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will destroy everything.
Another thing: whatsoever you possess becomes your possessor. The possessor is possessed by his possessions. You become a slave; you are not the master. So what's the use of saying that you possess the world? No one possesses anything. Only one thing can be possessed and that is your own self. Nothing else can be possessed.
You can become the master only of your own self. If you try to be the master of someone else you will just be a slave. You may call this slavery 'mastery', you may label it 'mastery', but you are just deceiving yourself. Deceptions are deceptions. Just by changing the label, nothing is changed.
Look at your possessions. Do you possess them? If your house is destroyed you will weep, you will scream, you will go mad; but if you die, your house is not going to weep. it is not going to go mad. So who was the real owner? The house owns you. It doesn't care a bit about you: whether you live in it or not. Really it will feel very good if you leave. It will be more at ease It is not dependent on you. You are just disturbing its peace. If you are dead. the house will feel good. So who is the possessor?
This sutra is meaningful in this sense that only the self can be possessed and nothing else. And if you cannot possess your self, what else do you think you can possess?
So be a master -- the master of your own self -- and don't make any effort to possess anything. I don't mean to leave everything. That's not the point. Use everything, but don't think in terms of possessing. Use the house, but don't be the owner. Use wealth; don't be the owner of it. Use the whole world, but don't think that you possess it. You are just a traveller passing through Tired, you rest under a tree. But you don't possess the tree. And if you don't possess it, you will feel a deep gratitude toward the tree. When you leave in the evening, you will thank it. You will feel grateful because when you were tired and the road was hot, the tree gave you shelter; the tree was cool. But don't try to possess the tree or you will not feel grateful.
When you possess, you don't feel gratitude. Don't possess your wife, don't
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