The money issue.
Wanna get rich quick? Or simply never be in need?
Would you rather have $10 million in the bank, or the knowledge that any amount of money you need for anything relevant will spontaneously appear in your pocket as long as you’re alive?
Allow me to explain.
Once upon a time, a young man went to the forest and said to his spiritual master, "I want to have unlimited wealth, and with that unlimited wealth, I want to help and heal the world. Will you please tell me the secret to creating affluence?"
The master replied, "There are two Goddesses that reside in the heart of every human being. Everybody is deeply in love with these supreme beings. But there is a certain secret that you need to know. Although you love both Goddesses, you must pay more attention to one of them. She is the Goddess of Knowledge, and her name is Sarasvati.
Pursue her, love her, and give her your attention. The other Goddess, whose name is Lakshmi, is the Goddess of Wealth. When you pay more attention to Sarasvati, Lakshmi will become extremely jealous and pay more attention to you. The more you seek the Goddess of Knowledge, the more the Goddess of Wealth will seek you. She will follow you wherever you go and never leave you. And the wealth you desire will be yours forever."
There is power in knowledge, desire, and spirit. And this power within you is the key to creating affluence.
The above passage is taken from Deepak Chopra’s excellent Creating Affluence, a very short but powerful expose into the mechanics of wealth consciousness that Deepak wrote together with the assistance of my teacher’s teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
So let’s get into the knowledge then.
The other week, my friend was in town from Australia for his annual pre-Burning Man LA visit, and we were catching up over $25 breakfast burritos on Abbott Kinney.
Some members of his camp were having last-minute hesitations about attending the Burn this year due to financial constraints, and he had magnanimously offered to cover the cost of their tickets so they could join him.
Now my friend is not a rich man, by conventional standards, nor am I.
But he possesses a wealth of knowledge of the mechanics of money, so he said something that would probably sound very strange to most.
“I’m trying to get back to zero, so I want to spend my money as fast as possible,” he explained.
This logic flies in the face of the way we’re taught to think about money.
Aren’t we supposed to “grab that cash with both hands and make a stash” as Roger Waters of Pink Floyd facetiously wrote?
The truth is, money is currency.
Currency, as in, that which is of or pertaining to a current.
Like a river, money is meant to flow.
When we attempt to dam that current, we interrupt its natural flow both outward and inward.
When we give, a vacuum is created that attracts even more of what you have given away.
As Deepak says, in order to grow, it must flow. Money that gets blocked, like clotted blood, only causes damage.
Maharishi was a master of embodying the principles of wealth consciousness.
Once, my teacher heard someone ask him “Maharishi, this is a huge project that will cost millions. Where is the money going to come from?”
His response?
“From wherever it is now.”
What a legend.
You will never have more money than is relevant to you.
But if you mind the principles of wealth consciousness, give freely, don’t take more than you need, and cultivate a high deserving power by engaging yourself in efforts that are socially relevant and evolutionary, money will be drawn to you like a magnet.
Let’s discuss these and other ideas in Collective Effervescence, our online group meditation series, at its new time(!) this Sunday September 17 at 9AM LA / 12PM MIA / 6PM EU. Drop in for meditation only (first 30 min) or stay for discussion + Q&A on this and other life topics from the Vedic perspective.
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If you were reading along, you probably saw this coming. Released March 1, 1973, "Money" is (bewilderingly) the only song from The Dark Side of the Moon to break the Billboard Top 100 that year.