Deepak Chopra
The Law of Giving can also be called the Law of Giving and Receiving, because the universe operates through dynamic exchange. Nothing is static. Your body is in dynamic and constant exchange with the body of the universe; your mind is dynamically interacting with the mind of the cosmos; your energy is an expression of cosmic energy.
The flow of life is nothing other than the harmonious interaction of all the elements and forces that structure the field of existence. This harmonious interaction of elements and forces in your life operates as the Law of Giving. Because your body and your mind and the universe are in constant and dynamic exchange, stopping the circulation of energy is like stopping the flow of blood.
Whenever blood stops flowing, it begins to clot, to coagulate, to stagnate. That is why you must give and receive in order to keep wealth and affluence or anything you want in life circulating in your life. The word affluence comes from the root word affluere, which means to flow to. The word affluence means to flow in abundance.
Money is really a symbol of the life energy we exchange and the life energy we use as a result of the service we provide to the universe. Another word for money is currency, which also reflects the flowing nature of energy. The word currency comes from the Latin word currere which means to run or to flow. Therefore, if we stop the circulation of money if our only intention is to hold on to our money and hoard it since it is life energy, we will stop its circulation back into our lives as well.
In order to keep that energy coming to us, we have to keep the energy circulating. Like a river, money must keep flowing, otherwise it begins to stagnate, to clog, to suffocate and strangle its very own life force. Circulation keeps it alive and vital.
Every relationship is one of give and take. Giving engenders receiving, and receiving engenders giving. What goes up must come down; what goes out must come back. In reality, receiving is the same thing as giving, because giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe. And if you stop the flow of either, you interfere with nature’s intelligence.
In every seed is the promise of thousands of forests. But the seed must not be hoarded; it must give its intelligence to the fertile ground. Through its giving, its unseen energy flows into material manifestation. The more you give, the more you will receive, because you will keep the abundance of the universe circulating in your life.
In fact, anything that is of value in life only multiplies when it is given. That which doesn’t multiply through giving is neither worth giving nor worth receiving. If, through the act of giving, you feel you have lost something, then the gift is not truly given and will not cause increase. If you give grudgingly, there is no energy behind that giving.
It is the intention behind your giving and receiving that is the most important thing. The intention should always be to create happiness for the giver and receiver, because happiness is life-supporting and life-sustaining and therefore generates increase. The return is directly proportional to the giving when it is unconditional and from the heart.
Excerpted from ‘The 7 Laws of Success’. The 74th birth anniversary of Deepak Chopra was observed on October 22.