Does being rich take a person to hell?

[Shri Anil asked: Swāmi, in the New Testament, there is a story about a rich man at whose door, there came a poor man named Lazarus. Lazarus was covered with sores and would have gladly eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich. The rich man lived a luxurious life. After the death of both men, Lazarus went to heaven and sat on the lap of Abraham, while the rich man went to hell fire. When seeing Lazarus in heaven, the rich man prayed to have pity on him upon which Abraham replied: “Son, think about how you lived while on earth. You had everything you wanted; you lived comfortably. Lazarus, on the other hand, had nothing. So now, he is here, being comforted, and you are suffering. And there is no way to cross the huge divide between us. No one can pass from one place to the other.” Then the rich man requested to send Lazurus to his family so that they will be warned of the consequence after death. To this Abraham replied that they have the teachings of Prophets to learn, and even if a dead man returns and teaches them, they will not believe because they have not listened to the prophet of God.

Swāmi, I request You to explain why the rich man went to hell. He did not do anything bad. He neither cared for Lazurus nor disturbed him. Also, Lazurus might have suffered due to his past sins and the rich man might received happiness on earth also due to his own past deeds. Some people say that the rich man had the capability and resources to help the Lazurus, but he did not do so and that is the reason why he went to hell.]

Swāmi replied: Richness and poverty are not the direct reasons for going to hell and heaven respectively. The associated effects of richness and poverty are bad and good respectively. Sin is always associated with richness and merit is always associated with poverty. When Jesus said that a rich man cannot reach God, the inner meaning is only this. Richness does not directly hinder anybody from reaching God. Charity is merit and is associated with poverty. A rich man always tries to accumulate his wealth by doing sins. Not only this, even if charity is done, if it is done to undeserving receivers, it is sin.

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| Shri Datta Swami |Does being rich take a person to hell? |

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