Your Value Is Not Defined By Numbers

"’He did the work of three men!’ the accountant told the company. ‘He has 125,000 rupees owing to him as back compensation.’ The treasurer sent father a check for that amount. My parent thought so little about the matter that he forgot to mention it to the family.”

Paramahansa Yogananda recounts in his autobiography, emphasizing the ascetic nature of his father. His dad never visited the theater, avoided all kinds of luxuries, and owned one pair of shoes until they couldn’t be used anymore. While his sons bought vehicles as soon as they became popular (this were the early 1900’s), he kept using the trolley car to commute.

Yogananda’s father had never collected his bonuses while working for the railroad company. He simply wasn’t interested in the accumulation of money for the sake of power.

“Why be elated by material profit?” He told his son. “The one who pursues a goal of even-mindedness is neither jubilant with gain nor depressed by loss. He knows that man arrives penniless in this world and departs without a single rupee.”