This is Real Richness

In Sanskrit, God is also called ‘Daridra-Narayan’, or God of the poor. Krishn embraced his poor friend Sudama and ate with extreme relish the dry beaten rice offered by him and left him richly endowed. Aman is poor not from materialistic possessions; he is really poor if he is devoid of knowledge, righteousness, charity and honesty.

Detachment from worldly things can make one look poor in the material sense, but such people exhibit richness in character and remain unshaken from their chosen path irrespective of material loss or gain.

Such persons deserve to be called karmayogis as defined in the Bhagwad Gita, ‘The karmayogi, who is content with whatever is got unsought, is free from jealousy and has transcended all pairs of opposites like gain or loss and is balanced in success and failure.’ According to Prophet Muhammad, ‘Riches are not from and abundance of worldly goods but from a content mind.’ Kabir has reflected similar thoughts as ‘Jab awe santosh dhan, sab dhan dhuri samaan’ —

All worldly riches are mere dust compared to contentment of mind. Real richness is, thus, self-contentment, which makes one happy. Contentment brings peace and satisfaction to one’s soul, leading one to believe in God. Contented minds deserve to be called rich even though they may, in aliteral sense, be poor having meagre worldly possessions.