We love to possess things!
You are going away for a few weeks and you need to lock your house down. Do you know what it takes to shut and secure every little thing in the house?
It’s a very lengthy preparation when you are away for some time. You get your stuff in order. Pay off all your pending bills including your electricity and phone bills. Your news vendor needs to be told about not dropping them during that time. Your milkman or egg/ fish vendor, if you have one needs to be informed. Your car has to be serviced and charged up, otherwise the battery won’t come alive when you return.
Your doors and windows are secured. Your fridge has to be emptied and your water mains and electrical mains have to be shut down. Your gas connection has to be disconnected and kept away.
If you have kids, you have to take leave of absence from school or college if you are going during the class times. Vacations are different since the occasion is joyous in most cases, you prepare a truck load of eatables and stuff to stay in. Clothes of various types should be packed with additional garments thrown in for any emergency. Different kinds of liquids and solid preparations too like cosmetics and medicines should be packed.
Were you feeling tired just reading about all of the above? Aren’t you doing this all the time or at least some of it? We carry our world with us when we go somewhere. Right from toothbrush to shoes, passports to travel documents. Yet, we seem to forget some silly stuff all the time. The usual regret is we wish we had sufficient time to pack and hope to do so the next time around.
Our world is full of stuffs that we carry around all the time. It seems that every little thing is so important to us to stuff it in our life. Too many nicknacks to huge buildings and parcels of lands which become our neck pieces in the entire lifetime.
You struggle so much to put together a fantastic property or a house and soon you find that you cannot enjoy that. Sometimes you have to spend more than you can imagine just to keep it running or in good condition. Take the case of a royal property which is currently a five star hotel, the amount of money needed for its upkeep is insufficient even after taking in guests. The beautiful property has gone to the dogs. You can find similar instances in literally every corner of the world. Abandoned cottages and hillside properties, beach resorts or island gateways are all part of the same disused and dilapidated places.
When we acquire certain things, we don’t think through the future. We believe that we will be able to take care of it forever. But nothing lasts forever. Someday you have to give up and get going. Nothing will stay put the way it was.
So the question is- why does a man acquire things which he cannot handle? Why should a man be so full of worldly desires? Is it necessary or absolutely needed for a human being, that he keeps on getting things?
Two cases I shall give of sages who just left and vanished because they were tied up to their posts or positions. One was the sage of Rishikesh called Swami Sivananda of the Divine Life Society and the other is Swami Chinmayananda. They refused to be tied down by material worldly stuff and walked away. With acquisitions comes big responsibilities and man is incapable of handling these. Look at all the great hoarders of properties or companies. These become unwieldy and they are unable to handle them. Soon everything goes to ruins.
So before you start acquiring stuff, just think a little bit and understand the reasons for going after it, be it spouse, property, money, children, fame or anything worldly. Everything comes with strings attached. You will have to pay the full price. You will have no energy or power to carry it through. So then the question that should arise in your minds is- why run after them?
Live a frugal life where you needn’t acquire or possess anything. You came in this world stark naked without any possessions so live like that. Not naked but with minimal possessions. Don’t look at your parents, siblings, kids or spouse as your possession. Don’t think that you were born into money or properties or as they say- with a silver spoon!
Keep your possessions to the minimum. Don’t hoard stuff which you will never need. Be generous if you have a lot. Give it to needy and be gracious about it. Don’t take credit for anything and everything. Give graciously and with a big heart. Stop hoarding things, otherwise you will have to pay more than you ever imagined for.
When you don’t have, you don’t have to secure it. When you have nothing, you are a free person with minimum cares. Be free!
Image Credit: Pixabay
