The Snob and the Spirit
By Karmayogi
‘‘I have
worked hard and sincerely all my life but am still at the bottom.''
‘‘I am always successful, but the results go to
another.'' ‘‘Everyone cheats me, who am totally
honest.'' These are statements we often hear. There are many more
such descriptions. Most of them are negative, as life in general is negative. Occasionally
we hear a positive statement: ‘‘I have not done anything special
wherever I have worked, but unseen help from all quarters used to come. Now, as
a result, I am presiding over this organisation.'' There are
several such positive statements, but there are not many examples in our
experience. The truth is that the outer reflects the inner. People consult
their horoscope and console themselves. Those who look down upon their
inferiors and those who are servile to their superiors are called snobs. The
latter are called yes men, tale bearers, sycophants.
There was one such man attached to a well-to-do family. This man is honest,
sincere, hard working, but a personification of a snob. He will be in his
elements when he is by the side of his rich friend. He resigned his government
job, ran a small establishment for his superior, and earned a huge amount in
one year. The rich friend was quick, anxious to remove this snob on some
pretext, lest he should claim part of the profits later. He successfully pushed
out the snob. The man was on the street. Life rewards not for your work, but
for what you are inside. The snob went to another man who generously helped him
unconditionally. The snob cheated his benefactor not of his capital, but his
profits. He moved to a third man with the enormous profits earned in the second
venture. Very soon both were utterly ruined to their own amazement.
It never occurred to the snob that the latent dishonesty in him was the cause
of the betrayal by his first partner. His second partner used to tell him
often, ‘‘After all, one day you will return to your old friend who
betrayed you.'' The snob used to be annoyed. All that took place in
less than five or six years. Now that life has taught the snob its lesson,
though he has not learnt it, he shamelessly returned to the man who grossly betrayed
him. Not only that, while in the presence of the rich man, the snob feels an
exultation as of old. The Spirit responds to a well-formed personality of
self-respect.