Gadi das: Should I embrace opulence…Or should I embrace preferred simplicity….(poverty)
Voluntary poverty…(for a more pleasant term… preferred simplicity).
One may see opulence as a way to get respect in a world obsessed with getting wealth. If your church is opulent you must be receiving God’s real mercy. This certainly not the case for the perfected acaryas in our line.
The opposite would be the voluntary acceptance of the austerity of poverty, (preferred simplicity), with the purpose of giving Krsna my undivided attention… …and that is very attractive for some sincere seekers… and this is supported in Srila Prabhupada’s statements in Krsna Book…the deliverance of Nalakuvera and Managriva…Please read the story
Also the true qualities of a bramana are given in Krsna Book, in the story of Krsna’s name giving ceremony…please read the story> A bhramana vaisnava will never keep money for long… after receiving a sum, large or small, he immediately spends it on his Lord… consequently his utter dependence on Krsna remains strong and unbroken. By keeping money, there is every possibility of becoming attached to it, consequently breaking the full dependence required for the successful execution of his dharma, and setting the right example society in general.
The problem of getting wealthy is the very changes it makes in ones attitude toward others and the world. The idea of wanting or expecting respect from ones achievements is certainly an impediment on the bhakti path.
The idea of poverty is not necessarily attractive, because it characterizes someone in the world who appears incapable of, or karmically crippled from achieving something substantial in this world. But the poverty, (or preferred simplicity), accepted voluntarily to increase ones attachment to Krsna, heightens ones eligibility to deliver the message of Krsna to the world. If we just live in poverty, , with no understanding to help others find Krsna… that’s just plain old poverty.
Frankly, there is no escape from the urge to acquire money…it is the way of the world, and always has been… just listen to Kamsa’s words in Krsna Book…please read the story.
But as the great leaders of the past threw off the shackles of wealth…. So we should never think that this opulence is for keeps.
The consequence of gaining wealth is there in the Krsna Book…. Deliverance of Nalakuvera and Manigriva. A wealthy person simply cannot ( in 99.9% of the cases) adopt the humility required to accept the saintly persons association, not just entertaining them, but listening them with the humble heart, thereby getting free and giving up the gold attachment and going full steam toward full Krsna’s lotus feet. When one has wealth he wrongly feels himself more blessed and develops a terrible false conception that he is better than the “other devotees” . This can and usually does keep the soul bound to that wealth ….and as the years go by, and they do very swiftly, the tendency to remain with that useless false ego restricts the souls inner desire for progress for making free of this material world.
On the other hand, when we find that Krsna is taking it all away…what a great favor! When that awful false ego is completely disassembled, the fortunate soul can cry real tears of thanks to his merciful Friend, and emit words resembling those of all the great souls of the past.
As the world pursues the gold, so the devotees should pursue owner of the gold, but not for the gold!….just the Owner! .Opulence is only as valuable as the number of souls it can free from its own grip!
Yuktavairagya at its finest!
We are just tiny sparks of Krsna…yet we can be with Him if we are careful.
( I might add that this is not sour grapes… the voluntary acceptance of preferred simplicity has great rewards. Living simply and intelligently from the land with the cows is true opulence… there is no one living that has the natural opulence that we are deriving from this vow of simplicity. I feel opulent beyond imagination… so no sour grapes on my plate please!)..
thanks for your valuable time. Your servant in Prabhupada… Gadi das
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