slideshow
called “Different Worlds.” It showed
the many different worlds men live in, and made
it clear that those worlds depend not on a person’s
nationality, race, age, or status in society,
but on states of mind. In photographs that I’d
taken around the world—from exotic places
to the most familiar—people are shown trying
to eke happiness out of life for their own ends,
and finding, instead of fulfillment, only dryness,
bitterness, and pain. Then I showed people in
many countries who obviously felt concern for
others, instead, and for their well-being. The
faces of these people all radiated inner peace
and happiness. This lesson-in-pictures carries
conviction. The different worlds we live in are
not outside ourselves. No society, no scenes of
natural beauty, and no amount of wealth can give
people what all are seeking. Only one’s
own state of consciousness defines the world he
lives in.
The Application
Include Others in Your
Investments
Sharing with others is particularly
important when it comes to simplifying your lifestyle.
Simplicity will probably be more natural to country
living.
Do you, personally, know how
to grow food? how to build a home? how to maintain
a home? If you want to live alone, or with only
your intimate family, you may find country living
more difficult than you thought.
One of the advantages of living
in community with others is that the larger the
group, the greater the chance that someone among
you will have at least one special skill needed
by the community to maintain itself.
I am aware that in India, especially,
social restrictions exist on doing work that is
considered beneath one. I myself grew up under
similar restrictions, and have a better understanding
of it than most Americans would. When I was a
child, and our family went on vacations to America,
we stayed with relatives. At the home of an aunt
and uncle of mine in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it shocked
me to be served meals in the kitchen, where the
cook and the other servants ate. It took me time
to recognize this attitude for what it was, and
to reject it.
I remember working, years later,
at my Guru’s desert retreat. We were shoveling
sand when, one day, he paused from his writing,
came out of doors, and shoveled sand alongside
us for a while. I noticed him panting slightly
from the exertion, and remarked lightly, “It’s
hot work, isn’t it?”
He looked at me a bit sternly,
and commented, “It is good work!”
He very much appreciated the
spirit he’d encountered in America, where
every type of wholesome work is considered dignified
and is given respect. Once I’d learned this
lesson myself, after my family moved to America
in 1939, I discovered that it was a joy to do
hard manual labor, provided I balanced that work
with other interests. Sometimes, during a heavy
snowfall, cars found it difficult to move. I saw
it as a privilege to help them out of snowdrifts
with a shovel. Often they offered to pay me, but
I refused; it was a joy to be able to serve in
this capacity.
Yes, I overcame the foolish
class prejudices of my childhood. I am aware that
I had them, however, and I realize that prejudices
of this sort cannot be dismissed lightly. Let
me only say, then: Try to look upon all labor
as honorable that is done in a spirit of joyful
freedom.
Thus, if you need to hire someone
to farm for you or to build your home, give him
respect, and the honor and dignity every human
being deserves as a child of God. Affirm your
kinship with everyone, in God, including especially
those who serve you. Consider no one beneath you,
and no one above you. All men equally are born
of the same Father, God.
My Guruji said, “Every
nation has its own misery-making karma.”
The caste system, to which he referred particularly
in that statement, is India’s “misery-making
karma”—not because the system itself
is wrong—indeed, it is rooted in divine
law—but because people, in their egotism,
have misunderstood it. In a future lesson I will
address that misunderstanding, for the subject
is of vital importance. Above all, what is needed
is to understand that what one is derives not
from race, nation, system of beliefs, or place
in society: It derives entirely from who and what
one is in himself.
One should respect all men equally
as God’s creations. That respect should
include also respect for their realities. One
who has been accustomed to owning very little
may preen himself, to his own detriment, if, on
finding himself thrust suddenly into company with
people who are accustomed to plenty, he is treated
by them as an equal. They would be wise in his
presence to behave toward one another, even, with
a certain circumspection—not by a display
of arrogance, but by calmness and a little reserve.
Let me explain something here
about our Ananda Villages which, as an international
network of autonomous communities, are sufficiently
numerous for their membership to demonstrate a
variety of skills. Indeed, among our members someone,
usually, has some skill in anything that is required.
Such variety would be difficult to find in smaller
groups, who may not find it easy even to be minimally
self-sufficient. Ananda Sangha’s communities
exist in a variety of locations, some of them
miles from any town. Others are close to the center
of cities. All follow the same spiritual path.
There is a great advantage, spiritually, in satsang,
or spiritual fellowship with fellow seekers. It
strengthens everyone’s commitment to the
spiritual life.
The homes in each community
may be widely separate from one another, or they
may be clustered together. The concept of community
living doesn’t at all require crowding everyone
together in one building, or even onto a small
space of land. Economic self-sufficiency may require
hiring outside help. A community may earn money
to buy some of life’s necessities outside
the community.
A large community also has certain
disadvantages. It can increase the problems of
human interaction. I wrote in the last lesson
about how I faced some of these problems when
I was founding Ananda Village. Today, those problems
have for the most part been resolved. It took
years, however, and many trials, for us to achieve
our present level of harmony, which now is considerable.
Without the strength and inspiration that come
from affiliating with an already-functioning network
of communities, the wisest thing may well be to
“think small.”
Paramhansa Yogananda himself
recommended to most people that they pool their
resources with a few friends. If you can find
a few in your circle of friends who would like
to join you in this venture, get them to join
you also in investing a certain sum of money.
My Guru suggested $10,000 each. Today, that sum
would be considerably more. In India, however,
the problem must be reconsidered in light of India’s
economic realities. Even the present rupee equivalent
of ten thousand U.S. dollars might be too much
to ask of people. This I don’t know. Try,
then, when holding meetings with friends, to agree
on a sum that all of you can afford. Help them
to understand that this investment is vitally
important for their own future safety and well-being.
Let me repeat, Paramhansa Yogananda’s
advice to people was to “get land.”
This was among the most urgent things I ever heard
him say in public talks.
It is important for those joining
you to invest at least some of their own funds
in this project. Without that commitment, you
may find it difficult, later on, to get their
help in other vital matters also, when that help
is really needed.
If you join hands with others,
you will probably want to set up some kind of
legal society. I strongly suggest that the basic
sum of money people invest be non-refundable.
Otherwise, even one person dropping out might
cause the whole venture to collapse. At Ananda
Village we insisted on the non-refundability of
the basic membership fee.
In future lessons, we shall
have several opportunities to explore this subject
further and from a variety of angles. For now,
I suggest that each of you take on a special assignment:
Study one particular aspect of the project. Hold
regular meetings to discuss these matters further.
It may be wise, initially, to get no more than
ten families involved. This figure is not absolute,
of course. The main point I want to make is, Don’t
admit too many members at first. At the same time,
don’t have too few, for too small a number
may severely hamper your beginning efforts. The
number you envision must be flexible enough, of
course, to accommodate actual realities.
Much more might be said on this
subject. Some of it will be covered in future
lessons. I suggest here, in addition, that before
actually moving on such a project, and after all
of you feel sincerely committed to this idea,
a few of you visit me in India, or visit the people
directing our communities in Italy or in America.
Try, if possible, to spend some time in one of
our Ananda communities; live among us for at least
a week. This is a matter in which understanding
must come largely by osmosis. It cannot come only
through the written or spoken word.
Meditation
Greed is in the process, at
present, of attracting global poverty. It is also
alienating mankind at present from divine blessings.
The universe functions on certain clear principles,
which are emphasized in the yoga teachings: loving
energy, conscious harmony, mutuality of sharing.
It has been said that subtle forces are consciously
responsible for plant life on this planet, and
that these forces are, at the present time, withdrawing
their energy. In ancient times, the Vedas taught
that one should give energy to the devas, who
create and sustain plant life. By giving them
energy, we can live in reciprocal harmony with
them, through nature.
People nowadays scoff at this
as “superstition.” My Guru said it
is a mistake to do so. It is, he said, important
not only to draw what we can from nature, but
also to give back to it, by praying to God through
those subtle entities, and by loving and showing
them gratitude. It is an error to treat them as
though they had no existence. In seizing what
we can only for ourselves, we withdraw ourselves
from nature’s abundance. When we do that,
nature, in return, withdraws her abundance.
Famines, earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions, and other natural disasters are on
the increase these days. My Guru said it is because
of the growing disharmony in people’s hearts.
Everything in the universe is conscious. Man,
being more conscious than the lower forms of life,
has a powerful influence on his environment and,
in the aggregate, on the planet. When people live
in harmony with one another and with nature, all
good things flourish. When people live in disharmony,
however, they starve themselves of divine energy.
Our planet then reacts with outrage.
In meditation, picture to yourself
a large garden in the springtime. Flowers abound
everywhere. Alas, they feel the coldness of human
selfishness and greed. Even though the weather
has been growing warmer, the flowers keep their
buds tightly closed.
Now, pass mentally among them.
Instead of demanding that they open their buds,
so that you may enjoy their beauty, smile at them
with warm sympathy. Mentally breathe on each of
them, offering them your kindness and love. Watch
now: See how, wherever you pass, the petals open
in gratitude for your love and good will.
Develop an attitude of generous
giving. Don’t take from life, selfishly.
All nature, now, is responding to your love. Feel
love for everything, and feel your love expanding
like a roseate cloud, blessing and bringing everything
joyfully to life.
You and all life are one. You
and infinite life forever share together, dancing
in rhythms of perpetual laughter and love.
Affirmation
“I am one with all
life! I am one with all Nature. We are all dancing
together in God’s joy.”
Points to Remember
1. Toward the end of his
life Paramhansa Yogananda frequently predicted a
financial crash. Speaking with great fervor and
conviction, he said it would be disastrous for humanity,
and would come as a simple result of man’s
greed. Because this prediction was made by a great
spiritual master, and was seen in visions in a state
of divine consciousness, it would be well for people
to take this warning very seriously.
2. “The next depression,”
he warned, “will be far worse than that
of the 1930s.” My Guru added, “But
people will be more spiritual.” My Guru
also stated that the coming upheavals will eventually
produce an era of worldwide peace and prosperity.
3. When people try to gain wealth
by other people’s efforts (investing in
the stock market, for example), they are treading
on “thin ice,” for the attempt goes
counter to karmic law. If one seeks gain without
giving anything in return, he gains bad karma.
4. The world’s economy
is inextricably intertwined. If a crash happens
in America, the whole world will be affected.
5. It is not “negative
thinking” to face the possibility that depression,
cataclysm, and war may happen. Why not make a
few preparations, at least, for that eventuality?
6. Please be very careful about
how you invest your money, as well as your time
and energy.
7. The most practical investment
you can make is to adjust your expectations. Learn
to think in new ways.
8. Make it a principle to avoid
debt. Make a serious attempt to pay off any debt
as soon as possible.
9. Try—every week, if
possible—to put a little money aside. Don’t
place too much faith in banks.
10. Place your trust in God
first; then invest some of your money in things
of solid worth, such as gold and silver.
Land
11. Paramhansa Yogananda’s
advice to people was to “get land.”
This was among the most urgent things I ever heard
him say in public talks.
12. He recommended purchasing
only enough land as one needs to supply one’s
self and a few others with the basic needs: food
and water. Buy land with arable soil. Plan to
grow your own food. Buy property in a low-tax
area, and preferably where there is a minimal
danger of social unrest.
13. Place your faith in God
above all. Use common sense also, but don’t
concern yourself too fearfully with finding a
place of perfect safety. At the same time, don’t
expect to be protected by faith alone.
14. Try to settle in the general
vicinity of a small town, where others can help
you in times of need. Don’t get land too
near a large city.
15. If possible, store basic
food supplies: foods that will retain their freshness
a long time.
16. Make sure your home is well
insulated, and that you are prepared to live without
electricity.
17. If you can’t live
immediately on your property, try to get away
to it for weekends, and see to the creation of
a small vegetable garden.
Include Others in Your Investments
18. Wealth can be enjoyed, provided
certain basic conditions are met: First, one must
enjoy everything in moderation. Second, he must
employ his gifts to be of help to others also.
Third, he must develop non-attachment, realizing
that nothing possessed can be permanently one’s
own. Finally, one must develop an inner life—particularly
by meditation, and by offering himself to God.
19. One of the advantages of
living in community is that the larger the group,
the greater the chance that someone among you
will have at least one special skill needed by
the community to maintain itself.
20. Try to look upon all labor
as honorable that is done in a spirit of joyful
freedom.
21. Paramhansa Yogananda himself
recommended to most people that they pool their
resources with a few friends. Try to agree on
a sum that all of you can afford. It may be wise,
initially, to get no more than ten families involved.
22. I suggest that before actually
moving on such a project, a few of you visit me
in India, or spend some time in one of our Ananda
communities in America or Italy. This is a matter
in which understanding must come largely by osmosis.
23. Develop an attitude of generous
giving. Feel love for everything, and feel your
love expanding like a roseate cloud, blessing
everything.
