The Wealth Of People

The desire to be prosperous, rich and have abundance in life is universal, whether it is the richness of one's individual's life, or in relationship or abundance of money.

This universal truth has found expression in many religious texts and classics; so much so that wealth itself at times has come to be equated with happiness.

To quote King Solomon, considered to be the wealthiest and wisest king in the entire world :

""A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things." (Ecclesiastes 10:19)

Even Jewish sacred texts regard money as having a deep influence over ones sense of morality and integrity:

""Poverty in a man's house is worse than fifty plagues." The Talmud (a collection of Jewish books of rabbinical commentary on the Old Testament)" & "Poverty causes transgressions." (Hasidic folk saying)

To elaborate on the above point, shouldn't we attribute the lack of money as having disproportionate share in turning people to the poverty, misery, corruption , terrorism etc. Of course people with wealth also do so. In fact,if any, they're more pernicious than their pawns or stooges.

To come back to the point, money does bring in life satisfaction and contentment and ease of worries. Just try being short of it for a few days and it'll be evident as to what one longs most.

So isn't there any way for a person with absolutely nothing to leads a truly happy and a fulfilling life to the fullest measure?

To answer this the Buddhist view could be quite compelling in the way it views the world :

According to the Buddhist view there are three kinds of treasures:

i) Worldly treasures -- i.e money, prosperity, prestige, good circumstances etc.
ii) Corporal treasures -- i.e. a healthy mind and body, so that you may enjoy everything; 'cause because without it is quite impossible to enjoy things easily
iii) Life treasures -- i.e. honesty, moral uprightness, integrity, persistence, politeness, embracing and respecting each and every life etc.

The most important among the above three it propounds is the third one, i.e. life's treasures; through which all the other treasures could be acquired.

Thus, unlike the western philosophies, which delink morality from money --  or at times posits them at the diametric extremes of the spectrum and antithetical to each other on numerous occasions -- the Buddhist view seems more holistic and all encompassing.

Let's dissect and analyze the views propounded about money in the above philosophical and theological texts in the light of real life, readily recognizable examples.

In Napoleon Hill's book 'Think & Grow Rich', Henry Ford's encounter with the '"persistent, never give up" Thomas Edison was the turnaround point in the former's life. Not just Henry Ford, in fact principles which made men wealthy over the ages have been attested by the great scientist himself; as being instrumental in achieving "not only in achieving financial goals, but almost anything in life."

This deeply resonates with the Buddhist view of thinking of "treasures of life" being crucial in attaining all that one desires.Ans what more these life treasures are....well within our own lives.

But alas, wealth and prosperity are always fluid, never stable and always dynamic. Any person who has or is earning money will attest to this.

Wealth once earned is not an insurance against it's future scarcity nor a certainty that it it will remain with you.We just have to look around, the high -flyers of yesterday may no longer be so today.

Just as with life, shouldn't wealth also be enduring. (I'll explain in later article the eternity of life).

Also, wealth as viewed by the rich is not a mound of gold, but a stream of copper, silver, gold and everything that brings with it to fulfill the earthly desires. And if properly manages, it has the potential to turn into a a big current, that'll never run dry.

Has the kitty of Fords, Rockefellers, Tatas, Birlas, Waltons run dry. On the contrary it always has always grown with time, regardless of times.

So do these big guys have any specialized knowledge that let's them prosper more than the rest of the populace.

It seems so. Because their wealth creation, when observed, has followed certain principles that has remained unchanged for millennia and cutting across civilizations.

The author George Clason in his book "The Richest Man in Babylon" illustrates the story of a man who found himself at the sad end of penury  when he disobeyed, knowingly or unknowingly, the laws of world that bringeth wealth. And when he meticulously follows these laws, he found himself to be one of the richest man in Babylon -- the civilization famed for its riches and streets paved with gold.

The streams of wealth enunciated in the above book is nothing but cash-flows in the modern parlance; and what better way to understand this than by engraving it in our life and soul. The best way of which is reading the book "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki which has in simple terms and every day examples has explains as to why ones paycheck never seems to be enough, and how through your monthly, you can too embark on a journey of financial prosperity and abundance.

But above all, not matter how tight the situation, please don't forget the Buddhist wisdom -- life itself is the treasure through which all other treasure can be achieved.