Yoga does not believe in prosperity, because prosperity is no guarantee of happiness. You know that in the world today there are many affluent people. Affluent nations have the largest number of heart attacks, cancer and mental problems. We find the largest number of divorces in affluent and prosperous countries.
First of all, it is important for yoga minded people not to strive for prosperity. I read in the Bible, ‘It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven.’ Therefore, the happiness of a yogi should not depend on the bank balance. Money is necessary, wealth is necessary and a job is necessary in order to survive in this cruel society, but they are not necessary for your inner happiness.
In the olden days, Christian monks took a vow of self- imposed poverty. A few of them practised that poverty and became enlightened, but mostly they did not practise it, as you know. In the same way, in Buddhism also, the monks, the bhikshus had to practise poverty. In the Hindu religion they are asked to practise self-imposed poverty.
This is a practice by which you come to experience that happiness is an independent experience. You should not think that you are happy because you have wealth and prosperity or that you are happy because you are educated. Happiness is the nature of the soul. It is independent of external things and in order to bring the world to a uniform pattern, it is important to encourage the philosophy of simplicity.
There is an old saying – ‘Simple living and high thinking.’
The other side of this is, ’Complicated life and complicated thinking.’ Throughout the world that you see today, living is very complicated and therefore the thinking is also very complicated. Many people get into complicated thinking and they cannot get out of it. They commit suicide or they get into this complicated thinking and go on committing crimes or they go on having this complicated thinking and then they go on drinking and drinking and forgetting everything.
They cannot think of becoming a swami. They will drink twenty four hours. They will go from one nightclub to another nightclub, from one beach to another, from one island to another, but they will not think of becoming a swami because they do not want simple living. The life of a sannyasin is the simplest form of living. A householder can emulate this example in his life. Responsibilities, duties, obligations and commitments do not stand in your way to happiness.
13 May 1984, Toulon, France