This Bank and That
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, in these divine words uttered 45 years back, extols the importance of growing our account in the spiritual bank vis-a-vis the material bank.
Among the four goals of human existence—dharma (Righteousness), artha (material welfare), kama (desire), and moksha (liberation)— if man pursues only the middle ones neglecting the first and the last, he is bound to land himself in ruin. For dharma, the first, is the path and moksha, the last, is the goal. Artha and kama are to be guided and controlled by the dictates of dharma and the need of attaining moksha. They have a place, however, in the process of living, for artha won through dharma has to be used for the kama to attain moksha (moha-kshaya or the decline and destruction of attachment.)
To [King] Dasharatha (endowed with the ten chariots, or senses, the five jnanendriyas (senses) and the five karmendriyas (actions)) four sons are born: Rama (dharma), Lakshmana (artha), Bharatha (kama), and Shatrughna (moksha) [in the Hindu epic Ramayana]. Since the three brothers followed the eldest, that is to say, since the role of dharma was dominant, the Ramayana ended in triumph. You must follow Rama or dharma in preference to everything else.
In order to give some relief to the bhaktas (devotees) who come here and who are here, and to provide them facilities for bringing and keeping the moneys needed for their upkeep, the State Bank of India planned this office. Their keenness to be of service has made them get through all the preliminaries in a very short time. They were also eager that I must inaugurate the branch. Hence, they waited till today because I was away for some weeks at Coorg, Madras, Kodaikanal, and Madurai (cities in South India), and I returned only toward the end of last month.
Perhaps the date of the inauguration of this branch got postponed so that you could hear another good news: Prasanthi Nilayam (Baba’s residence and ashram in Puttaparthi) has been granted the status of a township. This is noteworthy as it is a place of great importance, attracting people of all religions and all professions from all parts of India and overseas.
Here, in this bank, you deposit the money you have earned so that you may have security, so that you can put it to better use. In your distress, you can rely on it to help and come to your rescue. You have earned it as a result of a lot of physical effort put forth by the bank’s employees, in the hope that it will give you peace of mind and joy, contentment and calm.
But there is something else that is more desirable than asthi, which means property, possessions, and riches. If you have that property, you become an asthi-ka, a theist, a believer, and a candidate for self-realization. That property consists of good deeds, good words, and good thoughts. It will fetch you not the comforts and luxuries that satisfy the trivial cravings of the senses, but the joy that will quench the hunger of the spirit. Ordinary property is subject to depreciation; it will change hands, and its value may rise or fall. But the property of spiritual progress suffers from none of these defects.
In this bank, there may be a lot of money, but you can draw only what you have deposited and what stands in your name. They won’t give you credit for more than that, unless you have satisfied them of your credit-worthiness by consistent honesty and scrupulously clean dealings. In that other bank where you deposit the good that you do and speak and think, the same rule applies: you will get credit only up to the actual merit that you have acquired. You may get a little overdraft now and then, provided you are consistently good and contrite.
No person can draw on another’s account in this bank; so, too, in that other bank; each has to stand or fall on the basis of his own past and present achievement. The son cannot bank on the father’s punya (fruit of good deeds), or the wife on the husband’s. Each jivi (individual being) has its own destiny, its own accomplishments, and its own profit and loss account, with its own balance sheet. Like food, which each one must take individually to appease his own hunger (there is no vicarious appeasing of hunger possible), each has his own separate account with God that he alone can operate.
The manager [of the bank] may be your friend, he may sympathize with your position, but he cannot help you beyond your own balance, isn’t it? So, too, God is impartial. He has allowed you to shape your destiny yourself utilizing the endowment of intelligence, detachment, and discrimination (viveka, vairagyam, and vichakshana) that He has made for you. You succeed or fail according to the use you make of this capital; He (God) is not affected one way or the other.
If you have no earnings now, you can approach the bank for a loan on the mortgage of the land property that has come down to you from your parents or grandparents. That is why you see many people who though are not earning any credit with God by good deeds, words, and thoughts are still seemingly happy; they have mortgaged the merit of previous births, and when that has been spent, they will be rendered indigent because they are reluctant to earn now for securing a good and joyful life.
The dhanam (wealth) that you should earn and accumulate and guard carefully is spiritual wealth. You may know that (Lord) Krishna addresses Arjuna (one of the Pandava kings in the Indian epic Mahabharata) as Dhananjaya. Krishna uses that name many times in the Bhagavad Gita. But the word does not mean `he who acquired money’; it means `he who amassed spiritual wealth’ for Krishna would never appreciate a mere seeker after wealth in such terms.
How do you too win that title, Dhananjaya? [You do] By developing sahana, (fortitude, ability to stand the buffetings of both success and failure) and prema (love of all beings). Mere money can be collected by many even by beggary or by dealing in the black market. That is not a laudable achievement. Earn the currency that is accepted in the bank of God, that is minted as every word, thought, and deed, and that bears the stamp of bhakti (devotion) and shraddha (faith). It is called virtue. It is present as satya (truth), dharma (righteousness), shanti (peace), and prema (love).
Such virtue will make your money still more precious. By developing simple habits and simple virtues, you will be helping the country as well as yourselves. I bless this branch of the State Bank so that it may grow more and more useful to the people who reside in this area, and who are in need of its services.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Aug. 1966
