Question 5

QUESTIONER. I HAVE AGAIN A SMALL QUESTION IN REGARD TO SUDAMA. WHEN SUDAMA CAME TO KRISHNA, HE WAS GIVEN ALL THE WEALTH OF THE WORLD AS A GIFT. HOW IS IT THAT KRISHNA DID NOT THINK OF HELPING HIS INDIGENT FRIEND EARLIER?

In this world you have to search for and find everything you need; nothing is given gratis. God is everywhere, and it is not that he is not aware of your sufferings. But you have turned your back on him -- and you are free to do so. This much freedom you have that you can choose him or deny him. Now if you turn your face to God and find him, can you complain why he did not seek you before you sought and found him? If you complain, God will say that it would be a trespass on your freedom if he forced himself on you without your asking.

Freedom means that I am entitled to find what I seek and not that which I don't seek. And remember, nothing in this world is had without seeking. Seeking is a must, and it is part of your freedom.

Sudama's difficult material condition is not the question; his freedom is the real question. Sudama could refuse Krishna's generosity. And I believe Sudama would have refused if Krishna had offered to help him on his own. It is not necessary that Sudama should accept. And there is also the question of Sudama's preparations to deserve it.

All these events have deep psychological meanings. We can find what we seek only after we have done everything to search for it. Without seeking and searching you cannot find even something that is Lying at arm's length. Seeking is the door to finding. The mere poverty of Sudama won't do, he is not alone, there are many who are as poor. And it makes no difference to Krishna whether Sudama is poor or someone else is poor; what makes a difference is that Sudama. in spite of his poverty, came to him to give and not to take. This man deserves to be rich. It is his capacity to give that brings about the transformation in his fortune.

Everyone is responsible for what he is. And everyone has to begin his journey of transformation as an individual, on his own. No one else can walk for him. And once he is started on his journey, all the forces in existence come rushing to his aid. If a person chooses to be poor, he will receive every help from existence; he will find around him everything that is necessary to make him poor. If another person chooses to be ignorant, existence will cooperate fully with him, so that he remains ignorant. And if some body else decides for knowledge, all the avenues of knowledge will become available to him.

In this world we only find that which we seek. Our own desires and longing and prayers come back to us, just like our own sounds are echoed back by the hills and valleys. If you explore the whole psyche of a poor man, you will be surprised to find he has done everything necessary to remain poor; poverty is his choice. Outwardly he may complain against his condition of poverty, but inwardly he is not only reconciled to it, he is at ease with it. If by chance his poverty disappears he will begin to miss it. Similarly an ignoramus is content with his ignorance, and he does everything to protect it. If you try to remove his ignorance he will not only resent it, he will defend it with all his strength.