Everything which we possess today was possessed by somebody else yesterday and will be possessed by others tomorrow and somebody else day after tomorrow.
— Lord Krishna
Everything which we possess today — money, house, car, jewellery, property, etc. — was possessed by somebody else in the past. When we did not possess them, somebody else possessed which means they got transferred to us. We might have either earned it, or inherited it, or bought it or won it in lottery, but yet the fact remains that they were possessed by somebody else, and in the present we possess them.
The question here is not whether we acquired them legally or illegally, but whether these possessions will remain with us permanently? Will they not go to somebody else tomorrow, the way they came to us? If not by any other means, they will definitely go to someone else after our death. The land on which our house is built belonged to somebody else before our house was constructed and may be after 100 years would belong to somebody else with another house built over it. There would be no trace of our ownership after some years.
Is it not our ignorance that the house in which we live is felt to be ours, the wealth which we own today is felt to be ours? Are we not getting attached to something which is temporary? Our body is not permanently ours. Our parents were not our parents in earlier births nor will remain our parents in future births. Similar is the case with our children, spouse, relatives and friends.
So feel to be a custodian of everything which you possess be it your house, wealth, car, jewellery, parents, children, physical body or your thoughts. The laws of creation do not permit anything to remain permanently with anybody not even with Gods who descended or manifested in physical form.
