Where is security?

Wealth is not, in itself, a blessing. Nor is it necessarily a curse. Everything can be enjoyed fully and fearlessly, provided one follows these three conditions...

Swami Kriyananda is a direct disciple since 1948 of Paramhansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi. He is the founder of Ananda Sangha, and of seven Ananda communities in America and Europe. Now 78, he has moved to India to make his Guru’s teachings known in the land of his birth: to teach the liberating meditation technique of Kriya Yoga, and to establish communities where householders and renunciates alike can seek God in the company of fellow devotees.

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People imagine that security can be found in money. Circumstances, however, often force even the wealthiest to confront the truth that money gives no final protection against disease and private disappointment, nor against natural calamity. All of us are forced at last to realize, even if we have mountains of money, that financial security is an illusion.

Life gives all of us misfortunes, occasionally; they cannot be avoided. The consequent disappointment for people who are wealthy is all the greater, as they realize that their seeming financial security was a delusion.

Wealth is not, in itself, a blessing. Nor is it necessarily a curse. Everything can be enjoyed fully and fearlessly, provided one follows these three conditions: First, enjoy things with moderation. Second, share your blessings with others. And third, be inwardly non-attached. No one ever truly possesses anything -- except his own inner Self.

I expressed these truths years ago in a song:

If you're seeking freedom in a marble mansion,
Oh, if you're seeking freedom you won't find it there.
For even when it's sunny, you'll be counting money,
Keeping up that showcase, your face lined with care!

And if you're seeking freedom on a throne of power,
Oh, if you're seeking freedom you won't find it there.
For though men all obey you, what if they betray you?
Tense you'll be, and waiting for foes everywhere!

But if you're seeking freedom, cast away desires.
Why barter like a beggar? You've wealth everywhere!
For never can you buy it. Grasp, and you deny it:
Freedom can't be hoarded: It's free as the air!

And if you're seeking freedom, seek it on the mountains,
God's sunlight on your shoulders, the wind in your hair!
For there's no one can hold you, boss about or mold you:
Once your heart is free, you'll be king everywhere!

Swami Kriyananda's programme appears at 2200 hours IST on the Sadhna Channel. (For more, visitwww.anandaindia.org)