Yoga-Vāsiṣṭha 1.13—Dangers of Wealth
Channel: Consciousness Research Centre
Date: 2017-08-21

This series is classified Ajata-vāda | Jñāna-yoga | Turīya | Sahasrāra-cakra

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“O sage, here wealth is reckoned a blessing, yet she is the cause of our troubles and errors. She bears away our peace like a river in the rainy season. All high-spirited simpletons are overpowered by her current. Her daughters are anxieties fostered by many a bad deed, like the waves of a stream raised by winds. She can never stand steady on her legs anywhere, but like a wretched woman who has burnt her feet, she limps from one place to another. Wealth is like a lamp that both burns and blackens its owner, until extinguished by its own flame. She is unapproachable like princes and fools, and likewise as favorable as they to her adherents, without scanning their merits or faults. She begets only evils in them by their various acts, as good milk when given to serpents serves to increase the strength of their poison.” — 1.13.1-7

“A rich man without blemish, a brave man devoid of vanity, and a master lacking partiality are the three rarities on earth. The rich are as inaccessible as the dark cave of a huge serpent, and as unapproachable as the deep wilderness of Vindhya Mountain inhabited by fierce elephants. Riches, like the shadow of night, overcast the good qualities of men, and like moonlight, bring to bloom the buds of their misery. Like a hurricane, they blow away the brightness of a fair prospect. Riches resemble a sea with huge surges. They bring a cloud of fear and error upon us, increase the poison of despondence and regret, and are like dreadful snakes in the field of our choice.” — 1.13.11-14

“I see no joy in uncivil prosperity, which is full of treachery and replete with every kind of danger and trouble. It is pity that prosperity is like a shameless wench who will again lay hold of a man who has abandoned her for her rival poverty. What is she, with all her loveliness and attraction of human hearts, but a momentary thing obtained by all manner of evil means, and resembling at best a flower shrub growing out of a cave inhabited by a snake, and beset by reptiles all about its stem?” — 1.13.11-14

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