The Source is Also the Goal
Divine Life
Society Publication: Trying Situations - Sivananda’s Integral Yoga by Sri Swami
Venkatesananda
You can well imagine that it
was a headache to the secretary, and the treasurer, and so on, of an
organisation, i.e. the ashram, to have a person like Swami Sivananda as the
head. He just went on giving, giving, giving–he did not seem to have any notion
where the money came from or where it went. But, I think he knew, though others
thought he did not. He was aware all the time that the source is also the goal.
“It comes from Him and returns to Him: We are merely channels. We think we are
running this institution, this ashram, but we are only trustees.”
At least once a year the
ashram experienced a financial crisis. Gurudev would seriously consider the
position and say; “We will be very careful. We won’t admit any new aspirants
into the ashram.” Usually this only lasted a few days. Soon a poor man would
walk in without even a change of clothes asking to stay at the ashram, Swamiji
would say: “Yes, yes......... better let him stay. Where else will he go? Do
not worry about expenses. Every man brings his own ration with him. Before God
sends him here, God has already delivered to the kitchen the food supply that
he will need.”
These were not just words; if
you looked into his face, into his eyes, you knew he was speaking the truth. In
him there was no doubt at all, there was no questioning. In him this truth
lived. He knew that what you and I call God’s will, alone prevailed. If we are
going to be bankrupt, we will be bankrupt in any case. There is nothing to
worry about! And the secretary submits “Alright, Swamiji.” And then the
flood-gates are open again–otherwise the next financial crisis wouldn’t come so
soon.
Another time we had a
classical tragedy. A young man joined the ashram. He was a ceaseless and
untiring worker, brilliant in every way. He had captured the heart of the
Master. Gurudev loved him and admired him, and took him into his confidence. He
had made him nearly the all-in-all. He was the post-master, he was the
treasurer, he was almost the secretary too, unofficially. He was the cashier
and on top of all this he was also doing some literary work for Gurudev. He was
such a dynamic personality, and it was only half an hour after he had left the
ashram one day that it was discovered that he had embezzled, heaven only knows
how much! He was the cashier and the post-master, so nobody could really
estimate to what extent the ashram had been robbed. All we knew was this–there
was not a single cent in the entire ashram, which was heavily in debt to local
shopkeepers.
So for once we started with a
minus balance, and the news spread to Rishikesh. Once again, the grocers very
politely told the secretary, “For some time it is better to pay cash for
whatever you take,” because the ashram owed a lot to them already. That was the
worst calamity I have ever seen in the ashram’s life. And what did the Master
do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was enjoying the whole thing as a big joke:
“How was it possible for him to cheat us like this? He was such a good man! He
must be a genius.” Two things he went on repeating. “He must have been a genius
to do this.” And, “But he did a lot of work.” He added, “We must have owed him
some money–-but he could have asked me, I’d have given him.” What is that
vision, that realisation, established in which one can say this? That is the
vision of God.
One more example of this. In
1946 a businessman came to the ashram from South India. He knew that the Master
was very fond of dissemination of spiritual knowledge and that the shelves were
full of books which had been printed and published by the ashram. So, he said
to Swamiji, “I can distribute and market all your books in South India. He took
a large consignment. Six months later the secretary wrote to the address given
by the businessman–the letter was returned, “No such address!" The
secretary was amazed. Gurudev said, “Ohji, if you think that you are the self
of the man who cheated you, you won’t be disappointed.” If God is one,
omnipresent, what is stealing? Stealing is only transferring the object from
the right hand to the left hand. You think that you are Swami So-and-so,
and that you have an ashram, and that those books belong to the ashram, and
someone else took them, and made a profit, and so on. This makes you
angry. “If you see your own self in that other person, not only would you not
feel sorry, but you may even feel happy.” Nothing more was said about the whole
affair.
“Be equanimous; balanced,
even-minded in success and failure, gain and loss.” It is not grinning and
bearing it–not at all. “He who cheats me, and that which I call ‘me’,
are but the two hands of the omnipresent being, who alone exists!”
But sometimes, to the discomfiture
of the authorities of the ashram, Gurudev could make a big joke of this whole
thing. One night the ashram temple was broken into, although a number of people
were sleeping on the covered verandah which went around the four sides of the
temple. The silver pot and other silver vessels were missing. The priest who
had discovered the loss, reported the theft to the Master. But instead of
getting serious, the Master was curious. “People were sleeping right there at
the time when the theft was taking place?” Then he burst out laughing. “He must
be a very clever thief. If he is found, I’ll award him a title ‘Chora
Shikhamani’ (which means a super-expert in stealing).”
That was all. Gurudev made it
look as if there was no theft. He who needed them took them away. He used a
very beautiful expression. He used to call it ‘Gupta Daan’–secret charity, in
which the receiver saved you from even the trouble of giving it! He needed
it–he took it.
Once we decided that instead
of Swami Sivananda, he should have been called Swami Givananda–he who rejoices
in giving. He knew that the supply came from the source, and to the source it
returned. Material considerations of accounting did not bother him at all. He
proved in his own life that in such generosity, there was no bankruptcy. He
used to say very often, “Giving has never made a person poor; charity has never
made a person poor.” In 1924, the Master arrived in Rishikesh, with only the
clothes that he had on his body. In 1973, hardly fifty years later, the ashram
that he had built was worth a few million rupees, and yet he went on giving,
giving, giving. He himself used to say, “Such an attitude puts you in direct
communion with the inexhaustible source of all prosperity.”
Excerpts from:
The Source is Also the Goal - Trying Situations - Sivananda’s Integral Yoga by Sri Swami
Venkatesananda
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