There is a story from India of two disciples who each would boast that he was greater than the other. One day their Guruji told them: “Go together to such and such place, through such and such forest, and be good boys.” He gave them a certain work to finish there and added, “But on the way, keep away from women,” because they were brahmacharis or monks. In the forest at one point there was a big stream and a woman was trying to cross. She had some luggage and her strength was not enough for the force of the water. One disciple went across but the other one got compassionate and sympathetic and thought to help her. The only remedy was to take her hand and lead her across and, poor chap, he did that. The woman was thankful and went her way. Then he tried to catch up with the other disciple who was now nearly running. The “fallen disciple” (in the eyes of his co-disciple) eventually caught up and asked, “Whatever happened to you, friend? You wouldn’t even wait?” The other disciple said, “You don’t remember what Guruji said? Don’t talk to women. You are even touching them!” He replied, “You are still carrying her in your mind. I left her there.” Although his friend didn’t touch the woman or talk to her, still he was carrying her and the hatred of his friend in such a way that his mind was more polluted than the one who helped her and forgot about it.

IN ANOTHER STORY, Mother Parvati’s two sons, Ganesha and Kartikeya, both used to boast that he loved his mother the most. One day their father, Lord Shiva, said: “Come on, let’s prove it. We’ll see who goes around the world and comes back first.” Ganesha is wise but his vehicle is a mouse and it could not travel as fast as his brother’s peacock. Kartikeya was sure he would win the race and prove that he was the greatest devotee of Mummy. He hurried up and in the twinkling of an eye circled the globe to defeat Ganesha. But when Kartikeya came back he found Ganesha already there. He asked him, “You didn’t even go?” Ganesha said, “I did go.” We are talking about spirituality and spiritual materialism. Kartikeya asked, “How did you arrive earlier than me on this mouse?” Ganesha replied, “I just went around my Mother. She is my world.”²
      If your focus is on God, on your Guru, and you help someone in distress, no one is going to blame you. But if you are trying to help someone in order to have a romantic touch, you are being a spiritual materialist. It is one thing to do good to someone but if you want to prove you are good, that is spiritual materialism. If an ordinary person is selfish and a spiritual seeker is also selfish, then the world will blame whom? It will certainly blame the spiritual seeker. If an ordinary man is position-mongering and a seeker is also position-mongering, if an ordinary person is greedy of money and a spiritual seeker is greedy of money, if an ordinary man is dying for self-image and a seeker is also dying for self-image, whom would you blame more? If an ordinary man deceives and a spiritual seeker also deceives, if an ordinary man blames others for his wrong doing and the seeker also blames not only others but his Guru for his wrongs, who will go to hell first? So, you should understand that spiritual materialism cripples us. In the process of seeking, of working with the mind and the subconscious, all these things crop up. It is up to us to search for what is genuine.

² Divine Mother in Vedic wisdom is symbolic of prakriti or the entire creation.
Photograph: © Aleksander Bochenek/Dreamstime.com.