III: 12

Chapter 3, Verse 12

“Nourished by your worship,
The gods will grant your prayer.
But the one who accepts their gifts
Showing no thanks,
Thieves from the gods.”

Srila Prabhupada:

“All the necessities of life that human society requires are supplied by the gods, agents of the Lord. Without the Supreme Lord, there can be no profuse sunlight, moonlight, rainfall, breeze, etc., without which no one can live. Our lives are dependent on supplies from the Lord. Everything is supplied by the agents of the Lord so that we may make proper use of them to keep ourselves fit and healthy for the purpose of gaining the ultimate goal of life, namely liberation. When we forget the purpose of human life and simply take supplies from the agents of the Lord for sense and ego gratification, becoming more and more entangled in material existence, we become thieves.”

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi:

“Thieves commonly enjoy the wealth of others but make no attempt to grow wealthier from within themselves. Here is the warning that Krishna gives: do not be satisfied only with material prosperity in the relative field of life, but by cultivating a spirit of worship, it is possible to become established at that deeper level of life which underlies all of creation. In a natural, effortless way you will then bring into being life-supporting influences for all the powers of nature (the gods), and indeed for everything that exists throughout the gross and subtle strata of creation.”

“For those who have will more be given, and they will have abundance.” (Matthew 25:29)

[A definition of abundance I came up with one time as a homework assignment:

ABUNDANCE IS
all of us swimming in an ocean of light,
bountiful harvest of divine substance,
the active expression of Spirit’s
all-pervading stillness pouring
forth generously as Love
without conditions in a
perfectly ordered
mosaic of inter
connected
sub-atomic
wavicles