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by Jayaram V
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When it comes to money and wealth, people tend to be selfish.
The ideal presented in Hinduism regarding money is it should be
spent for preserving, protecting and promoting dharma. The first
ideal (purushartha) is dharma and the second ideal is artha
(wealth). When you pursue these two goals properly you will be
able to realize the other two, namely enjoyment (kama) here and
liberation (moksha) hereafter. Money spent for one's own pleasure is evil and money
spent for the sake of dharma is divine. Even when one spends
money for the sake of dharma, one should not have expectations.
One should not do it to earn good merit either, but as a duty only.
This is the ideal. In worldly life, of course, we see this
rarely happening.
Sri Aurobindo once commented that material wealth is divine;
but it is presently in the hands of evil forces who have
usurped it and eversince have been using it to achieve their own ends. In fact, all
wealth is divine, because the ultimate owner of all material
resources in the universe belongs rightfully to God only. He is
called Bhagavan because he is endowed with various kinds of
wealth.
We may also divide wealth into three types. Sattvic
wealth, which is earned by virtuous means and spent for pleasure
or for the peace and happiness of oneself and others. Rajasic
wealth, which is earned by selfish and aggressive means and spent
for the egoistic purpose of enhancing one's power and prestige
or to promote one's own interests and aims. Tamasic wealth, which is
earned by deception and cruelty and used for evil purposes to inflict pain and
suffering upon others or to denounce God and spread chaos and
confusion.
Goddess Lakshmi is goddess of wealth. Symbolically, she
represents wealth in all its forms. She is a companion of Lord
Vishnu. There is a symbolism hidden in this association. Lord
Vishnu is the preserver and promoter of dharma. He is like the
Householder of the universe, with all the wealth of the universe
at his disposal (feet). Even though, he has no interest
whatsoever, He upholds the worlds as His obligatory duty
(dharma) by ensuring their order and regularity.
The association
between Vishnu and Lakshmi clearly signifies that wealth in all its
forms, whether it is wealth of knowledge or material wealth,
should be spent for dharmic purposes only. For a householder,
wealth is the means to perform his or her obligatory duties. It
is a kind of sacrificial material, an offering in the sacrifice of life,
just like food or ghee used in the sacrifices. He
has to earn it through rightful means and spend it for rightful
ends, without ignoring his own welfare and happiness. Whatever
he earns, he has to offer it as food to God, the ultimate
recipient of all sacrificial offerings.
However,
for an ascetic who renounces worldly life and obligatory duties,
money is a taboo. He cannot earn money or own wealth. He has to
give away whatever comes to him through divine providence
(daivikam) or through offerings from others. He has to
renounce all sense of ownership and live freely without
expectation and any worldly obligations. There was a time when
ascetic people would not only shun money but also not even touch
it physically as a rule.Those
days are gone now. You have now swamis, gurus and babas who own huge
bank balances and islands of property, and who prefer to give
private audience to potential donors rather than to ordinary people
who have the wealth of virtue.
Such restrictions do not apply to those who choose to live worldly lives and take up
householder's duties. They have to spend money to perform
sacrifices and obligatory duties. According to the Vedas, human beings
have five obligatory duties or responsibilities. They are
entrusted with these duties by the Creator Himself as part of
their dharma (duty) in creation. These duties are:
- Service to God (brahma yajna)
- Service to gods (deva yajna)
- Service to your ancestors (pitr yajna)
- Service to fellow human beings (manusya yajna)
- Service to the rest of the creatures (bhuta yajna)
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