Money Is Not Everything

Thu, 06/02/2014

Bangalore, India

Don’t give too much power to money. Money has its role to play.
It’s not just money that makes things work; people have power in their determination. Many of the big demonstrations that have happened in the world, big changes that have come through in the world, they didn’t happen through money.
When Mahatma Gandhi started this big movement in India, he didn’t do it because of money. It is a vision that takes you along. Money has its role to play, but don’t think money is everything. If you have a strong vision of doing something good to the society, I tell you resources will come all by itself. Nature will start helping you.
That is how we started The Art of Living. We had no money. When we began, we had 185 poor kids to feed and we had no money. We never worried about it for even one day, how is it going to come!
There was this school which would be shut down and these kids would be nowhere. They would be on the streets. We had to take them. Somehow things kept happening.
I had a manager who would run the school. I would keep traveling everywhere giving courses. One day, when there was nothing (no resources), some gentleman came out of the blue and he said, 'I want to give two bags of rice and a bag of dal', I said, ‘Welcome!’
Then someone else came. Like that everything started coming on its own. We could run the school.
Step by step, little by little we grew, and now there are about 40,000 kids who are studying. There were 185 kids and we had no place to keep them. We accommodated them in small homes and somehow we started the journey. We never sat and worried, or went to somebody begging, ‘Give us money', no!’ We believed that there is a power that will take care.

When our hearts are pure, our intention is clear and the work is good, resources will come. When it is needed, as much is needed, it will simply come. This is our principle in The Art of Living. And that is what has been happening all these years.

One day our manager said, ‘There is no money to pay the electricity bill.’ He was very hesitant to tell me. I just smiled and said, ‘No, no, it will come.’ By the evening somebody comes up with the money that is needed for the electric bill.
Everything kept happening like that. You will never be short of resources when you want to do something good in the society. This is our experience.

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