The Principle of Give and Take

Once, when an uneducated Indian returned after a two year stay in Iraq, he was asked how much he had saved. He replied: “I could not earn much but after spending on my daily expenses I managed to save 2 lakh rupees.” He was then asked the secret of accumulating money. He replied: “Brother, I have discovered that only when you reduce your needs can you save money.”

The secret to earning money is that one should work with patience, rather than following one’s own preferences. One should strive to achieve one’s goal while making concessions to others. To become wealthy means extracting wealth from others’ pockets. If you do not give any concessions to others, why would they give you the opportunity to take away their wealth from their pocket? The secret to possessing wealth is to kill your desires. One should follow the priorities of others rather than following one’s own. The same is true of other matters as well as religious matters. In this world a person has to work among many other people. He has to face challenges with patience. That is the reason why in this world success is possible only when one comes out of one’s self, ignores his own whims and fancies and finds his way by making concessions to external circumstances.

He must consider others along with himself. It is a reality that in this world a person, in terms of his desires, tastes and needs is acknowledged in the eyes of others only after the sacrifice of his own self.

Only after giving something to the world is it possible for a person to receive something in return from this world.