Page 58 - Mystic Pathways through the Bible

d
52 Mystic pathways through the bible
to you (the ego self); it belongs to a Divine Plan, it belongs to God. Any form of egoistic assertion of “I-ness” and “mine-ness” is a form of stealing. The Gita states that you are a thief if you enjoy objects of the world for the sake of your ego without remembering God, without invoking God in your pleasures, without recognizing that it is actually God, not the objects, Who is the source of joy. You are stealing things that do not belong to you.
Thus, as you advance on the spiritual path, you begin to practice a higher level of asteya. You no longer consider even your body or limited personality to be your own. When you have understood this Truth in the depths of your being, you have attained the highest form of perfection in asteya.
What Is True Prosperity?
It is only due to ignorance that you feel that an object will give you happiness. Objects that belong to others cannot really give them permanent happiness, any more than they can give you perpetual happiness. The idea, “I will become happy if I have that,” is a falsehood. Greed is a modi cation of that indulgence in falsehood. Since you are unable to understand that happiness does not dwell within objects, you develop the greedy desire: “May I have more and more.”
A rich man, whose millions multiply his worries a millionfold is not really prosperous. His mental