The transformation of iron into gold

There was once a spiritual Master who was the leader of a spiritual community. Everybody in the community was leading an honest life except for one person. This person was a businessman who cared only about making money and becoming rich. He did not pay any attention to his spiritual life. Everybody else wanted to become spiritually rich. Of course, some unfortunate disciples wanted to become spiritually rich without praying or meditating. But this man did not even want spiritual wealth. He wanted only to become materially rich. That was his goal. Everybody laughed at the businessman because he was not spiritual, but out of compassion the Master continued to keep him in the community. “As long as he wants to stay in my boat, I will keep him,” the Master said.

The Master occasionally would tell him, “Don’t pay so much attention to money-power. Pay attention to your heart-power, your soul-power.” But he never listened to his Master. This went on and on for years.

One day the Master said, “My days are numbered. I will be leaving the body soon.”

Everybody was so sad and shocked. They all loved the Master very much and appreciated his compassion and forgiveness. How could the Master say all of a sudden that he was going to leave the body?

The Master said, “Since I am going to leave the body soon, I want you people to come to me one by one privately. I will bless you, and if you have any special desire, then I will fulfil it.”

One by one they all came up to him for a last blessing and said, “To hear that you have forgiven us — that is our only desire. During this lifetime so many things we have done wrong. If you have not yet forgiven us, please do so. From the soul’s world think of us and bless us all the time.” Each one had the same prayer, and the Master was very, very pleased.

When the businessman came, he looked around and said, “I have a very special prayer. You have fulfilled others’ prayers. Will you not fulfil my prayer?”

The Master said, “Yes, today I will fulfil everybody’s prayer. Now what is your prayer?”

The man said, “Everybody says that you have occult power. Can you not give me some occult power?”

The Master said, “What will you do with occult power?”

The businessman said, “With my occult power I will be able to make more money and become richer. When I become very rich, then I will talk to many people and tell them all about you.”

The Guru said, “Oh no, I don’t need people to hear about me from you. If you want to have occult power to make more money, then I will give it to you. But don’t pretend that you are asking for it to help my mission. All right, now tell me what kind of occult power you want.”

The man said, “In my business I get the most profit from my steel factory. I buy iron at one price and sell it at a higher price as steel. Now, with my occult power if I can transform the iron into gold, then I will have even more money. I will become rich overnight. Please give me the capacity to transform iron into gold.”

The Guru said, “Yes, I want to keep my promise. I will give you this power. But who knows, some day you will feel miserable that you have asked for occult power.”

The disciple said, “No, no, I will never be miserable.”

The Guru gave him the power. Then, in a few days, the Guru died. Everybody felt so sad. The businessman shed crocodile tears, but secretly he was very pleased with his new occult power.

Soon the businessman became very, very rich, and people came to know that it was all because of the occult power that he had got. But the sincere ones still did not care for occult power. They said, “No, we want peace, peace, peace. Let us see what will happen at the end of his life. We want only peace and joy.”

So for two or three years the man went on transforming iron into gold with his occult power. But even though he had become very, very rich, still he always tried to get the people selling him iron to lower the price. Sometimes they said that they would lower the price after three or four months, and he would wait until that time before buying. He would say to himself, “Now that I have got from my Master the mantra that turns iron into gold, there is no rush to use it. So why not wait until I can buy iron at a much cheaper price? Then my profit will be even higher.”

Then, all of a sudden the price of iron went down considerably. The businessman kept buying more and more. The more the price of iron went down, the greater was his joy. For he knew he could turn it into most valuable gold. “In every way I am the happiest person,” he said.

In this way he kept accumulating iron, and for two years he did not use the mantra at all. When he had finally filled up a large warehouse, he said to himself, “All right, before I buy another supply of iron, let me transform what I now have into gold. I have accumulated a very large quantity.”

He was so excited at the thought of transforming all his iron into gold, and he tried to chant the mantra that his Guru had given him. O God, since he had not used the mantra for two years, he had totally forgotten it. He tried desperately to remember it, but to no avail. Naturally the iron was not transformed into gold, and he was feeling miserable, miserable, miserable.

The next day in the market he heard that iron had become absolutely worthless. So now what could he do? All his iron he would have to practically give away because he didn’t want to keep it. So he went to the market and had to sell his iron below cost because the price had gone down so much. The businessman cursed his fate and said, “So this is what occult power can do!”