You are the Richest Person in the World

You are the Richest Person in the World

A window of the house painted, a new plant in the garden planted, a piece of bread shared with someone, a smile and a word of encouragement given to some unhappy face, a few francs donated for the distribution of spiritual literature, a feeling of blessings released into the wide world, a prayer said for the welfare of all creatures, a good book of inspiring wisdom read, a kind act done, every minute used profitably, a moment of meditation on the immediate presence of the all-seeing, all-knowing, all-wonderful Divinity, - these are the ways to enrich the world. To do all this, you are already exceedingly rich. You are one of the richest persons in the world. Flood the world with your love. Let more light flow from your blessed eyes of wisdom and goodness. Exalt the world by your exalted feelings. Uplift the world by your uplifting character. Enrich the world by the continuous activity of your ennobling energies.

You can do more than merely illuminate the world like the Sun. Greater is the glory of man than the Sun. You can grant more than mere cool light to the earth, as does the moon. Greater and grander than the moon is man. You can enrich the world more than the flower that fills it with fragrance. Greater than all the flowers is the gold in your heart. Indeed, God has formed you in His own Image. To express the thousand qualities of that divine Image, you need nothing but just the will and the resolve to do so. And, then, you are the richest person in all the world.

Very few people in the world, even the very great men of the world, use only twenty percent of their capacities. Ninety percent of the capacities in an ordinary man lie patent and dormant, for want of use. Therefore, one should resolve to do one's maximum and best, so that, little by little, something of the latent, hidden, sleeping capacities may come into operation. First, there should be the intensive desire, the earnest wish and strong resolution to execute everything to one's very best.

When the resolves are great, the actuality of your achievements in life will be at least twenty percent of the gains embodied in your high resolves. For instance, a person who aims at being the world's greatest knower of things, will end up by being at least one of the great scholars of the world. When a housewife resolves to be at peace with her family members, she will end up by being at least forty percent always at peace with all her family members. Therefore, the inner resolve should be always greater than your immediate capacity, and it is by this that the inner capacities come into greater and greater self-expression.

A life that is constantly working at its best, freely, in love, in light, in faith, in wisdom, is the real life. It is a flower that is blooming. A life which is self-centred, not free with the use of its energies, its capacities, its abilities, its qualities, its resources, is a life that is bound to dry up. It is a restless, unhappy, despondent, always troubled, always complaining life. Let us remember the New Testament parable of five talents and use our own talents energetically, wisely and to their full value.

Discern the best even in the situations that are apparently bad, and take your stand thereon. This is the way to diminish the bad, and widen the good, in the world. Try to see the positive side and make the life richer and richer in spiritual nature.

Make the entire life more and more beautiful, strong, blessed, holy, divine, powerful. Life is a field that constantly calls for the operation of understanding, capacity to adjust, accommodate, harmonize, make peace. Supposing somebody says a wrong word about you. At once, use the technique of substitution, and hear in your inner mind that wrong word as an amusing word, or the right word of goodness, and thus, instantly prevent the highly vulnerable and supersensitive ego from bursting into an irrational and harmful rage, or reaction. Thus, find peace, and make that peace the basis for building of your world of blessedness.

In the absence of such a psychological act on your part, you are disturbed, you harm yourself, you harm the other person, you harm the world. You have threefold negative result, karma, on your shoulder, and tomorrow you will find it very difficult to do good, or think good, or feel good, or find peace.

Liberate life from factors that disfigure it - misunderstanding, disharmony, disturbances, negative thoughts and feelings. In a group, in a community, in a society, where there are many people, if there is something negative on your side, at once hide yourself, until the negative passes away. Live a life which contributes harmony and happiness to the other members of the society.

You are safe and secure in the arms of the all-merciful Infinity. Be brave of heart and keep up your inner spiritual efforts. I beg you to enrich the inner spiritual Life, Love, Light, and you will see, you are being guided from within more and more, invisibly too you will receive help from the great Presence and Powers of the supreme God.

Wherever you may be, you can constantly be in a state of divine Consciousness, and enjoy instant and immediate communion with the Divine. Even when you walk in the street, or drive an auto, and even when you are engaged in daily business, it is possible.

The only point before you now is, to go on enriching your inner spiritual life and Light and love more and more.

Study a little more of spiritual literature, most valuable spiritual literature, literature by men who have a direct experience of the Divine. Try to condition your inner life to a few simple spiritual practices such as a constant and a living and dominating sense of the Omnipresence of God, Omnipotence of God, Omniscience of God. He is now with you, in your fingers, all around you, watching you, protecting you, pouring his love on you. He is listening to us now. You cannot be separated from Him. He responds to the needs of your heart.

The unchanging Reality within you, is the rock upon which you can stay, for ever unshaken, indomitable, untroubled. That unchanging, timeless, all-perfect, Image of God alone is your invincible strength, power, sunshine and inexhaustible wealth.

What is it that is unchanging in you? Not your mind. Every moment your mind is changing. Mind is not your true being. Mind cannot be your real strength. Mind is a chaotic field. It is a playground for all kinds of propensities, instincts, urges, wishes, desires. You can have no peace so long as you are caught up in the mind. But, if you have a hold upon the unchanging Being and Reality within you, you are the master. You can direct the mind, turn the mind whichever way you like. You can control the mind, uplift it. You are the master of life. You can control the outer environment, remain unaffected by it, and introduce into the outer environment such factors which will make for you the outer world a paradise. Let us go about discerning this unchanging Reality within each of us. We are blessed to the extent we are on the Rock of the Divine.

Deep in the soul of the human individual, resides all the Greatness of God. To everyman born under the sun, God has given the five Talents of Love, Goodness, Beauty, Peace, Joy. The more we use these Talents, the more are our treasures multiplied.

The meaning and value of life lies in the unfoldment of the Greatness of God, with which God fashioned each of us.

May the Light of God shine through your eyes, and the love of God expresses itself through your blessed hears!

May the divine Grace grant you in greater and greater abundance wealth of every kind, the wealth of Love, the wealth of Faith, the wealth of Devotion, the wealth of knowledge, the wealth of Goodness, the wealth of inner Beauty, Peace, Joy, the wealth of material prosperity, and the wealth of highest spiritual Illumination!

- Swami Omkarananda