EWS #134: On Power and Wealth – IV

October 22, 2022

Alina (0:00:29):
Namaste. Good evening everyone.

Namaste Sraddhalu.

Sraddhalu (0:00:34):

Namaste.

Alina (0:00:36):

Welcome to our continuing series, Evenings with Sraddhalu, Part 134.

We have been covering in our previous sessions some questions on the spiritual power and wealth. Today we will continue on this topic with a focus on wealth and related powers. As usual, during our conversations you may freely ask your question during this hour and address it in the chat box or send it at our email id integralstudies.in[at]gmail.com.

I will make some questions on this theme and I hope Sraddhalu will respond in a general answer to all of them.

Nitin wrote: Your last response of the sensitive being dominated and taking back wealth power deserves an episode.

Maya is writing:

What does it mean to win back the forces of wealth for the divine and how should we use or accumulate wealth in the right spirit so that it is in alignment Mother and Sri Aurobindo’s work?

Does Mother reside inside our hearts in all of her four forms as Maheshvari, Mahalakshmi, Mahasaraswati and Mahakali, or are there different emanations of her in different people according to their nature and work?

Gokul is writing a question: Can you please start one series on money and how to attract it in one's life, like the occult series videos? If you could do a few videos on this topic, it would be very helpful.

From one, one anonymous ‘Buddha Nursery’, that's the nickname, he writes: Does money factor depends upon a person's inner state or outer circumstances?

Hanshika is asking: Can you explain the new-age law of attraction and the reality behind it in the light of Integral Yoga?

Another related question from Rupal: Can you also comment on the law of attraction and the book The Secret to share insight on its limitations and usefulness?

As a sadhak of Integral Yoga, what should be our approach?

And Michael is addressing a last question: Does your character shape your destiny?

Sraddhalu (0:03:46):
These are all questions in some sense interrelated, including the last one because the character and destiny aspects we will also see in terms of the wealth and other powers.

So this, all these questions together set for us a very broad canvas on which we can perhaps freely explore taking on certain foundational principles first and then as specific to each of these questions, specific aspects.

First of all, I had asked all of you to take a look at the two talks which I had mentioned last time. One which is on money power, how it works, and the other, the “Understanding the True Nature of Power”, which had not been uploaded on our channel, which I did subsequently do. Both of these are there just within the last few weeks.

And the reason I'm asking you to see those because I will not repeat things which have already been covered there.

Normally, when there are talks with different groups, one can afford to repeat. But when we put it online and everything is available to everyone, then one does feel a little uncomfortable about repeating certain themes or certain ideas so as not to sound repetitive.

But also in those sections, those themes have been dealt with in great detail. And so by not repeating those details, one can now concentrate on larger, broader issues, which would be more relevant for our current mood and theme.

So again, for those who have not seen, do see those later separately if you like, but now we'll assume that you have seen those and build on it.

In this question which was asked, Michael's question about character shaping our destiny, in a sense your destiny is the result of who you are, and therefore, yes, you become.

Seen more deeply, it is your soul's choice, freely chosen, which becomes eventually your greatest long-term destiny.

In the short term, it operates within your character and through your character, therefore the character limits and even sets broad directions.

And to that extent, yes, we end up with that as our superficial destiny.

But the deeper spiritual destiny is the result of the soul's free choice, which can override eventually even your superficial character.

And especially as one takes to spiritual life, the external character now is the least part of you. The greater part of you being the inner, higher, more flexible, more free and more loosely aligned to the soul's choice, that begins to override the character.

To the extent that you are practising the Integral Yoga and actively participating in the change of your nature, character, which is just the bundle of habits most concretised in the superficial nature, now begins to soften up, loosen up and allows deeper, greater, higher powers, influences and the divine grace to act in you, through you and even bypassing you and your limitations, but within your life, within your circumstances.

And to that extent, you have overridden the character, overridden whatever bundle comes associated with it including astrological and other influences and freely, increasingly freely, the soul and the divine shakti, the divine grace now formulate, give form to your, I will say, true life or true nature increasingly. Of course, there's a gradient. It's a gradual change.

And I'm putting all this in the context of our discussion on wealth because we also realise that depending on your character to begin with and then later by the soul's choice, not all of us are necessarily aligned to the aspect of wealth.

In response to Maya's question, yes, within us the Divine Mother presides. Within our soul we are infinite, ‘ananta’, ‘guna’, quality, infinite quality. But as I have said before, the word ‘infinite’ is insufficient. Ananta has also the character of unending. So it is infinite in expanse, infinite in ranges of qualities, but infinite in unfoldment, unendingly unfolding newness. So all potential of unfolding is also held, but in seed form in your psychic being. To the extent that your psychic being has become more mature, more individualised, more conscious, more awake, more influential in your personality, it is able to bring forward different powers or aspects more and more directly and infuse them into the personality, activate, awaken, amplify through those infusions, whatever is required at that moment.

Even if that is not sufficiently developed, if your outer nature has sufficiently opened and made itself, well, minimally plastic, the same process can happen by direct infusion from above of the Divine Mother's energies.

So whether from within or from above, one of these two ways, ideally both, in principle, all four primary aspects of the divine shakti, knowledge, power, wealth and perfection, all these can flow through in an undivided, free, multifaceted pouring. This and other aspects and other emanations, all these in principle could flow.

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So the relationship between these two, the inner and the upper, is this: within the soul, which is a portion of the divine consciousness, we will say, a portion of the Sachchidananda; and from above the power of Sachchidananda, revealed, fully free operating. And here in this portion, which is still struggling to articulate and develop itself but having all potential still, there is a natural resonance.

So because up here there are four powers, as we say primary powers, so too in the soul forces are four primary aspects. And these infuse, these lead, these form your nature or at least modify your nature, colour, shape, to whatever extent your nature is able to take it, and lead the broad direction of your life.

So although in principle all potential is there, according to the maturity and to some extent the choice of the soul, certain aspects have been put forward for this lifetime. Even if those other aspects are developed, they may be withheld or drawn out as needed but not primarily placed for a certain line of development or experience in this lifetime.

That being the case, not all of us would find ourselves naturally drawn to developing the aspect of power or of wealth.

And so what we will discuss in the subsequent part and also what we have covered the last three sessions on the power aspect and then the common features of the wealth and power, today perhaps much more on the wealth.

In all this we must recognise that not all are equally to take this as their priority because according to your temperament some things are stronger.

So of the four aspects, assuming one of these is strong, the other three need to be sufficiently integrated, developed, but around this principle, primary tendency. And then all four working together makes for the perfection.

But in most people, one side is strong, not necessarily fully developed, another aspect is at best a nuance, the other two being dimmed in most people.

In a more developed person there will be two aspects which are strong, still one may predominate the second.

In still more developed people three would be strong.

And in the most developed you have all four surprisingly strong, but not necessarily fully integrated.

And that would be the further stage of development where all four aspects are integrated to a degree that freely the one Shakti in whatever aspect and blend of aspects can pour through. This would be necessarily a part of the development of the Shakti-Chatushtaya, the aspect of Shakti in the development of the Integral Yoga.

But this is just to put it in context.

Beginning where we are today, some of us are predominantly on the knowledge side, some of us predominantly on the aspect of perfection in work, a few are in the wealth and a few in the power. Power and wealth are not always so strong especially in those who have a strong spiritual turn. These things tend to be either subdued or if they are strong then sometimes there's also struggle. Precisely because both of these involve an aspect of strength of vitality, and the nature of a strong vital is also that it tends to be much more dominantly egoistic because of the surging energy seizing you and you may be the soul influence being completely covered up because of a strong dominant vitality.

If we have already worked upon it, in most cases there's some work in the past, the vitality is already aligned to the soul, such people are already rare, and then the spiritual life can have a strong vital base and such a person can make for a marvellous instrument.

So let's assume we have at least some, some of us would have a turn towards that, for others it may not be our predominant aspect. Keeping this distinction in mind we will have the broad discussions which follow.

I'm also putting this in the context of one who leads a spiritual life which is affirmative and non-ascetic, because the dealing with wealth particularly would be very different if you are not leading a spiritual life, for them, books such as The Secret and so on are, well, practical, useful.

But from a spiritual point of view, what they describe is only partially true. One of the important themes of such books, and there are many now with similar ideas, is that if you put forward a strong enough desire, then the desire tends to actualise itself.

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These books sometimes go into a very exaggerated extreme, which is ridiculously exaggerated and falsified in the process that one of, some of them at least will claim that if you put out a strong enough desire, then the universe bends over backwards to fulfil your desire. And the universe is like a modern day new-age shortcut for God, because that's the equivalent of all in the physical consciousness. and so somehow reality itself has to bend over backwards to actualise.

No, that doesn't work.

Your even strongest desire is at best a tiny ripple in the larger movement of things. So it doesn't work like that. But any strong, concentrated, well-formulated desire will go out as an energy, as a force, and try to actualise itself even if it is one tiny drop among thousands of other drops. If that desire or formulation, now I will use a more general term, with a clear mental conception, strong vital force of need or call or desire and supported perhaps by some physical vehicle to whatever extent possible, if such a formation is released, well, it just goes about doing its thing, trying to actualise itself, but it's not the whole universe doing it, it's your little thing.

But if that is aligned to a greater truth, then to that extent it is backed by a greater power.

If that which is aligned, it does not have to be a spiritual truth, any greater power, if that is, as it is released, aligned to other needs of circumstances then it can very quickly become a focal point for other opportunities which work through this. And in that sense, certain things might happen, not always the way you intend. But still your intention would have been one of the factors assisting in actualising things.

So this is the reason why while those books sell a lot and they make money for the author, those things don't always work for everybody. And very quickly the books fall out of fashion because having tried it long enough most people say, ha it doesn't work, and they move on to the next book offering a quick fix formula.

But all those types of approaches where many people turn out to witchcraft and incantations for, they call it, manifesting wealth, all those things are okay for somebody who does not have a higher value. They may work, they may not work, they may have consequences and side effects which may be not so comfortable which may sometimes be terrible but maybe for those people it doesn't matter.

From a spiritual point of view, we will have to look at things differently, and this is going to be broadly our part of the discussion.

First, we are mixing three different terms, money, wealth, abundance, and then behind it all the Mahalakshmi aspect of the divine force. In a sense all three are aspects, facets on different levels of reality in different degrees of limitation, and, but they're aligned.

But I'm placing these three words because it's not always and not for everybody that money is the form in which the Mahalakshmi power works. Yes, of course you may also end up with money. But for many of us there is the wealth which may not be reducible to money.

For example, a person living in a village farm, not in poverty but reasonably comfortable, with all basic needs taken care of, is often in overall comforts and resources more wealthy than somebody who may be living in a tiny one-bedroom flat in a very expensive crowded city, spending a huge amount of money to pay rent for that discomfort.

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Because living in your luxury of the village life, you wake up every morning with a beautiful greenery around you, with fresh air and lots of space, sometimes with farm animals who are very loving, caring, even if you're alone you have your family, and the wealth, the opulence and the comforts are way beyond anything that, that person struggling in his little box apartment, spending so much measured money value would ever get.

And this is the reason why when there are strong economic shocks, you'll find many people who have made enough money to be able to go out, they go and buy a farm property and stay closer to nature. Because that's when the real wealth or the real enjoyment of their earned money can be put to proper use.

I'm making this distinction because it's important.

Many people think that you earn so much money and that makes you rich.

No.

Very often those who earn so much have to spend that much.

It's surprising for us when we see apparently very wealthy politicians or film stars or famous people suddenly bound in debt and found in poverty.

When Michael Jackson, who was quite wealthy some point, one of the more wealthy persons, when he died, literally they had to sell off all the properties for the debts that he had. And this is surprising for us because what happens to them is, they earn so much in number of, count of money, but they spend a huge portion of that to sustain that lifestyle, and the entire lifestyle might be utterly unnecessary and wasteful, unimportant even, but they're chasing some false ideas, some false values. And so it's a, like a rat running in a rotating cage, the faster they run, the more they find themselves stuck in the same place, and they have to keep running faster and faster to stay on the same spot. That's not wealth. You may have lots of money but you may be poor in wealth.

So I'm making these distinctions so that in, as we go along, we also choose more clearly what it is that is our priority.

‘Abundance’ is a more generic term where even you go beyond wealth, it would include all kinds of plenty. Whatever you need in some way is available. Not always necessarily with full exaggeration but you never find yourself lacking something depending again on what your need is.

Think of it this way, somebody has lots of money but lacks a lot. Somebody has practically no money but has no lack. Who is more wealthy?

This fellow has no money but he has plenty and cannot, doesn't even know what to do with the plenty; there's an abundance.

This is something which is very easily experienced when you live in a farm where you grow fruits or vegetables especially with fruits from trees. So when it is the right season the tree gives off so many fruits. Let's say it's one apple tree or whatever other fruit. It gives off so much and it's falling every day in such large numbers. Try to eat it. Not only you are fed up, not only you are sick of that too much, you realise after all that you can eat and after all that you can feed your family, there's so much that's being, well, wasted as if, that you just pick it up and give it out to your neighbours. This used to be village life. Everybody who had excess gave it away and of course you try to sell, but there's a point beyond which you can't sell because to sell it has to transport over a few days sometimes. And this thing is going to spoil within six hours. Well, you just give it away.

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The sense of abundance is this, you have so much that you don't know what to do with it. And well, it's available, it's shared with all. And at that point, the sense of lack fades out. And that's when you have the true abundance.

For one who leads a spiritual life, this would be broadly the direction that one could aspire for. This may or may not include money, wealth, in the more conventional tokenised forms. But the sense that there is so much, in a sense you live in infinity of whatever needs to pour through that it just pours out and you can just give freely, and even when it comes to money and tokens of money you have enough and you know there's plenty more that from where it comes you can let it flow.

When Sri Aurobindo was living in Baroda, he was the principal secretary to the King of Baroda, and so that's a very high post administratively, it’s, well, the highest post next to the king practically, and overseeing an entire country in Europe which was more than even a state of today in Gujarat.

So it's a very large space, large number of people, huge administrative responsibility. I do not know exactly how much he was earning, but whatever he earned, he would put in a bowl on the table in his house. Take from it what he needed, when he needed and others could take and use as needed. It was something unusual. I have not heard of anybody else who lives like that even today. But the idea was, he said, whoever needs it will use it. It is there for people's needs, isn't it? And as for me, whatever I need, I will get as I need.

So, I don't know how much it is in numbers, but the same principle he followed all the rest of his life, even afterwards when he was in Calcutta, when he was in Pondicherry, whatever was there was placed and available to anybody.

It shows a certain degree not only of deep conviction but also a fullness which you have no worry actually for the future: not immediately possible for all of us, but it shows you, gives you a reference.

Now, you may not actively follow the same form, you may not put it in a bowl, you may not put it in cash form, it may be in a bank, it may be in various investments. The point is, the sense that you don't lack, the trust that there will be enough. This would be broadly the quality that we would want to grow towards.

Having said that, I will also touch upon the aspects of money and wealth as we go along. So there will be a blend of all these three things. So a little bit mixed perhaps. In the Chapter IV of the little booklet, The Mother, Sri Aurobindo wrote this as a letter to somebody who was supposed to go and raise funds. And he himself came from a background of not much wealth. So he had a problem. He said, I'm not from a wealthy family, I myself don't have wealth, when I go to wealthy people and say, I need money for this work, then they won't take me seriously.

And that's when Sri Aurobindo wrote this as a letter explaining the nature of wealth and what is the right way to ask and for what it is you are asking what is the attitude you must keep.

Now, Mather has commented on this. There are at least two sessions, 1951 and one in 1954, where speaking to the children in the playground she elaborated on this, there were other questions and so on.

Just a minute. We have some, sorry, there was an intrusion in the chat box.

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Sri Aurobindo describes the psychological and the spiritual attitudes with regard to wealth, and many of these you will find extremely helpful. In particular, there is one passage where he discusses what is required for wielding this power of wealth. So I will read briefly from a portion of this:

 “If you are free from the money-taint but without any ascetic withdrawal”, so what is money-taint, you will read earlier, “but without … ascetic withdrawal”.

So, you are not dealing with money as something which is non-spiritual, it is a force, it is a power, and you use it impersonally.

“you will have a greater power to command the money-force for the divine work.”

Now this is a very important point: “to command … money-force”.

And we will come to the elaboration of this.

But there is such a thing as the money force. You are able to tap into it. You are able to direct it and even to command it.

Some of this I have discussed in those earlier talks on wealth and so on.

“Equality of mind, absence of demand and the full dedication of all you possess and receive and all your power of acquisition to the Divine Shakti and her work are the signs of this freedom. Any perturbation of mind with regard to money and its use, any claim, any grudging is a sure sign of some imperfection or bondage.”

So, then he gives other characteristics. One is that you should be able to live as needed, whether you are in poverty or in wealth, you should be able to be equal to those circumstances and so on.

All those are of a, the descriptions are of a very high grade or demand. So, some of this we will touch, but I will focus on a few which are of a lesser or preparatory stage.

So first foundation which I would highlight, and for all of us, whether it is principally our drive is turned towards wealth and power or to knowledge or other aspects: one of the foundations for any effective use of any of the powers of the Divine is discipline, self-control, working towards self-mastery.

First step, discipline.

To be able to do what you want to do, when you want to do, without having to struggle with yourself. It's a very great power. And many of us have perhaps spent our childhood struggling with this. Some seem to get it quite easily, others struggle through the rest of their lives.

But if you have this component of discipline sufficiently developed, whatever may be your other limitations, when you decide to do something you are able to do it, and just that frees you from so much trouble, so much resistance, conflict and contradiction within you is managed, I'm not saying it's gone, it's managed and you're able to move forward.

So work on this a little bit.

It's not too difficult, and it's something which with a little bit of growth will give you a huge amount of results generally in your spiritual life and then especially when wielding some of these specific aspects, it would apply even for the training of knowledge, but now we are much more focused on wealth-power combination.

This discipline especially in the vital, because as Sri Aurobindo points out:

“Money is the visible sign of a universal force, and this force in its manifestation on earth works on the vital and physical planes and is indispensable to the fullness of the outer life. In its origin and its true action it belongs to the Divine. But like other powers of the Divine it is delegated here and in the ignorance of the lower Nature can be usurped for the uses of the ego or held by Asuric influences and perverted to their purpose.”

This is again from Sri Aurobindo’s text.

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So it works principally on the vital and physical planes, and therefore this basic discipline in your vital particularly is of great help because that's where you develop this capacity to wield money power.

Wielding means you're able to draw on it as needed, you're able to direct it as needed and even actualise specific outcomes or forms in which it needs to be expressed or acquired or applied.

So that discipline in the vital, graduating to self-control and then moving towards self-mastery.

I'm not even saying, you need to reach that, but a basic self-control.

Because one of the things when you deal with the aspect of money flow, as you, let's say, draw upon it and activate or direct it, well, in a sense it flows through you or you are tied to that flow in some sense, if there is not sufficient self-control, you get sucked into it, and before you know it, it wields you rather than you wielding it.

I've used this analogy a couple of times already, riding a horse: your lifeforce plugs into the lifeforce of the horse, it turns to you with its mind, looking to you as master once it has accepted you. You plug in and then as you intend with your life-energy the horse moves.

You see the skilled rider, in the beginning you're taught, pull the reins this way that way and nudge with your foot, tilt with your body to guide the horse. What is interesting is initially you are given very explicit forms of communication to the horse but as you grow in strength and in skill those explicit forms become more and more subtle until the slight bending of your body rightward, leftward is enough to give an indication for the horse to turn right or left. And you're guiding the horse not by pulling reins in an obvious way but by the simple tilt of the body and then there's a point where the whole thing sublimates to a state where you tilt your mind-life-energy, not even your body. You tilt your mind-lifeforce and the horse tilts and flows with you. And as you direct your energy, the horse flows with you.

This state is amazing.

And the master horsemen of course have this naturally. And they can apply this to a new horse. It takes a while for the horse to acclimatise and for you to plug into the horse but once that has formed literally they can make the horse do miracles which the horse had never done before but which they have done with other horses.

So in this infusion of the melding of the lifeforce in the horse they can literally lift or guide the horse to make it do things which for it will now feel natural although it has never done it.

This is how it feels when you wield things of the, let’s say, vital energies. But that's when if the horse is stronger than you and you lack the basic self-control, then its energy overwhelms you and you are ridden and not it riding and not it being ridden.

This is very easily felt when we have experiences in dream state or in lucid dream or out-of-body experience in the vital worlds. We are overwhelmed by the mood of the grade of consciousness. It's infinite after all and you're finite. You're overwhelmed by it and you cannot but be it. You think it's your mood, it's not. It's that mood which has seized you. You're just floating like a cork in the disturbed ocean waters. And you're tossed around, literally.

And many people who are in their early stages of out-of-body experience struggle to control this. And it's a mistake. You realise, you cannot control.

It's an infinite ocean. What are you going to do with that lifeforce? It ceases, it overwhelms. What can you do? The only thing you can do and that's how you're able to move forward is you become completely still and equal and the burst of energy wave passes right through you, you experience it but are unaffected, undisturbed.

That equality becomes the base. When you have that, then you can now nudge, guide, direct.

So I'm already moving ahead with the term ‘equality’ but coming back to self-control, tending towards self-mastery, especially with the life-energies in the vital. And this specifically means your ego-desire nature which is bound in the vital energies. Even though the ego has a mental, let's say, focal point, its sticky part is in the vital, that's the knot of the ego.

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And so discipline, self-control, tending towards self mastery in the vital in particular would be like a first foundation.

Of course if you want to have it in the vital, you must have it somewhere in the mental at least because we are first mental beings and from the mind we exercise this discipline, self-control on the vital, so we are speaking of the vital but if you don't have it a little in the mind you cannot really lead the vital. The mind and thoughts must be able to be, well, directed at will.

You can't say, I can't help it, my mind is racing in a particular direction.

All right. You can use that as an excuse when you have a crisis. You're emotionally disturbed and the emotions lead the mind. That's when your horse is riding you. Fine. That's a crisis.

But at any other time in life, you should be able to choose your thought as you choose, direct it where you want, stop it when you choose to. And when you have this reasonably in place, you can also apply this, extend this into the vital. And then even if it happens that the vital overwhelms you with some panic, your mind should be able to stand back and say, ‘no’ and calm down the vital, bring it to stillness and stability and redirect thoughts and energies as required.

So this would be really self-control.

And the more you have this, the more complete this is, the more easily you will be able to wield the wealth power as well as power aspect itself and amplified content of it.

You could have a trickle and wield it; it’s good. But you want to be able to wield is a reasonably good flow.

So, the next as we have already seen is the aspect of equality.

The larger the flow, you should, you want to be able to wield, the deeper and wider this equality required.

The more stable your consciousness can be against or independent of this strong flow, the more you are able to direct it. If you are swept by the flow, you can't direct it, because it directs you.

So equality, which is your stable base, and opening out into a wideness, again especially in the vital for which again you must have something of it in the mental because you're first a mental being and then from the mind infuse into the vital. And to the extent that you have this, you will find you can wield a greater flow of this particular power.

Third then, when you draw upon, when you invoke, a certain kind of receptivity and openness to this will be required.

Now this is a subtle point because inherently for most of us, we are uncomfortable with the flow of life-energy and particularly certain qualities or densities of lifeforce. If your temperament is very sattvic and refined, a strong flow of life-energy will be uncomfortable to you. If you're temperamentally rajasic, then yes, you could have this but still at that point if you have prepared yourself with sufficient self-control the quality of what flows may still be a little uncomfortable or new and so you have to train yourself to be able to open to the particular grade required and be receptive to it as it flows.

In the way it works out in life: often it will come through opportunities in life. When you have the flow of that energy, it gathers the material, let's say, tokens, representatives, it may come in the form of cash, objects, or numbers in your bank account or friendships with influential or wealthy people or stations or persons in power, whatever form it takes, those things will tend to accumulate where this energy flows.

But when that comes, are you comfortable or uncomfortable? So certain openness for it to come will be required. If it is not, and instinctively you feel uncomfortable with that, you will tend to shoo it away, you will tend to repel it even as it starts coming.

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I've shared here an experience earlier, a couple of times perhaps, that when I used to sit for, on the sales counter in Panditji's office with his books, I found my sales used to be very low. For some time I had to sit because for that work. And one day I decided that I had to correct this, something's wrong. I looked into myself and I found, I didn't want to meet people, I did not want that pressure of people coming, I found myself uncomfortable, I was actually closing it, repelling it, so I made a conscious correction actively opening, welcoming, and of course immediately there was a surge of flow and the sales went up, but I was extremely uncomfortable. I struggled to contain what came with that flow and I was not at all happy with it.

I'm pointing this out that some very often unconsciously we are closed or even repelling the money or power aspect. Even though a part of us may say, I want more, the other part which is in the vital and often subconscious to you or subliminal is saying, I can't deal with it, it's too much, and so you don't get the results.

So you need to introspect and recognise these different levels consciously open and be receptive on those levels particularly on which the flow has to come. Isn't it?

This is something very subtle, most people are totally unconscious of, and in most cases where I find people have problem with not getting enough wealth flow, it's because of something like this, a barrier, a block somewhere.

When those things come, well, first there is a flow, you should not be grabbing in a crude way.

You see, I would give the analogy of a very hungry person and someone tosses a few coins and this guy grabs quickly or tosses some food, he grabs quickly, that shows a loss already at a very low level of energy flow, you have got overwhelmed and you've been seized by it.

But when the opportunities come with a calm, with an equality, you should be able to accept, open out, seize and draw from it as much as it can. And then the wealth power will say, ah yes, you are a worthy instrument, here's some more and then you should be able to draw some more and make proper use of it.

And all the time it is testing you, each time you utilise it properly, it gives you a little more and a little more [till it reaches the limit of] your competence, your capacity, stops there. At that point either it sustains that level but does not grow or it diminishes, because you have perhaps something has got distorted in you by that time already.

You see the reason you could not grow further because something got overwhelmed. Which of these: self-control, equality, desire-nature, misuse, whatever form it was, misdirection? And at that point it says, no. But the distortion was there. Isn't it?

And if the distortion stays, even when the wealth flow stops at that level, if the distortion stays, it will begin to deplete until it matches your level of competence.

So you build to a larger and larger flow or find your level that you can manage, don't go beyond that generally, there's no point unless it is required for your work. And then you notice, there is this inflow and outflow of the rhythm. It comes in a surge and then it wants to be utilised. It comes in a surge to be utilised. And the movement is like the bellows or your lungs or like breathing. Ifshhhh, breathe in, breathe out. Now depending on the nature of your application you may do iffooooh, very concentrated sharp breathing-out or it may be a general blowing, depends on your work.

(0:50:00):

But if there's a rhythm and you catch the rhythm, it continues. If you break the rhythm, you took in and you say, I need more, I need more, I need more, well, there's a limit to your lungs, you're holding your breath, the breath air becomes stale, what you breathe out is stale air, the cycle is broken. Or you breathe out, breathe out, breathe out, but you forget that you have to breathe in. The cycle is broken.

So there's a natural rhythm of the inflow-outflow of the wealth power, and it wants to be used rightly, it wants to be enjoyed in its right use also, and those are the qualities which you can then learn to develop. And with that, the rhythm continues, the quantum can grow. Again, as I said, either you've reached the stage of your limit, and maybe the work doesn't require more also, or sometimes there are those who have the capacity they just continue as much as they can, they enjoy the mass, but very often they are already swayed by the wealth.

I've had occasion to meet with some such and among businessmen it's quite interesting. One of those I had been, maybe I can mention the name, he was a stockbroker who just passed away earlier this year, a very big bull, he started his own airline now, and I happened to, I was taken once to his office, it was fascinating to see. The office was quite chaotic, quite disordered, see all this relates to the question that was asked a couple of weeks ago by SriValli that we see wealth in the hands of people who don't necessarily live by the values or the standards that Sri Aurobindo refers to.

And there was disorder, there was a mess. He walked into his office, nowhere did you see the kind of neatness, cleanliness, arrangement, beauty, aesthetics, opulence, nothing. It was a dingy place almost, okay, as any office would be, not well maintained. At best it was clean, but that was about it. Also, you could see that most of the people sitting in the office were not carriers of wealth. He was the only holder of the wealth, but massive. He had this huge vital. It's like the vital was too big even for the building and he was struggling to, managed it.

So I could, of course, one can detect, he would have a lot of problems with some of his, his coarser instincts, but there was a discipline to the vital.

That's an interesting thing: there was a kind of a self-control, and even a part in the vital which was an impersonality. He didn't care. I would even use a, sorry for the strong word, a damn-care attitude, I don't care what happens, I can do what I want. Something like that. I'm trying to describe the mood of the, the vital nature. And it had the surety. It can do what it wants, pull as much as it wants, express whatever it wants. And all the people in his office were literally like pawns. It didn't matter to him. Each one was expendable. You don't do your job, I throw you out. I get someone else. I can get whoever I want. That was the, the mood of the guy. Fascinating. He was the only person doing it, all the rest at best were executing his demands, his commands, or were indirectly agents of the power that he wielded which perhaps he infused in a few or worked through them indirectly unconsciously, I don't know.

But all this is to say that you may not see necessarily see the external symbols but the power to wield in itself is enough to be able to override everything else.

If you have the external circumstances of beauty, of order, of neatness, organisation, then that wealth would flow also with greater, well, say, clarity, with a joy, with a beauty of form and structure and discipline in outcome. For him that didn't matter, because he was not running any project, he was just making wealth on the stock market, investing, giving. I don't know what else he did. But at some point he started his own company. That changes the rules completely. There he needs somebody else to bring that order, discipline, structure and so on.

So, this thing about the flow, this man had such a huge vital, he could literally draw a huge flow. And what made him successful, he would sense the state of the stock market, sense when the market wanted to sink, sense when it wanted to rise and catch the drift before the market expressed what it wanted.

(0:55:06):

Now I am using a vocabulary which might sound strange. But actually when you see the market rising and falling, of course some of it can be manipulated, but behind is a huge energy, and it's a vital energy, but a huge-huge energy, and the energy itself has its own rhythms like this breathing movement which we discussed, and that's happening on a massive scale. It's plugged into the national grids of energy-flows, international grids depending on the market itself, and it has its own rhythms, and you can sense, the market is sinking. And this guy who senses it will say, wait-wait. Someone says, no, it's bottomed out. He says, no, wait. Your technicals will say, no, it's going to sink much more. This guy says, no, catch it now, catch it now. And he knows, what he says was right, there was immediately an upturn.

He senses it.

Contrast this with the small-time players in the stock market.

Oh, I just bought this stock now, it's going up, oh, I'm watching it, I'm so excited, and now it's going to rise, oh my God, all the indicators are saying it will go up so much more.

And suddenly it crashes, and it sinks below my buying price.

And the guy is in a severe depression. And his mood of the morning is a reflection of the market index. You are being played by the energy. You have plugged yourself, you're like a little thread that's got plugged into this whirling machine and you're being sucked and pulled and torn, not realising, not capable of wielding it.

But here was a man who was so large, he could actually meet it almost like an equal.

And there are people like that sometimes, and many of these tend to go into this high money, high power spaces, some of those go into politics also, but they don't make very good leaders they make good manipulators.

This is just I'm making a general comment, but this gives you a sense, I hope through these descriptions, what it feels like and how the the game works on those levels of flow.

I would very confidently say, none of us watching this are really equipped for that kind of flow, because mostly people who have that don't have any spiritual inclination, because they are such, so strongly seized by that nature itself.

But all this was to describe this sense of the rhythm and the capacity to follow or to direct the rhythm.

As I said, it grows step by step, and you will find your level.

Often there's a point where you say, I don't need more and, or you say, I can't manage more. That's your level and it's okay. You don't have to go more.

Then comes another requirement. In this expanding of the wealth, in its utilisation, and it could take many forms, it could be an investment form, it could be an application for purchases, it could be a form for buying resources for your manufacturing plant to convert them into something else, it could take many forms. It could even be lending. It could be donating, gifting. Morality is not the issue here. Right use is not giving it away. Very often, and this is the unfortunate condition of many of today's, yes, Anupama has commented, this is Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, that’s, that's the big bull, many of these people who take money for social causes. If you look at their actual reports, 80% of the money is spent for what they call ‘administration’, only 20% goes into the actual objectives, and this is the case by the way all the way to the United Nations.

The enormous wastage of the United Nations is outrageously criminal. If you look at their numbers, outrageously criminal. And everybody who thinks, oh I am donating to the UN such and such fund or so-and-so is, let’s say, NGO that is working for the uplift of poverty or women who are, whatever it is they may sell to you, or orphans, they need to pull at your heartstrings. If you actually go into their accounts, you will find such a misuse, such a misuse, and it's just a way of, well, it's a business they run, and that's their way of selling, or gaining their clients, your other clients who will pay them the money. So giving money for social causes etc or even just donating is not always the best use.

Sometimes even you applying it for a certain productive value might be the better use where as a result of your application a product comes out whose value is far greater than what you have put in, you're creating wealth, you're creating value, you're creating resource, and that is going to remove poverty.

(1:00:23):

So I'm deliberately breaking the morality aspect here which would be otherwise quite deceptive of what is right use, contrasting with what is waste. The Mother complained about this on occasions. She said because the ashram was going through initially difficult periods financially, and she said, she was responsible personally for the economic condition of the world, and so she had to put into practice and using this space as the focal point, imprint in the world the change necessary.

And during that period even envelopes in which letters came would be turned inside out for reposting so as to save on the paper, and she would herself be repairing her saris if there was a tear, and things like that, which many people found unusual, but she said, that's the way you have to give it the necessary respect and also apply it correctly.

She said, so many times she saw the money power coming all the way to the gates of the Ashram and then withdrawing because of the wastage.

Now this waste is something which is a whole theme in itself.

But what has happened today is there's a certain opulence overall in the world, but the wastage has gone way beyond. The result is an unsustainable build-up of what seems to be a wealth generally in the population, but which will lead to consequences which will undo the benefit of the wealth.

Just as one example, the wastage of so much plastic that we throw as junk, going into soil, into water and then by being burnt into air, comes back to us as sickness or triggers sickness in us, illnesses for which you spend huge amounts of medicine or your quality of of life drops, but it's part of that circuit of the misuse which comes back to you in some way.

So the wealth itself is easy to lift in a collective population artificially by simply printing money and distributing. So suddenly everyone says, I have so much. Once you start buying, there's not enough goods to back it, and you realise there's what they call ‘inflation’, and suddenly the actual value has dropped, everyone has become poorer except for a few who have manipulated the system to have the benefits.

So this is to show you that wastage, misuse, always leads to reduction in the overall wealth, and if this is true on a collective level it is also true in the individual flow.

So waste and misuse, these are two things which you have to be extremely careful about.

The right use may, may involve even elements of luxury. For example, if it is so required, air conditioning in your office or in your residence may be justified if it is so required. If it is not required but you do it because, I need to make a statement, I need to buy such and such a car because I need to make a statement of social position, that's a waste.

For somebody who is in that social, let's say, game the car statement might even be needed. There are always exceptions to all these. I'm just describing by showing a few examples. For some it may actually be required. But for most of us, to buy a vehicle which is only for social symbol is a huge waste. And automatically you'll find value dropping, flow ebbing.

Vehicle is perhaps an exaggerated example. Not all of us are into vehicle buying. But once you get the idea, you will see so many things that we do where we are wasting or misusing, and you have to start looking into your own life, and, like I said, it varies person to person.

Sometimes very simple corrections are needed to have the level of comfort required, and you don't need to have that exaggerated purchase or expenditure to make that correction. But you do it because you have the money, because you are not required to think, you are not required to make an effort to optimise, and thinking that, I have the money, I spend it, and then very quickly you lose the money, and then it does not come back. And then you have to make the correction.

If you don't make the correction, it won't come back.

This again is among the two biggest reasons that people are not conscious of that the wealth does not grow:

(1:05:17):

The first I mentioned was this subconscious rejection or block or lack of receptivity, but this is the part which you are not conscious that you have been misapplying just because you thought there's plenty. And why did you apply this way? Because everyone else is doing it the same way. Or the big names, the big people, or the symbols, icons that you associate with wealth are doing that way, so I will do that.

No.

That is your mistake.

There are people who have money to throw, literally, and they do. They can afford to, but you are not one of those. You have to use rightly. And if you use rightly and the wealth is applied to growth, it will come back, it will continue to grow. Now growth could be, it could be a necessary requirement of comfort. It could be growth of health. It could be growth of your capacities, resources, ability to act, growth for others in their ability to act, their level of life, knowledge, education, whatever form it takes, as long as it leads to growth, generally an evolutionary growth, not always in consciousness but even in physical means and supports, generally growth, then you have put it to good use and it was not wasteful. It may still be wasteful if there's a priority for growth and you went for a lesser priority and missed the primary, that could still be a wasteful. But at least it was intended towards growth.

Misuse is a bit more complex. There's a point there where you're aware that this is not how it should be, and yet you do it. And the awareness may again be subliminal, some part within you knows, but on a superficial part, you're so overwhelmed with the wrong idea that you're chasing that you don't realise it. But somewhere inside you, you do know, which later when things go wrong and you look back and say, yeah, I did know, but at that moment, it was not in my consciousness.

Misuse is, always has a strong ego-desire drive which distorts. And generally if you look at that and if you have a reference of the clarity of your ego-desire, you can sense something is not okay and you could correct for it, at least detect it.

There will be subsequent to this, this would be more like foundations, a couple of more points which I would say would complete this foundational aspect. Not for all of us now, especially, but for those who are more into the wealth power aspect in their nature and temperament. For them, a one-pointed focus, concentration, sense of purpose, will-force directed to this is required because that's their swabhava, that's their distinctive character, nature, temperament, they are fulfilling their sense of purpose by giving a one-pointed focus to this.

So let's say you're one of those businessmen for whom this is your primary nature. Well you have to give it this one-pointed focus, concentration. Give the sense of purpose and the will-force directed to that. If instead of that you say, ah yes I have so much money, it's working fine, let me... and you direct to something else, enjoy myself.

I'm not saying the enjoyment is wrong.

It's the misdirection of your one-pointed focus in enjoyment which was wrong.

You should enjoy.

But when you misdirect the focus itself into enjoyment and you withdraw necessarily from the focus in building the wealth, you notice, oh, what happened, over the last two years, suddenly my sales have dropped, my product is no more so visible, or I have problems in my work with my workforce? Well, you started from the point you misaligned your energies, the problems began to creep in, you woke up to them too late. From the point you start correcting it, it’s going to take you perhaps another year to set things back on track. Isn't it?

So this was one of the things I saw in Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, the, the stockbroker that I mentioned earlier. In his office there was a big board and that said, and now paraphrase, if you cannot be in the stock market 24 hours, don't enter it. Meaning, if you cannot dedicate yourself fully to that, you're going to make heavy losses and full dedication, of course with competence but.

(1:10:29):

But the same principle applies to any other kind of growth of any capacity, work, mission, life purpose etc. There has to be this one-pointed focus. I've used four phrases:

one-pointed focus,

Concentration,

sense of purpose, and

the will-force.

Now there's important distinctions between these four, and I won't go into the details of it, I leave it to you to dwell upon these, think about what these four mean, internalise it to you particularly and to your context. You'll see they're all in some way connected but they're very distinct things.

But when you have it directed, and this can be applied since we're talking about wealth and power it's there that we're speaking of it, but you can apply this equally to the other aspects of powers, to knowledge, to research, to service, to various forms of skills, capacities, even if you're an artisan, a craftsman, a painter, musician, you have to have this kind of focus to do anything worthwhile. Isn't it?

So this would be one of the foundations.

And the last of these foundations which I will point to is recognising again from a spiritual point of view that this wealth-force-power is at its origin the spiritual power, you worship the origin of it of which you see this as a specialised embodiment.

So I will articulate this as:

worship,

love,

for the Shakti.

Now this ‘worship’ and ‘love’, both in the English language are very poor. The Sanskrit term is ‘bhakti’, again translated with another term which is very poor ‘devotion’.

Yes, something like that.

But ‘bhakti’ is this giving of yourself with adoration and love and devotion in a worshipful mood.

That's the sense of bhakti, so it's something much more complete and much more all-inclusive.

Of course, the heart's turn and opening is a strong part of it, but it's like this one-pointed hero worship, fanhood, if we may use other terms, this turning to, with love, worship, full devotion. That is bhakti.

And you have that to the Shakti of whom this is a specialised aspect, and you see the working of Shakti in this, or you use this to serve the divine Shakti.

One of these is required.

Which form?

Again it’s not so important, but somehow it has to be related to this Shakti.

And for this purpose to really appreciate how this works and its importance, I will again read from Sri Aurobindo’s, from “The Brain of India”. He's talking of the energy of the Divine Mother, the Shakti, and particularly the context of the, as the booklet is, “The Brain of India”, and the powers of the mind and capacity, and so on, and then he says:

“But certain races have the function more evolved or more ready for evolution than the generality of mankind”

So, the functions which are “ready for evolution”, you can read the text before.

The point is more what happens, so:

“In addition, the race has a mighty will-power”, now he is speaking of the Bengali race.

So, “In addition, the race has a mighty will-power which comes from the long worship of Shakti and practice of the Tantra that has been a part of our culture for many centuries.”

‘Tantra’ here refers to this again the worship of the Divine Mother in surrender, so not what the west understands by that word.

“No other people could have revolutionised its whole national character in a few years as Bengal has done. The Bengali has always worshipped the Divine Energy in her most terrible as well as in her most beautiful aspects; whether as the Beautiful or the Terrible Mother he has never shrunk from her whether in fear or in awe. When the divine force flowed into him he has never feared to yield himself up to it and follow the infinite prompting, careless whither it led.”

This is the part I wanted to highlight.

(1:15:37):

“As a reward he has become the most perfect ādhāra”-container or receptacle-“the most perfect ādhāra of Shakti, the most capable and swiftly sensitive and responsive receptacle of the Infinite Will and Energy the world now holds.”

Wow.

That’s a huge statement.

Think about it.

“the most capable and swiftly sensitive and responsive receptacle of the Infinite Will and Energy the world now holds”

And this is going back a hundred years.

May be things have changed, I don’t know.

“Recently that Will and Energy has rushed into him and has been lifting him to the level of his future mission and destiny.”

Again this is the part I want to highlight: that energy, “that Will and Energy has rushed into him and has been lifting him to the level of his future mission and destiny”.

Now comes the part of the work to be done:

“He has now to learn the secret of drawing the Mother of Strength into himself and holding her there in a secure possession.”

“possession”, possess her, but securely, not spilling.

“That is why we have pointed to a religious and a spiritual awakening as the next necessity and the next inevitable development.”

You see, necessarily because of this tremendous potential and especially the awakening which was happening in Bengal, which actually led India's freedom struggle for a great period of time even after Sri Aurobindo has written this.

There was a special attack started during British rule to try to subjugate the Bengali people by destroying their very foundations through education which work was completed subsequent to India's independence by the communist takeover which completely subjugated the minds of the people and pushed them down.

So all that he has described actually then happened for the next 20 years or so at least, maybe more.

But these key-phrases and these key-ideas I will re-read. So those who have these potentialities more evolved, they will lead the future evolution. That's very important.

“the race has a mighty will-power which comes from the long worship of Shakti and practice of the Tantra”-the self-surrender to Shakti-”that has been a part of our culture for many centuries.”

So it's a fact that on a collective level we inherit many of these things. On an individual level though we can build them and to that extent we also transmit them into our progeny, not always biological but psychological also.

And what it did, he said, was “revolutionised its whole national character” of the people “in a few years”.

And he says, “No other people could have” done this.

If not for this, it would not have been possible, of this “long worship of Shakti”.

And the worship of the Shakti in her “Beautiful” or “Terrible” aspect without shrinking in “fear” or “awe”.

And now comes the most important phrase:

“When the divine force flowed into him he has never feared to yield himself up to it and follow the infinite prompting, careless whither it led.”

So when the Shakti pours through, you don't worry about:

What will happen 10 years from now?

Will I have enough money? I need to start saving now and I must have at least 20 lakhs in my savings account in the next five years so that 10 years from now I will live on the interest. Meanwhile, the infinite Shakti, you'll have to wait till I earn that much.

You see how it works.

The infinite Shakti pours, you say, yes whatever is to be done, trust that you will be given the help, you will be given the resources as required, “As a reward he has become the most perfect ādhāra”.

And how?

The “ādhāra of Shakti, the most capable and swiftly sensitive and responsive receptacle of the Infinite Will and Energy”.

This is what we have to become.

And now when that “Will” and “Energy” rush into him, to lift you “to the level” of your “future mission and destiny”, well, you have to allow yourself to be lifted.

And you have “to learn the secret of drawing the Mother of Strength into” yourself “and holding her there in a secure possession”.

And this would apply to all four aspects. You hold the Divine Mother, draw her into yourself and hold her “in a secure possession”. And that's why the spiritual awakening is the most important, the next necessary and inevitable development for all of us.

(1:20:47):

You see, I have taken that text given in that context, but I have now generalised those principles for how we have to put it into practice among us.

He speaks of other things, the deficiency of the Bengali people and all that afterwards. Do read all that, study it, not all of it may apply to you for those specific elements but the principles apply to all of us and utilise it in that sense.

And so with this I kind of broadly cover the overall theme of what are the foundations for proper utilisation of wealth or the capacity, to developing the capacity to wield power of wealth or power itself.

In reviewing,

what you did or didn't do,

Did you make the effort?

Did you open new channels for inflow of income?

It's very, on a very practical level.

You know, when you call the wealth, of course the tokens will follow. But you can assist it by opening certain channels. Recognise the various forms in which the wealth or the abundance comes to you, in forms of affection, joy, fullness, bounty, friendship, heart warmth, plants, trees, flowers, lifeforce, comforts, various forms, that it could come in, but that's also the aspect of wealth and abundance, not necessarily the money power, but still it is the Mahalakshmi aspect.

Which is why you see in Feng Shui and some of these methods where they try to tap into that wealth by artificial means. One of the things they make you do is to place bamboo shoots in your office. Because the bamboo shoot grows very rapidly. Within a day it can grow a centimetre or so. And it's activated lifeforce, plant, which activates or attracts energy flow. But all these are indirect ways. You can attract this directly, isn't it?

You create a space where that energy flows. Of course, having plenty of plants around you would be a help because it brings a certain vibration close to that. So my point though is, it's already there around you in abundance in that plant life also. It doesn't have to be always in money tokens. So observe all this, enjoy the application of the wealth, the increase, radiate the joy that comes in the flow of the wealth and worship the Divine Mother as abundance around you. So, these are some indicators on a very practical level.

I am closing quickly because we are running out of time.

But I want to close with one very important idea.

As I said before, not all of us are built in nature for wielding wealth, nor is that necessarily the priority for our soul's choice in this life and the temperament in our nature.

And for those of us in whom it is not on a priority, you can live in abundance without necessarily learning to wield wealth. But your sense of that will be different and for each one it will be different in forms and degrees.

And here I offer a few guidelines for this, for those of us for whom this would be our way:

First, learn to live within your means whatever those means are, use them wisely, strategically to grow in the necessary requirement of comforts. Don't go fancifully, ah, here is a new model of a mobile phone, let me buy that, when this one is working just fine, isn't it? So especially with electronics, there's a rule, generally a rule of thumb, that electronics today are designed for a lifespan of about 5 years. So if you buy something, plan that you will not buy another to replace it at least for 5 years. And then you'll find so much of expenditure which is impulsive and forced into you by moods which sway you from lack of discipline of the vital and lack of discipline of the desire-nature. All those can be corrected, and you'll find actually you have enough to live within your means in a comfortable life.

(1:25:06):

Second, consciously let go of the false values and false financial targets. Like I said earlier, you're told you must save so much so that you'll have a comfortable life after so many years. No. If there's an economic crash, all your bank accounts will be wiped out. What will you do then?

So it's not about how much you will save. Well, if you can save, do save. But don't plan to save for the next 20 years and then do what you want to do.

Start by focusing on your primary aspiration and its fulfilment. Now, don't wait to do it later. That's when you're pushing away the wealth. When you start fulfilling your aspiration, your primary aspiration, and working on it, that will draw the necessary abundance to support what you're doing which is necessary, which is evolutionary. And with it, trust that the necessary wealth and comfort will come, what's necessary, not always excess. Sometimes you have excess, wonderful, but you will manage even if it is just what is necessary.

So focus on your primary aspiration, let go of the false values and financial targets. If you can afford them, fine, but do not chase after them as first in neglecting your primary aspiration.

Next, follow your swabhava in consecration to the divine. Whatever is your natural turn of your nature, that is your starting point. As your nature becomes more plastic and opens to other aspects, yes, it will enrich. But start with that which is natural, but turn that in consecration to the divine. What that means will vary according to each one. And you trust that the financial resources will come as needed as the circumstances unfold.

So don't plan too far financially.

Again, like I said, if you can afford, you're already earning so much that you can save, you must do that. Don't spend wildly. Save as much as you can. But when you don't earn enough to be able to save too much, well, trust. As long as you're following your deeper purpose, all that will be taken care of.

Where you can create local circles of sharing and resources. Get out of the money-based economy, because those are tokens, remember. The real wealth is in the shared resources. And like I said, the tree which gives a million apples, well, that's your abundance. Create local sharing circles. You share your apples, they give you their oranges and so on. And when we look at it like this in a collective community framework, shared resources, together we already have more than what we need and we have a greater abundance. We need to build these. The money-based system is designed to break these. When you rebuild these, you will not be dependent so much on the money tokens and therefore will be impervious to its manipulations.

So build these local circles of sharing resources, especially sharing of services and goodwill.

And Mother already gave us a hint about this. She said, the future is going to be not based on money, it will be based on some kind of a barter system, obviously supported by various tools that we are also developing through the internet and so on.

And she gave this indication with regard to Auroville. She said, eventually there will be no money exchange though transitionally provisionally there will be money exchange partially.

And it's a very interesting experiment to see how there's a particular facility which is called ‘Purtus’ and every time you have clothes, objects, electronics, things that you don't use, you say, okay I'm not going to use it, you give it there, and others walk in when they say, yes I need that I'm looking for this, they take that, and so there's a kind of a mutual exchange, you realise as a collectivity you have so much.

A quick example will be, you see when you have children, you have to buy clothes every two years as they grow you can't help it because their bodies are growing. You have to buy books and other toys for their suitable age growth. Much of it is unnecessary, but, well, given that that's part of the current requirement in schools, you go through all that.

And then what do you do with the old ones?

You throw them away mostly.

If you were to give them to somebody else who needs them, having taken the reasonably good care, the books can be in almost mint condition as you pass them onto others, you'll find, all the future generations don't need to buy books.

So what the books publishers do, they deliberately pay the government systems to change the books every few years so that you can't do this. They have exactly the same content but now it's a different book with a different author and so you're forced to buy again.

(1:30:00):

If you create these local circles, you come out of these manipulative structures, and you can have plenty. Once having bought the book, those books will last for the next five generations easily, at least up to a certain level of content.

So there are ways to manage this where we do not need to waste so much, and we do not need to have any lack as a community.

And Auroville is meant to be one of these spaces which will show how this can be done, but you don't have to wait for that, create your own spaces. And among your friends’ circles you'll find many things could be done.

So I think, with this I want to close this topic broadly.

Uh quick summary:

For those who want to or need to develop this, the means to develop the capacity to wield the power of wealth, and we've seen the overall framework foundations for this.

For the rest of us, changing our relationship with wealth itself will ensure that we will always have more than what we need, and even a comfortable abundance as required.

Focus on your growth without these subtle closures which prevent the wealth from flowing, and you will find the wealth flows, because the Divine Mother looks after you. It's not the universe, it's the Divine Grace and your soul's aspiration and call which creates the necessary conditions for things to flow.

And for those of us who have chosen our spiritual evolution as our primary objective, the place of wealth is essential, the utilisation of power as well as other aspects of the divine energy are necessary. And the worship, again I will, using the insufficient word, the ‘bhakti’ for the Divine Mother, the divine Shakti, the divine energy, is our primary link which makes possible the manifestation of all these possibilities within us, around us, and perhaps through us, into the part of humanity that we are able to influence.

I think, this would cover broadly what I wanted to share for today.

There are a couple of questions, but I can take them up either next time, blending it with the next topic perhaps. But I think, I've covered close the topic as far as was useful.

We can take a moment to concentrate, internalise, assimilate and choose in what way we want to put into practice in our own lives these things.

I would like to close with a quotation from the Mother where she gives a very strong affirmation about the future and the place of wealth. I'll just read from this. This is given on 6th of January 1955, and it is the day of “the Feast of the Epiphany”, which the Mother designated as “the festival of the offering of the material world to the Divine”.

And this is the message she gave:

“A day shall come when all the wealth of this world, freed at last from the enslavement to the anti-Divine forces, offers itself spontaneously and fully to the service of the Divine’s Work upon earth.”

And we can pray for this, to happen soon.

Namaste.