THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12 The ...

52 THE DHAMMAPADA: THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA, VOL. 9-12
Question 7
BELOVED MASTER, IS IT TRUE THAT MONEY CANNOT BUY HAPPINESS?
Anando, yes, it is true. Money cannot buy happiness but it makes misery more comfortable. That’s why I am
not against money, I am all for it. It is better to be comfortably miserable than uncomfortably miserable. I have
lived in poverty and I have lived in richness, and believe me: richness is far better than poverty.
Enough for today.
The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol. 9
Chapter 7 How sweet it is
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TO HAVE FRIENDS IN NEED IS SWEET AND TO SHARE HAPPINESS. AND TO HAVE DONE SOME-
THING GOOD BEFORE LEAVING THIS LIFE IS SWEET, AND TO LET GO OF SORROW.
TO BE A MOTHER IS SWEET, AND A FATHER. IT IS SWEET TO LIVE ARDUOUSLY, AND TO
MASTER YOURSELF.
OH HOW SWEET IT IS TO ENJOY LIFE, LIVING IN HONESTY AND STRENGTH!
AND WISDOM IS SWEET, AND FREEDOM.
Gautama the Buddha does not talk about God, but he talks about love, freedom, truth, authenticity. He talks
about the essential religion. He does not waste his breath on heaven and hell, the theory of reincarnation. He is
absolutely unconcerned about the so-called great metaphysical problems. He is non-metaphysical in a sense, very
down to earth. He means business. He wants to give you a science which can transform your life. He is interested
in creating an alchemy of inner revolution so the baser metal can be changed into gold. His religion is unique, in
a way.
There are three types of religions in the world. Jainism is the only religion which is emphatically atheistic. It
denies God and raises man to his ultimate peak. It declares that man is God and there is no other God. Except
Jainism, all other religions Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity are theistic. They are rooted in the idea of
God; without God they will be at a loss what to do. They are at a loss because since Nietzsche declared ”God is
dead,” humanity, by and by, has agreed with Nietzsche. His statement became very prophetic; it represents the
twentieth-century mind. And the religions which have depended on the idea of God for centuries feel uprooted.
They are dying, withering away.
Buddha is unique. He is neither atheistic like Jainism, nor theistic like other religions. He is a superb agnostic.
He says there is no need to worry about unnecessary things. Think of the essential, think of the intrinsic, and
don’t be bothered about the accidentals.
If you are authentic, if you are compassionate, if you are meditative, then if there is a God he will come to you;
you need not go in search for him. And if there is a paradise it will descend in your heart. There is no need to be
bothered about such abstract ideas; they simply waste your time. And if you are not authentic, not meditative,
not compassionate, not wise enough, even if you come across God what are you going to do? You will feel a
little embarrassed and God will feel a little embarrassed facing you. You both will be unnecessarily in a strange
situation what to say, what to do, what not to say, what not to do. You would like to escape and he would like
to escape.
Just think: if suddenly you come across God, what will you do? You will run away from him as fast as you can!
Rabindranath has a beautiful parable. In one of his poems he sings: I searched for God for many lives. I
saw him sometimes far away on a star, but by the time I reached there he had left the star long before; he was
somewhere else. He was always somewhere else and I was chasing him. The very adventure was beautiful; I was
enjoying the thrill of it.
And then one day I happened to reach his home. For a moment I was ecstatic that I had arrived, but the next
moment I became very sad. Standing at his door I was just going to ring the bell, but my hand became frozen.
I thought for a while, ”If I ring the bell and he comes out, then what? Then what am I going to do? And after
that whom am I going to search? All is finished! My whole past has been nothing but a search for God; it was
meaningful because of the search. If the search disappears, all meaning will disappear.”
So Rabindranath says, ”I descended back from his steps. I took my shoes in my hand so that he would not
hear that somebody had come. Otherwise, who knows? He may simply open the door and he will say, ’Come in!’
And then I ran away from the place as fast as I could.
”And again I am searching for God, and now I know where he is so I avoid that space only and I search
everywhere else, knowing perfectly well that I am not going to meet him there and my search can continue. I can
go on hoping and desiring and deep down I know the whole ridiculousness of it because he is just by the corner;
I can reach his home any moment.”