“A Father after an inspiring sermon on charity, sends his hat for…”

God is not for Sale

A Father after an inspiring sermon on charity, sends his hat for collection. It moves from hand to hand, returns empty. He prayed, God, thanks, at least my hat came back!

God can never be sold, but he can be purchased. What a paradox!

In ancient purana, there is a story of a fight between Brahma , the Creator and Sustainer, Vishnu, as to who was greater. There was no one to solve the fight except Shiva. Shiva appeared in such a huge form, as a shaft of light, whose ends could not be seen. He said who ever finds either of my ends is the greater. Brahma went up towards the head in the form of a flying swan. Vishnu went as a boar digging the ground to find Shiva's feet. They searched for ages, yugas. Vishnu realized that he could not find and decided to surrender his ego, and told Shiva to forgive his arrogance. Shiva blesses him. Brahma could not accept this. He came back after seeing a flower and asked the flower where it's coming from Shiva's ears. Brahma asked how long have you been traveling? Flower said four ages of Shiva. Brahma asked the flower can you be the witness that I brought you down from his ears. Flower said ok. Both went down and Brahma said I saw your head. Shiva punished him. You will be never be worshipped. The flower will never be used in my puja.

One thing is true whether this story is true or not. Whenever a metaphysical truth is explained as a physical story it is mythology. Master says from his experience that the sahasrara opening is like a thousand petal lotus; disciple takes it as a fact. All mythology convey truths, but in different language.

A lady is trying out a fur coat. Her kid says: can't you see how that dumb animal must have suffered for your coat? Mother: how dare you talk about your father like this? Contexts get mixed up.

Let us analyze this story. Vishnu is the authority of wealth through his wife Lakshmi. Wife of Brahma represents knowledge as his wife Saraswati embodies knowledge. Knowledge searches through and for the head. Sustainer tries it through pleasures. Neither pleasures nor knowledge can reveal God, however much deep you go into knowledge or pleasures.

Creator goes up in rajasic attitude of continuous activity, Going down is tamasic, inert. Neither can find God.

If you try to reach the ultimate, the eternal bliss, at some point you will understand you have not achieved. This is what Vishnu realized. You will realize that pleasures and wealth can not lead to Truth. Vishnu surrenders. If you travel through wealth at least you understand sometime that you are unable.

Whereas while traveling with knowledge and intellect you can delude yourself like Brahma and your ego can grow so much that you deny Truth. You can no longer accept reality and you lie to yourself and others. You do not wish to accept you can not, you have missed it; this is far more dangerous. Intellect is addictive. You don't even realize that you are addicted. It makes you feel great gathering information and having others listen to you. The only problem in realizing God is intellect. You become a library and feel you are enlightened. A library or an encyclopedia can not be enlightened. Processing information or even delivering it as lectures can not make you enlightened.

Ego based on wealth is simpler than ego based on knowledge; more knowledge the heavier the head. Then it starts aching. To stop it from aching you have to prove somehow that you have found God. They bring their discourses as their false witnesses like Brahma's flower. People ask: Swami. In every field there is some little confusion. In spirituality there is total confusion, no common point. When you travel through intellect it is difficult to understand that you have not understood, you have not realized.

People who have not realized and have started preaching are the root cause of all confusion in the spiritual field. Neither depth nor height will give you God; neither pleasure nor knowledge. God is not for sale either way.

If you are a little intelligent you can realize from start the futility of these two approaches. Pleasures dull your senses and you can see that the more you follow your senses the less you are satisfied. You can also realize that no logic is logically logical in this universe; knowledge is limited in its correctness. If intellect would have reached him, you would already have bought and sold him; you would have done a deal.

How then to achieve him? How to purchase him? How to achieve him? When you sell yourself you can purchase Him.

Bhagavatam says: when you give what you have your I and mine , He will give you his I and his mine. Your I is your ego.

A man asked: should I renounce to achieve God? I asked what do have that's worthy that can be renounced as something of value? Is there one little thing? If you analyze there is nothing but suffering. Gap between two sufferings can not be pleasure, it is only preparation for another suffering, Gap between two wars is not peace, it is just the preparation for another war. You do not have to renounce anything, there is nothing worthy to renounce, just value what you have. Should I give up worldly pleasures? Your pleasures are no pleasures. Make them worthy first. Understand.

How to give my I? Drop the idea that you possess it. Most things you have only in your head, not in your reality. Renounce the idea that you have this and that.

A devotee came to ashram in Bharat. After one hour, he said he wanted to buy land around the ashram and settle down there. Fool, I said, can you not enjoy without possession. Just be aware and enjoy the moment. Enjoy without trying to make everything as yours. The more mine less joy. The man who possesses can only choose between sufferings, not between joys. You will sell your eyes to buy a painting, your legs to learn dancing, less your sleep to buy a bed.

The Katopanishad says if you do a ritual, vajpaya yaga, of giving away all your properties you will reach the highest state in heaven. This guy wanted to give as little as possible to get as much as he could. He gave small amounts of food, cloth, old cows and so on. The meaning of the yaga is that if you renounce the idea of possessing things you will feel one with the Universe. A man who has renounced his only home will feel related to the whole world as his home.

When you give up I and mine, the divine showers all to you. Ramana says that I am the winner when I give you all my suffering in return for joy. I purchased you paying my ego.

One guy travels with friends in a boat. A heavy cyclone an the boat is rocking. They shout please save us, we will stop smoking. Another, we will stop drinking. A third, we will stop womanizing. The fourth shouts, wait, wait, don't go that far, I see an island nearby. All our relationship with God is business.

Only when you understand how little your ego is worth, what it has given you, nothing but suffering you will drop it. Like fire that you will drop when you feel it burning you.

When you drop your ego he will possess you. When you are full of ego you are eccentric. When you drop your ego, you become concentric, the centre of the world.

It's like winning a lottery by purchasing the ticket. You have not achieved the lottery through your work. It is a gift.