Renouncing is prayer. Renouncing is not to give away what you have. It is having and parting without the idea of having and parting.

Contentment is not a virtue. If man is content, progress of the society stops, man would not improve and the person will have to start enjoying poverty.

If you are content you would acquire less. You would not put forth efforts to acquire more. Some other person may be a very bad person would acquire more. With greater means such bad man may become a great menace to the society. In the circumstances you have a duty to acquire more. If there is contentment you will not acquire more and you may be a cause for bad people to wield greater influence.

I am advocating you to acquire a lot, to be rich, to have the best of the life and it necessarily means I am advocating you to be able to wield great influence. But at the same time I say that renouncement is prayer.

You are convinced that I am contradicting.

No I am not contradicting. You must have every thing including riches. But such riches should not be of any consequence to you.

Wealth should be like shoes. It is useful but deserves no respect. It is available to you but it cannot command you. It does not deserve the respect even to be refused and renounced. I don’t think I am communicating to you. I don’t think I am intelligible. I will tell a story.

Kabir and his son Kamal both were saints. Kabir was refusing to accept gifts while Kamal was accepting. King met Kabir and presented gift. Kabir refused. King was happy. King met Kamal. Offered a diamond ring. Kamal was ready to receive it. King started wavering as he was unhappy that a saint should accept gifts. Realising this Kamal told the King to leave the ring anywhere. King left it in a corner of the hut. 10 days later King returned to know what Kamal has done with the ring. Kamal asked king have you brought a new ring to be presented. King told ‘No I want to know what happened to my ring’, Kamal told check up it must be at the place where you had left or someone would have taken it. Ring was in the corner where it was left.

For Kamal wealth, money did not deserve the respect to be refused. He gave less importance to wealth than Kabir. Kabir was preoccupied with the notion that money is dangerous and should not be accepted. Thus Kabir respected money. To Kamal money did not deserve the respect to be refused. Ring was offered, it did not deserve refusal. When ring was left it did not deserve attention either to be used or to be taken care of.

It is difficult for us who are living in this society either to be as Kabir or as to be Kamal. We have to strike a balance. Earn more than required. Treat the wealth the way Kamal treated.

When wealth does not command you, when you command the wealth, when money or its requirement does not rule your life but you rule your life with whatever wealth you have, when having money or loosing money means nothing to you, you have offered your prayer. Your prayer does not require that you have to sit before the idol of the God and utter a few words, the prayer is complete when you renounce meaning that having or parting is of no consequence to you.