Page 256 - Mystic Pathways through the Bible
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250 Mystic pathways through the bible
the very same attachment that will not allow the person to progress on the spiritual path. As long as you are attached to the objects of the world, as long as you are proud of possessing things, and as long as you are internally caught up in entanglements, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
External or material prosperity is not healthy unless it is accompanied by internal prosperity. Unless your material success is accompanied by the development of Divine qualities within your personality, it is not healthy prosperity. People can become externally rich without having any inner wealth at all. If so, they are certainly not prosperous in any real sense.
If you burden a donkey with sandalwood, the donkey doesn’t enjoy the sandalwood. It simply becomes a burden. Similarly, if a greedy person acquires an abundance of wealth and he does not have sublime intentions for that fortune, that abundance is the same as a burden of sandalwood on a donkey’s back. What many wealthy people feel during their lifetime is the intense pressure from their wealth— the burden. After carrying that burden, they depart, leaving the load for somebody else to carry. Can that be called prosperity?