Money cannot buy you happiness. It’s knowledge or wisdom that brings you happiness.
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
There is no doubt that you need some money for your day-to-day survival. But, money cannot buy you happiness. It’s knowledge or wisdom that brings you happiness.
Success is not just money in the bank. It is the smile and confidence in a person.
Keep money in its place
Money should be kept in your pocket, not your head. If you keep thinking about money all the time, you can’t even enjoy the money that you have. Money is needed but something more necessary than money is that humanness, that happiness that money can’t buy.
We spend half of our health to gain wealth, and then half of our wealth to regain our health. Usually, it doesn’t work.
Your parents, your friends are much more than money. You yourself are more valuable than money.
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Is Money Everything?
You want to be successful and rich. You want to earn money. That is perfectly fine. But don’t think this is everything.
Your parents, and your friends are much more than money. You are more valuable than money.
What will the money do when you are not healthy? You have to take care of your health. You have to take care of your environment and your responsibilities. Money is only a means to do all this.
Suppose you are in a place with tons of money and nobody around you. Whom will you show that you have so much money? And where will you spend that money?
What is more important is your personality and how your personality should be shining brilliantly, ready to take challenges and be kind and friendly with people. Just imagine you have a lot of money and everybody hates you. Would you like to be around them? No. That’s why your parents said money is not everything.
Monetary Security Is Illusory
Money can provide an illusory sense of security. Wealth is attained through one’s skills and abilities, inheritance or through corrupt means. Each means of attaining wealth brings with it its own consequences. The very motive for corruption is peace and happiness. Yet, peace and happiness remain elusive when the means are corrupt.
Due to the illusory notions of independence, ownership and security that it brings, money is considered a part of maya: “miyate anaya iti maya” means “that which can be measured is maya”. Hence everything in the world that can be measured is considered maya, money being one such measure. Human values are eroded when you try to put a price tag on all that cannot be measured, like love, truth, wisdom and life itself.
Rich people are not always happy.
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Perspective
Just go to places which are very poor, like Dharavi or a slum in Rio-de-Janeiro in Brazil and you will see a smile on the faces of people. People from Europe wonder how people in Dharavi could even celebrate something. After all, they live in shanties. But there is a celebration there. Look at those who are very rich and their way of life. They are very miserable. There is such shallowness in their life.
The poor are not as insecure as the rich. There is nothing to think for the poor. When there is wealth, then there is a worry about how to handle it. Many times it has been seen that families that are living in peace have broken down because of money. There are conflicts between the husband and the wife because of money.
Wealth is something that is bestowed on you.
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Who Is Really Wealthy?
Wealth is something that is bestowed on you. There are eight types of wealth:
- Wealth as material comfort
- Wealth as health
- Wealth as success
- Wealth as courage
- Wealth as friendliness
- Wealth as skill
- Wealth as dignity
- Wealth as memory of the source
Don’t equate good fortune with money. Your good fortune lies in your happiness.
– Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Be Happy NOW
Money is a means. Why do you want money? The purpose of money is to become happy. Not to put it all in the bank and die one day. There is nothing wrong in wanting more, but you should be satisfied and then want more. You don’t want to postpone your happiness. Be happy now with what you have and then strive for what you want.
There’s nothing wrong in wanting to be rich, wanting to be famous. That’s normal for people who want to progress in their life. But if you think that when you get there only then you will be happy, you are wrong. So you can be happy now and then work towards whatever you want to achieve in life.
Don’t postpone being happy. Otherwise it’ll be a continual postponement. When you are happy here and now, it will give you more energy and ideas to go where you want to go.
Be Useful
The more you do some useful work to society, society is going to pay you back. A doctor becomes rich because he is needed by society; a musician because he is entertaining people. But if you just don’t want to do any work but sit on your couch like a potato and watch television all day long, then you are not doing anything useful. And you definitely need to be worried about money.
How much and How?
Put in all your efforts and earn as much as you can. But follow certain rules. It is not right to earn money by committing crimes, or through any other wrong means. If you do, then the result will only be misery and suffering. If you adopt the wrong means to earn money, then your conscience will prick you from within, and you will feel that you have stolen from someone. It will pinch you from within. So do not use the wrong means of earning money.
You should put in all your effort to earn money, making the best use of the time available to you.
Self-confidence, sankalpa and diligence should go together.
