The poverty of one who has renounced is real riches compared with the riches of one who holds them fast.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
The saints and sages and prophets all had to go through this test and trial, and in proportion to the greatness of their renunciation, so great have these souls become. Renunciation is the sign of heroes, it is the merit of saints, it is the character of the masters, and it is the virtue of the prophets. … It is as Fariduddin Attar, the great Persian poet, says, ‘Renounce the good of the world, renounce the good of heaven, renounce your highest ideal, and then renounce your renunciation.’
Those who want anything become smaller than the things they want; those who give away anything are greater than the things they give. Therefore, to a mystic each act of renunciation becomes a step towards perfection.
Forced renunciation, whether forced by morality, religion, law, convention, or formality, is not necessarily renunciation. The real spirit of renunciation is willingness; and willing renunciation comes when one has risen above the thing one renounces. The value of each thing in life — wealth, power, position, possession — is according to the evolution of the person. There is a time in our lives when toys are our treasures, and there is a time when we put them aside; there is a time in our lives when copper coins are everything to us, and there is another time when we can give away gold coins; there is a time in our lives when we value a cottage, and there is a time when we give up a palace. …
Every step towards progress and ascent is a step of renunciation. The poverty of the one who has renounced is real riches compared with the riches of the one who holds them fast. One could be rich in wealth and poverty-stricken in reality; and one can be penniless and yet richer than the rich of the world… The final victory in the battle of Life for every soul is when we have abandoned, which means when we have risen above, what once we valued most… Such is the case with all things of the world; they seem important or precious when we need them or when we do not understand them; as soon as the veil which keeps us from understanding is lifted, then they are nothing.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
Real wealth, even from the material standpoint, is measured by the profits one gains from Life when the resources are greater than the liabilities. There is a great truth in it, for if one has many possessions but has greater liabilities, one is in reality poor either from the standpoint of accounting or metaphysics. One may become bankrupt either in the world’s court or in God’s court.
Now those who have surrendered the things of the world, by that gain mental control over the world. They have what they want and need and do not have what they do not want or need. If one diminishes one’s wants, one will suffice with less, and if this sufficiency gives one everything one desires and requires, one is wealthy. While the holders of riches, who must give thought to the riches, do not own them — they are only holders.
Likewise, one who has renounced the knowledge of the world has all knowledge, for the heart can then peer into the mind of anyone and take from the sphere whatsoever it needs. This gives it all wealth, wealth of knowledge, wealth of culture, wealth of beauty, wealth of power, wealth of possessions in name and form. All these belong to the one who belongs to God.