I heard this story from my guruji and thought would share it with the readers.
In his younger years, my guruji was travelling to Uttarkashi and during one of his pilgrimage, he encountered a Sadhu with whom he had a long conversation on what causes greed in human beings, how to get rid of greed, how to free the soul from excessive hankering of material objects, avarice, wrath and always craving for more and more.
Image used for reference to a “sadhu”, the said person is not the actual sadhu referred in the conversation below.
Guruji – What causes Greed in human beings?
Sadhu – Habit. Man is a creature of habit and habit alone. Greed is nothing but a habit. It’s just a process, nothing else. It is not the object that the person desires, it is his habit of acquiring that object which is defined as greed. It pulls you. Constantly, it is pulling you. It is an enormous force. One need not become a sadhu to get rid of greed. You can live a normal life and get rid of greed if you know how to tweak that process.
Guruji – And what is that process sadhu?
Sadhu – It is actually not so simple to tweak the process I tell you. You see, the process is controlled by your brain and your other senses. All of them combine together to create the process. None of the elements involved in the process is in man’s control. He has no control on his thoughts and he has no control on his senses. Hence, it is dificult and that is the reason why most people cannot control greed.
They see a beautiful girl, they chase her and try to make her their own. This is nothing but Greed. Some people call it desire but remember that desire is also a form of greed and greed alone. The tendency to acquire something which isn’t quite necessary is called greed.
A man sees food, he jumps on it and empties the plate. Even when he is full, he wants to eat more. This is greed. This behavior is not coming and driven by hunger. This behavior is driven by his brain and other sense points, which alas is not in his control.
The same way for alchohol, gambling, sports, TV serials, clothes, shoes, watches and every other material object. Acquiring that object is not the exercise, the tendency to acquire, the process, the seduction is what drives the greedy.
Guruji – You are right, even i have felt and realised this in my own life. There are certain cuisines i really like. I eat them frequently but the greed on those food items is not going at all. What can we do to get rid of this greed?
Sadhu – This is a known problem and fortunately, I have been taught by my guru how to get rid of this desire for food. I am going to tell you the secret today. But you need to make me a promise. Only share this wisdom with people whom you believe has trust in god and have a pure heart. Don’t share this with people who are filthy, impure, not trustworthy and always engage in acts that take man away from god. Share it with people who are struggling and have the potential to get better, not with those who are in ignorance and don’t want to remove the veils from their eyes.
Here is the technique.
If you see you are becoming greedy for a particular food item, buy that food item but feed it to someone else whom you don’t know. Feed that item to a stranger wholeheartedly, we will see that in a few days the greed will go away from that food item forever. The instinct to eat from the heart will not come at all, even if one actually gets it to eat.
Practice this for some time, you will be surprised to see the results.But you have to do the feeding yourself. Let’s say you are greedy for Biriyani. Find a stranger and feed him Biriyani. Repeat it with another stranger. Keep repeating this and slowly you will realise that your craving for Biriyani has gone away.
After finishing the conversation, the Sadhu started laughing again. My guruji understood that there is a secret hidden in this laughter, otherwise why would you laugh like that? He did not ask the reason but patiently waited for the Sadhu to continue the conversation.
– Son, you can get rid of alcoholism, but it will take a little time. Whoever is addicted to alcohol, he has to do the work. The addicted person has to feed alchohol to a stranger and keep doing that act for some time. Undoubtedly, if the work is carried out for some time, the result will be obtained.
When an addicted object is enjoyed by another, the addiction to that object is slowly nullified.
That is the secret of liberation from greed told by an unknown sadhu to my guruji, in the streets of Uttarkashi.
If you are addicted to something and want to get rid of that addiction, simply donate that thing to a stranger and keep doing it.
- If you are addicted to gambling, simply donate money to someone and watch him gamble.
- If you are addicted to alchohol, simply buy a bottle of alchohol for a stranger and see him enjoy it.
- If you are addicted to watching too much of TV, buy a TV for a man who can’t afford a TV and watch him enjoy the TV everyday.
- If you are addicted to smoking, buy a pack of cigarrettes and give it to a stranger everyday. Watch him smoke infront of you, you should watch him enjoying your donation.
- If you are greedy for money, donate the money to a needy. Observe him meeting his basic needs with your donation. That is the path towards liberation.
Your addiction towards that thing will slowly go away and you will no longer feel attracted towards it after some time, even if someone deliberately hands it to you.The greed for material objects and desires is curbed if one willingly gives it away to someone else and watches the other person enjoying that material object with his own eyes.