Prosperity not Austerity
By
Karmayogi
A widow with two sons was pious. A
relative of hers came forward to take her and her younger son into her
household. Her piety did not save her husband's life but secured her this
asylum. The elderAon remained with the husband's family that was less than poor.
Of course, she could not even wish for her relative to offer to support the
elder son too.
Both the boys were dull. The elder failed in the 8th
standard a second time. The school refused to allow the boy to continue there.
The destined path was clear. The boy must earn his livelihood from then onwards.
The lady's prayer was in the form of vrata, sloka, fasting on Mondays and on
every auspicious day. The days rolled on slowly. The austerity of the lady
increased in intensity. The elder boy joined another school without missing a
year and passed the next two classes in the first year, but failed in
SSLC.
An unheard of help came unsolicited. Herculean efforts were made to
see him through SSLC successfully. She was introduced to a benevolent angel, the
daughter of the chairman of an automobile producing company. On hearing of the
unfortunate boy's ardent efforts and the various helps he had attracted, this
angel secured this poor specimen of a boy a good job in the premier company over
which her father presided. The boy himself used to be sorry for his mother's
frequent fastings. Her other son too settled well. She alone knew the rewards
her austerities had brought her.
Whether the austerities are practised by
yogis on a bed of nails or by ladies at home, they are powerful and yield the
results aimed at. Mother says austerities mortify the flesh to stir the deeply
buried soul. They are meant for the child-soul. Mature souls seek spiritual
prosperity, which is not a mere release of the soul, but an evolution of the
Spirit, a flowering of the Soul. For the householder, the difference between
austerity and prosperity is that one solves problems while the other attracts
higher opportunities. In an atmosphere where opportunities sail in, problems
find no soil to strike roots.