Abundance

Once upon a time there was a poor young man who found an old lamp in an alley.  He rubs it and a genie appears offering him three wishes.  Each wish the youth makes is flawed in a way which makes the wished-for object no longer quite so desirable.  To retain any boon from the genie, the young man is tested in a way which leads him to give up the desire for easy riches in order to discover and attain his true desire.  In our quest for spiritual and material abundance, how can we balance our desire for a rich and fulfilling life with our spiritual path? 

As with so many spiritual dilemmas, we are confronted with a pair of opposites that are integral to each other, yet must be transcended to be understood.  Such a pair is Sacrifice and Abundance.  Life itself is based on these principles.  In his comments to the Bhagavad Gita, Swami Rama says, "If we do not give up the carbon dioxide and used up gases by exhaling, we cannot survive at all:  we must exhale in order to inhale.  In order to survive and receive, we must give up." (Rama, p.105).  Sacrifice and abundance are so ingrained in our physical lives that we would not think twice to reach out with our hand to break a fall that would injure our head.  Do we say to ourselves "how wonderful of our hand to suffer an injury to save our head?"  No!  Our hands and head are "one" in the context of our body and no such feeling arises.  Yet because we see the world and others as outside ourselves, we may hold back instead of extending a helping hand. 

Taking the idea of "holding back" to a more personal level - I saw Sri Karunamayi Ma last March and received a blessing in the form of sacred ash (vibhuti) that was energized for my child-to-be and the process of childbirth.  I was instructed to put a bit on my tongue morning and evening.  I felt an energetic connection to Amma and it became a pleasurable part of my meditation practice.  As time wore on, and the ash got lower in its little bag, I started to think that I might not have any left when it comes time to give birth!  So, I conserved.  Twice daily became every morning.  Then, I cut back to every other day.  Finally I realized how my pleasure at sharing those moments with Amma had turned into a nasty little weighing and measuring of her blessing and bounty!  I do this in my financial life too – instead of trusting that I will always have what I need (and actually knowing what it is I really need), I have a tendency to impulse-buy, based on a perception that what I purchase will somehow enhance my life.  Even though the result of this little quagmire is “spending” – the energetic effect is “hoarding” or, holding back on trust and love.

In a fit of synchronicity, a friend sent me Thomas Ashley-Ferrand's Healing Mantras.  The book fell open to a mantra for attracting abundance*!!  By invoking a mantra, we could potentially get into some slippery karmic territory, as does the receiver of the “three wishes.”  A “clean” way to ask the universe for a result is to consider what is beyond the pair of opposites.  In this case, (and many others!) the transcendental truth behind sacrifice and abundance is universal love.  Often, what we need to change in our lives is not to receive more material gain, but to adjust our relationship to abundance as our right, along with sacrificing some of our ideas of what it means to be fulfilled.  For me and my little vibhuti-hoarding problem, this meant accepting that Amma’s love and blessing will carry me well through my pregnancy and beyond.  The physical ash means nothing without a deep connection to the truth inherent in Love.  My doubts about having “enough” were stopping me from receiving the blessing which was already mine!  “All that we want, or will ever desire, already exists.  It depends upon our asking for it to bring it to the present moment, (Twitchell, p.15).”  One appropriate use of the mantra is to ask to align our desires with that of the universe.  Then, we will always receive our hearts desire!!

*Om Shrim Maha Lakshmi-yei Swaha.  A rough translation is:  Om and salutations to that feminine energy (Lakshmi) which bestows all manner of wealth.

----------------------References and Recommendations-------------------------------------------------------------------

Swami Rama, 1998.  The Perennial Psychology of the Bhagavad Gita.  Honesdale, PA:  Himalayan Press.

Twitchell, Paul, 1969.  The Flute of God.  Minneapolis, MN:  Eckankar Press.

For more details about the Hindu Goddess Lakshmi, refer to:  http://www.koausa.org/Gods/God6.htmlLakshmi

If you ever feel that your income is not quite enough, check out the Global Rich List at:  http://www.globalrichlist.com/, which graphically illustrates the worldwide distribution of wealth.  You simply plug in your annual income, and the site tells you where you rank among the world's richest people. An annual household income of $42,200 -- the U.S. median in 2001 -- is enough to land someone in the world's richest 1 percent, according to the site.