Should I lend money?

Questioner: If someone owes us money and does not pay it back when he is supposed to, do we accept it as having fulfilled our past life debt and be content with the situation?

Dadashri: Not like that. If that person is rich and honourable then you should pursue the matter but if he is poor then don't make the effort to collect.

Questioner: Should I make the effort to collect or just sit at home and assume that if he is going to return the money, he will do so on his own accord and if he does not then do I assume that my past debt has been cleared?

Dadashri: No, no don't assume so much. You have to make the necessary efforts. You can tell him: 'At the moment I am a little short of cash, if you have the money, can you please make arrangements to send it to me?' Speak to him with respect and discretion and if the money does not come then understand that you have settled some past account with him. But if you don't even make the effort, he will take you for a fool and he will go on the wrong track.

Everything in this world is a puzzle and in this puzzle man gets so much beating life after life and is beaten to death after death. He has taken this beating for countless lives but when the time comes for him to escape this cycle, he does not take the opportunity. Then the opportunity does not come again.Only a liberated person can liberate others;what can a person who is bound, do for you? Only the liberated one is worthy. The moment the thought occurs to you: 'What's going to happen if he does not return my money?' your mind will start to become weaker. The element of suspicion is introduced. Once you lend money, just decide that you have folded all that money in a bundle of black cloth and thrown it in the ocean. What hopes do you have of retrieving something once you throw it in the ocean? Give without any expectations of any kind otherwise do not give.

In this world there will always be interactions of give and take.So, if you lend money to people, sometimes some will not return the money, but you cannot be preoccupied and agitated over whether the money will be returned or not. If you do so, where will it end?

I was in a similar situation once, but I never worried about whether that money would be returned. I did however remind that person from time to time that he owed me some money. A man had borrowed five hundred rupees from me. There was neither a record nor a promissory note for this transaction. I had forgotten all about it until I encountered that man a year and half later. I asked him if he could return the money and he asked me, "What money?" I said, "The money that you borrowed from me." He said, "When did you loan me the money? On the contrary, I am the one who loaned you the money and you are the one who has forgotten". I immediately understood the situation. I told him that I did remember and asked him to come home the next day to collect it. I gave him the money the next day. This incident actually happened to me.What can one do if such a man were to come pestering for money?

How is anyone to deal with a world like this? If you were to bundle up some money in a black cloth and throw it in the sea, is it not foolish to think that you will get it back? If a person returns the money to you, you should invite him for tea and thank him for his graciousness in returning the money. You can say to him that it is indeed a wonder that he is returning the money because in this age of Kaliyug money does not come back. The fact that he is returning what he owed is more than enough; do you understand? This is what the world is like. There is suffering in returning the money and suffering in taking it back. Who can be happy in this? What is more, it is all vyavasthit. It is vyavasthit when a person does not return the money and it is also vyavasthit when you lose double the amount.