Sacrifice of Fame and Money

O Learned and Devoted Servants of God,

Swami Vivekananda gave an excellent discourse in Chicago and a roaring appreciation was given to him. He gave the credit of his discourse to his Guru Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He told that when he started the discourse, he became nervous and his Guru appeared before him. He told that his Guru started speaking through him. Like this he gave the entire credit to his Guru because he knows that when an excellent work is done, the credit should always go to the Lord. The energy to do a good work is always given by the Lord and so the credit should also really go to the Lord. The Lord was very much pleased and gave infinite credit to Swami Vivekananda. In the case of a saint, he cannot sacrifice money because he does not earn. He can only sacrifice his work. The fame of that work is the fruit of the work (Karmaphala Tyaaga). Thus, even a saint sacrifices the fruit of the work through the sacrifice of the work (Karma Samnyaasa). Shri Shirdi Sai Baba always used to give the credit of any miracle to the Lord only saying “Allah Malik” and “Allah Accha Karega”. This is again the sacrifice of the fruit of the work. The Lord was so much pleased that today the fame of Sai Baba is beyond description and we find temples of Hanuman everywhere.

But in Mahabharata when Krishna was running to kill Bhishma, Arjuna stopped Krishna praying that He will be defamed for not killing Bhishma. He did not want to give the credit to the Lord. Therefore, Arjuna was not so famous and there is no temple for him. This entire four are saints and are not householders. They can do only sacrifice of work that is Karma Samnyaasa and they can only sacrifice the fame, which is the fruit of their work. Today all the rich people are running for the fame by sacrificing money. Therefore, fame is more important than money. Urge for money and urge for fame are the two types of skin diseases. When the fame comes it should be given to the Lord because the power to do any work is given by the Lord only. One should take the defame on himself and should sacrifice the fame to the Lord.

Generally, one thinks that why should he give the credit to the Lord when the work was done by him. Similarly, one thinks that why should he give the fame to the Lord by the sacrifice of the fruit of his work that is money. Satrajit got a Gem from the Sun, which yields lot of gold everyday. He was donating that gold and was trying to get fame. Lord Krishna asked for that Gem. Satrajit did not give it because he does not know that Krishna is the Lord in human form. Even if he knows he does not want to give the credit to the Lord because he procured the Gem from Sun. Satrajit is a human being and is not discriminating between the deserved and undeserved. Therefore, he was attaining sin by donation. Actually, the Gem belongs to Lord Krishna including the Sun. Even Satrajit is included in this creation and the entire creation is the wealth of the Lord. Thus, Satrajit is a part and parcel of the movable property of the Lord Krishna.

Sacrifice of fruit of work and service to the world alone cannot bring you the grace of the Lord. The faith and complete surrender to the Lord in doing that sacrifice is important and that alone can bring the grace of the Lord. The sacrifice is the practical proof of your love, faith and surrender. Without the love, faith and surrender the sacrifice is useless. Without the sacrifice the love, faith and surrender expressed by words and mind is also useless. If you are sacrificing the money to the Lord aspiring something in return you are a merchant and you are doing business with the Lord. In such business love, faith and surrender cannot exist. If you are showing love, faith and surrender by words and feelings only for getting some benefit from the Lord, without sacrifice of money your love, faith and surrender are only action and you are a prostitute. You must sacrifice money or fame with full faith, love and surrender to the Lord without expecting any fruit from the Lord. That is only your real love which you were showing to your children.

You must decide whether the preacher (Guru) is a human being or the Lord in the human form. You must do lot of analysis on this. You must take the help of the Vedas, the Shastras and the Gita. Before you decide you must study the practical procedure of the analysis and then do the analysis to detect the given substance. If you have decided that he is only human being you should neither give money to him nor show love, faith and surrender. But if you have decided that He is the Lord in human form you should not have even a trace of doubt on Him. Once you submit Guru Dakshina to Him you must not verify His management of the collected funds. Since He is the Lord, you should not verify Him. If you are verifying the management of the funds in His case your faith is not complete and you have lost everything. The very beautiful, very learned, very rich and very obedient bride also is rejected even if there is a small spot of leprosy on her body. Similarly, the Lord in human form will reject you if you doubt Him even for a fraction of second. Before decision you can do lot of analysis. But once you decide and if you doubt you are lost as said in Gita (Samśayātmā Vinaśyati).

Sai Baba collected the Gurudakshina from various devotees since He is the Lord in human form. He has the courage to ask for it straightly. A devotee is not having that courage. He takes the dakshina from you indirectly by putting the ‘hundi’ before the statue and takes the money when you leave the temple. Both the Lord in human form and the committee of devotees manage the fund. But there will be lot of difference because the devotees are either completely ignorant or partially ignorant. A committee of donkeys cannot be one single horse. A group of lecturers cannot be one Professor. Therefore, a committee of devotees will misuse the funds since they cannot discriminate the deserving and undeserving. They will say “let all the devotees who visit the temple be given food. When the fund is misused, the donor also gets sin because he did not analyze before he donated. The Lord in human form will identify the deserving persons and help them fully. Saibaba collected the Gurudakshinas and was keeping all the money with Him only. When all the people left, He used to give it secretly to some deserving devotees. He did not do this before the devotees who gave Him the Gurudakshina. Why? Had he given so there would not have been some misunderstanding on Baba. Why did He not do like that? He wanted to test the full faith of the devotee who gave that Gurudakshina to Him. Sacrifice of money alone will not please the Lord. The faith in the sacrifice of that money will only please the Lord. An Income Tax Officer was secretly appointed to verify the expenditure of Sai Baba. He could not find the secret and he became a devotee.

The Lord neither requires your money nor the fame, which you sacrifice to Him. He can uplift the world without your work and without your money. This is only an opportunity given to you to prove your love, faith and surrender. When you sacrifice the money, you should believe that you are giving His money to Him only. When you are sacrificing the credit of the work to Him you should believe that He gave the force of the work only and so the real credit belongs to Him only. Hence, both sacrifice and faith are the two eyes and if any one eye is absent everything goes waste. If you have decided Him as the Lord in human form sacrifice the fruit of the work (money) and credit of the work (fame) with full faith. If you have any doubt about Him do not sacrifice anything to Him. But if you sacrifice and doubt, your faith is incomplete and you will be thrown into the Hell, if He is really the Lord.

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