On Krishna’s blessing to a rich and a poor man

Once two men came to Krishna to get blessing – one of them poor and the second – rich. The rich man asked Krishna to give him some more wealth. Krishna blessed him telling that soon he would get the wished. The poor man who of all his possessions had got the only hut nearly falling to pieces asked Krishna for some money so that to repair it. But Krishna told him to stop worrying about this. His hut will burn down soon.

At that very moment Arjune was beside Krishna and heard everything. He could not make out why Krishna gave so strange blessings and was utterly bewildered. He asked Krishna to explain why he gave so big wealth to a rich man, but did not wish to retain that minor thing, which the poor man possessed. Krishna answered, “The rich man is my bhakt. He possesses everything, but is not attached very much to these properties. He has got some wishes left which hold him away from me, but soon they will stop interesting him and won’t prevent him from reaching me.”

“The poor man is also my dear bhakt, he possesses nearly nothing, exept his old small hut. But he is attached to it so much, that cannot fully concentrate on me. The thoughts of his hut constantly come to his mind during his sadhana and bother him greatly. That is why I gave the blessing so that this hut would burn down as soon as possible, and nothing more would hinder his joining with me.”

Neither poverty nor riches can be an obstacle on the way to God. But any attachments, even the least of them, hold a man away from God making the joining with Him impossible.