Beware of Greed!
The monster, greed!
Greed is the desire to possess more and more. There is no satiation point in greed. It is like feeding the fire with fuel. The more you try to please the greedy mind; it will seek more and more. The best way of quenching a fire is to stop feeding the fuel. Yes, greed is more devastating than the fire. The fire at least subsides once there is dearth of favorable circumstances. The heat, the wind and other combustible materials aid fire. Once water is poured or when there is a shower of rain, the fire slowly subsides. But a greedy mind always hankers for more and more even if the wants are satisfied.
We have plenty of examples which reveal the nature of greed. When one lacks basic necessities of life, his main aim would be to get food and shelter. When that is satisfied, he will not keep quiet. He will compare the life of affluent people with that of him. This motivates him to earn more and more by hook or crook. Greedy people will not adhere to righteous ways of earning. It is only due to greed that corruption and other evils proliferated in society!
Though there are lot of people stricken with poverty, the affluent people never compares their life with those who are utterly poor. There is an axiom. “Count your blessings”! But how many of us count our blessings. It is normal in the worldly life that none possess both wealth and peace. Mostly, the wealthy persons are deprived of their peace due to some lacuna in their life. He may not have progeny or his children will squander his wealth. Though he might have earned it due to his sweat of the brow, the children are mostly irresponsible. Even if you have both wealth and good children, there will be some incurable diseases to him or to his kith and kin. It is the decree of god that every one in the world lacks some thing which prods him to introspect. This kind of introspection will lead him to saintly personalities. Hence god has created wealth and poverty, illness and health, happiness and sorrow, birth and death and sane people and insane people. There is always an inner war that goes on in every one’s mind. These agitations ultimately take one to Truth or wisdom.
After undergoing continuous troubles and sorrow in life, man seeks the help of Divine. By the grace of god, he will come across holy and saintly people who will guide him regarding the reality of spiritual truths against the impermanent earthly life. After many such experiences undergone in many previous births, man slowly turns his attention to god, truth and righteousness. He understands that the senses led him to astray. He slowly turns his attention inwards through contemplation and meditation. He too realizes that every thing about the phenomenal world is illusion. He should never rely upon his mind enslaved by the faulty senses. When one thus escapes from the clutches of the senses, he realizes the immanence of god in every being and in every thing. He understands that every thing is His will and nothing moves without His will. He realizes that the sufferings he had undergone is really the consequences of his own misdeeds and god has no role in it. God, while granting freedom of thought to man had decreed, “Whatever man does will ultimately recoil upon him. If he had done good deeds, he would reap good results. If he had committed bad deeds, he has to face the consequences without fail.
Hence the proverb, ‘sow mango, reap mango’. Having sown the bitter seeds of margosa (neem), how can you expect mango fruits?
