I am someone who is always open to learning new things and new ideas, so when a friend asked me to listen to a talk by Dada J.P Vaswani recently, I was more than eager. Who after all would not be interested to know the ‘Formula for Prosperity’, which was the title of the lecture, in these times of economic uncertainties? I had half expected to hear some tips on where best to put your money and which stocks to buy that would ensure a good return and provide you with a tidy little nest egg for the future - which just goes to show that I had no idea who J.P. Vaswani was or read any of his writings.

But when I saw that practically everyone from the Indian community in Jakarta included their children were there in their best clothes, I realized that the person we were about to listen to was a highly respected spiritual guru with many devotees worldwide: Particularly amongst the Indian community. (When I tweeted my status on Twitter, my niece, who is familiar with Jakarta’s textile shops, was impressed. She had seen Vaswani’s pictures hanging in many Indian owned textile stores.)

And when Dada finally entered the room, his hair as white as the robes he donned and had to be assisted to his seat on the stage, I figured out that the evening’s lecture wouldn’t be about some get rich quick schemes or advice on how to invest your money for the future. It was going to be about something a lot more profound.

So there I was amongst an audience thirsty for words of wisdom and eager to follow the path of enlightenment from a man who is well into his eighties, seemingly physically fragile and yet who managed to capture everyone’s attention with his simple humility, kind demeanour and gentle voice that only the truly wise and enlightened have. Here was a man who had devoted his life in the service of others through his inspiring words and stories.

What then is the formula for prosperity? I thought it might be of some interest for the readers so allow me to share in a nutshell Dada Vaswani’s gems of wisdom, for I was certainly grateful to learn and be reminded of them that evening. According to him there are four rules, which, if followed, will surely lead to a prosperous life.

The first of these rules is, ‘God helps those who help themselves.’ This might seem an obviously simple truism that need not be reiterated. However, coming from the mouth of a sage, I could not help but nod my head in agreement that this is something that we often disregard when going about our daily lives: Which is using the intelligence and capacity for endeavour that our Maker created us with. Instead, a lot of the times we expect others to solve our problems for us and, when things go wrong, to cast blame on everything other than ourselves.

Dada gave an example of a pious man whose house in the middle of his prayer, caught fire. Soon his family rushed to the prayer room to urge him to leave the house immediately before the fire spread, whereupon he declined, insisting that he was a man of faith and that God would see to it that he was saved.

The fire grew bigger and was about to engulf the house and his neighbours, anxious for his safety, risked their lives trying to save the man, who again, refused all help saying that God would answer his prayers for safekeeping. Finally the flames reached the prayer room where he was and this time firemen were sent with ladders to rescue him through the window but to no avail. The man was adamant that God would perform his miracle and save him from the flames.

No such miracle happened however, and the man was burnt to ashes in the fire. When he went to heaven he berated God for failing to rescue him but instead allowed him to die in the fire. To which God replied that thrice he had tried to rescue him, first via his family, secondly through his neighbours and finally even sending the firemen, and still the man did not get his messages. Thus the important universal lesson, don’t expect God to do your work for you, as God will only help those who help themselves. In order to do that, praying is not enough. Often in prayers we busy ourselves with our demands and entreaties and yet we rarely use our faculties and energy to listen to the answers or follow the messages. We fail to keep our eyes and ears open and employ our intelligence to read the signs that would point us in the right direction, to see the solutions to our problems and to decipher the secret of life and the key to prosperity.

The second rule to achieving prosperity is – oh, dear I’ve ran out of space. I guess it’s for me to know and for you to find out.

(Desi Anwar is an Anchor and Writer. She could be contacted at www.desianwar.com and www.dailyavocado.net)