Needs Vs. Wants

Paramahamsa Nithyananda

-Staff

By Staff

Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 15:54

One man was doing rigorous penance in a jungle for God to appear.
God took pity on him and appeared before him. He told him to ask what he wanted.
The man was overjoyed and said that he was a landlord and had lost all his wealth and that he wished to become wealthy again.
God took pity on him and said that the following day, if the man ran from dawn to dusk, all the area covered by him would be his.
The Man was extremely happy.
The next day he started running even before dawn.
He ran as fast as he could.
Close to noon, hunger beckoned but he did not pay heed and kept running.
Early in the evening, thirst and fatigue gripped him but he was goaded on by the thought of the neighbouring landlord who owned many acres of land. Pictures of all his wealthy contemporaries came to him and he ran on.
A little before sunset, he felt giddy and weak but managed a few more steps.
At twilight, he faltered…and fell dead.

Most of the time in life, we feel tired and dissatisfied. This is because we are running behind our wants instead of our needs. We have been sent with enough energy to fulfill our needs. We don't need any more energy. If we stick to our needs alone, we will not have any problem. But what we do is, we develop many wants from what we see around us. We borrow all the desires of our friends, neighbours, relatives and make them our wants.

People ask me, "Swamiji what about our aspirations in our career? Is that also borrowed?" No, that is alright. In your career, as long as you don't run because some one else is running, it is alright! That is the difference I am trying to show you. Run with yourself, never with others. Try to better yourself every day with respect to your own performance the previous day. That will keep you immersed in your needs instead of in your wants.

Be Blissful!