                           HOW DEVOTION TO GOD BEARS FRUIT
             a talk mostly about 'right livelihood' - from Morning Talks
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          How can our devotion to God or the God-in-man bear fruit? First
          of all, we should earn our livelihood by the sweat of our brow
          and by honest means. We should not squeeze the blood of others
          knowingly or unknowingly. All of our actions should be above
          board, in which nobody's blood is squeezed. You should earn your
          livelihood honestly, maintain yourself and your family and at the
          same time share with others. Some part of your earnings must be
          given away for the good of others. History shows that one tenth
          of their income used to be given away by the old Christians,
          Hindus and others. Why? because some part of our income might be
          due to our not having done our duty very honestly, even for half
          an hour or ten minutes. Suppose for example, you are paid for six
          hours work and you have not put in a full six hours for the job
          but have wasted half an hour. So whatever you have been paid for
          in that half an hour is not yours. It has not been earned by you.
          This has been the custom with all Masters.

          Guru Nanak was once invited by a ruler of His time to a big feast
          in which all sorts of dishes were served. He did not attend the
          feast but instead went to stay with some poor fellow, Lalo by
          name, who was a carpenter and worked very hard to maintain
          himself. So Guru Nanak remained with him and ate his bread. The
          next morning, the ruler came to know that although Guru Nanak had
          come He did not join the feasting. He sent for Guru Nanak and
          said, "Well Nanak, you did not join my feast. Why?" Guru Nanak
          replied, "I came of course, but did not join your feast because
          it was served by squeezing the blood of others. I could not suck
          the blood of others and that is why I did not come." The ruler
          was enraged. Masters are not afraid to tell the truth in order to
          bring home to us what it is that we are doing. So the ruler
          demanded a proof from Guru Nanak that what He said was true. "All
          right," Guru Nanak said, "bring me some of the dishes that were
          served at your feast." The ruler had them brought and at the same
          time, Guru Nanak sent for the bread that He had eaten at Lalo's
          home. He put His left hand into the dishes served at the feast
          and His right hand into the bread brought from Lalo's home. He
          then squeezed both of them. The result was that drops of milk
          fell from the bread brought from Lalo's home and from the dishes
          served at the ruler's feast, there fell drops of blood.

          So if you want progress in your devotion to God, always earn your
          livelihood honestly. Our Master used to visit one Baba Kahan at
          Peshawar. I was then in my school life and I also used to go to
          him. Baba Kahan once went to our Master's office and said, "What
          are you doing?" The Master said jokingly, "Well, I am just
          preparing a bill." "For how much?" "For Rs. 4000.00." "Give it to
          me," said Baba Kahan. "I will give you two thousand if you like,"
          replied the Master. As it so happened, a war occurred in that
          area and our Master was detailed for duty. After a few months, He
          had earned about Rs. 2000.00. The Master then thought that he
          should go and visit Baba Kahan. Previously, He used to offer him
          Rs.10.00, but this time Baba Kahan said, "Well, look here, I want
          Rs. 20.00 this time." The Master said to him, "What, are you
          becoming greedy?" "Not the least," replied Baba Kahan, "I want
          the extra so that the poison may be taken away from your
          earnings. Before you earned less and I took Rs. 10.00, which was
          given away to the poor. I want Rs. 20.00 now only for the reason
          that you have got more money. Let it be shared with others."

          You follow me? So the first thing required is that the source
          from which your earnings is derived must be an honest one. If it
          comes from a source whereby somebody's blood is squeezed, how can
          you think that your mind will be pure ? You must live on your
          honest earnings. The second thing is that love knows no burden.
          Devotion to God does not mean procrastination. The lover of God
          works harder than other people because love knows no burden. Out
          of love he serves everybody. He does not become tired. Generally,
          when people sit for devotion, they sit for purposes of show and
          then say to themselves, "Oh I am so tired, let me lie down."
          Well, what's the good of it? This is show, you see. If somebody
          gives you even a glass of milk, he sends a debit to you and
          whether you have got money in your bank or not, you will become
          bankrupt. So be careful not to squeeze the blood of others. Your
          livelihood should be earned by the sweat of your brow. This is
          one thing if you want to be successful in your devotion to the
          God-in-man, or God. Further, anything which helps you to have
          sweet remembrance of God is a true ritual to be followed. If you
          go anywhere where you forget God, that place should be avoided.
          Just have a society or suchlike ritual in which the remembrance
          of God is boosted. Love knows no show. Love knows no burden. Love
          would not like to squeeze the blood of anybody. This is the stage
          to be reached in order to be successful in your devotion to God.
          Generally, people don't care for these things. So first, you must
          be active. You must stand on your own legs. Earn your livelihood
          by honest means, maintain yourself and your family and also share
          with others who are needy, naked or hungry. Generally it has been
          the custom in all nations to give one tenth of one's earnings.
          Secondly, if you love God, you must have love for all, as God
          resides in every heart. All are the children of God. These are
          the two things required in the way of devotion to God, which will
          give you success.

          If somebody else is looking after you and serving you, that will
          be debited against you. You will become bankrupt. If you have got
          money in your bank, that's all right, otherwise it will go
          against you. So first of all, to be successful in the worship of
          God you must earn your livelihood by honest means and by the
          sweat of your brow, by which you maintain yourself and your
          family, and share with others who are needy, hungry and naked.
          The second thing, is that you must be active and do such works as
          will flare up your love for God. All ceremonies, rituals and
          other things are blessed if they develop or flare up your love
          for God. Any action or engagement that causes you to forget God
          should be avoided.

          So this is the subject for today. Every day you get something
          different. These are helping factors for your success in
          approaching God. If some sincere seeker after truth who was
          living on the earnings of others came up to our Master, he was
          told to put in three hours meditation for himself and three hours
          more for those who served him. Nobody serves you without wanting
          something in return. So our Master asked those who were served by
          others to put in double the time for their meditations to be
          successful in the way to reach God.

          One man came here this morning (he happens to be a temple priest)
          and asked me how he should maintain himself. I asked him, "Well,
          you get some pay?" "Yes," the man replied, "but not too much." I
          said, "Well, if you do some work for somebody you are entitled to
          the pay, but don't live on offerings. If somebody offers
          something to God or to a temple, they want something in return.
          If you live on these offerings, they will be debited to you."

          So be very careful how you live. Even if nobody else sees what
          you do, He sees. You have to account for all of your actions. If
          you follow what has been explained to you today and put in
          regular time to your spiritual practices, you will succeed.

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