Acharya Prashant: The gold is not there to serve me. I am at the service of gold. The gold has to sit and I have to work for gold." Because, honestly, you do know which of these two is more valuable? Stone or gold? Gold. If gold is more valuable, then obviously, stone has to work for gold. Why will gold work for stone? Now, you know why people work for money and riches? Because they know that money and riches are more precious than their own being. So, it’s a logical thing to do. The worthless one has to work for the stuff that is worthy. You know inside of yourself that you are a worthless being. Therefore, you keep serving gold.
Wherever you find gold, you bow down to it. Wherever you find gold, you want to add it to your life. Why? Because, internally, you are just a worthless piece of stone. Would have been all right, had all of this added up to something worthwhile. It doesn’t add up to anything. If you have a little gold, then you are a servant to a little gold. If you somehow manage to accumulate a lot of gold, then you are a servant to a lot of gold. Which means the more you accumulate, the bigger servant you are.
You are working hard to deepen your servility. You are working hard to fetch more masters to rule over you. How intelligent is that? Ask, do your resources exist for you? Or do you exist for your resources? Good, simple, fun, but creepily unsettling question to ask. Do they exist for you? Do you exist for them? Are you the owner of your house or the guard of your house? Are you inside your kurta or is your kurta all over you? "Technically, these two are the same questions." Really? No, not at all. Are you inside that kurta or is the kurta upon you?
You have all heard that story, right? Sufi’s story, Junaid’s, “Junaid and the Cow”. So, why should I narrate it if all of you already heard it? Somebody has to say that he hasn't.
