Money and successful career, necessary conditions for harmonious life or on the subject how to treat money so that it is always available and brings happiness
In America there is a national dream, or rather a national philosophy,— everyone can and must become a millionaire. Today a man who artfully throws a ball into a ring earns millions of dollars per month; strippers make tens of thousands of dollars per month. And here is the question: why must people who do spiritual practices or who are engaged in spreading love to God earn less?
In this material world, no matter how high your life’s goal is, or how high the knowledge you give to people is, people won’t value you, and that is all because you are not financially successful. If you are a poor looser, nobody will talk to you. The Vedas affirm that people around value us as to how we’re successful, how we managed to fulfill ourselves. In the first place, it relates to men. The main advice for men who complain about problems in their private life: “Become successful and all your problems will be gone”. Nowadays, as a rule, our success is estimated by people around us by the quantity of money we have.
But there is the law of karma acting in the world. Every person has his own fate and certain karma. According to the law of karma, each of us is given a certain amount of money at his disposal in his current incarnation. And until we change our karma, our money supply can’t be increased. Besides, according to the law of karma, everyone has his own destination and derives happiness from his social fulfillment when he realizes his talents. That means if we don’t work in accordance with our nature, we will never be happy no matter how much money we have, even if we become millionaires.
For example, a person doesn’t work in accordance with his destiny/life purpose. She is destined to be a teacher, but she has become a lawyer (like it’s fashionable now). She can earn five or ten times as much money, but what will happen to her later on?…
As a rule, such people acquire enough material goods, thereby reducing happiness in other areas of their life such as family, friends, health, etc. The financial aspect gets saturated but all the others become depleted. And it’s also possible that at present he will earn a few millions, but in five years he will go broke. However, we must have a totally different attitude towards this situation when our family, our children go hungry . In this case we have to agree to work where we get paid enough. Only such a man has a right to choose his occupation who has enough money to satisfy the basic needs of his family and himself.
So let’s learn the first rule — everyone must act in conformity with his mission, in accordance with his vocation. That makes us happy, but the most interesting thing is that it brings us money. If we don’t act in accordance with our nature, we can’t be happy. Secondly, we can’t fulfill ourselves. And thirdly, we can’t be rich. If one is engaged in accordance with his destination and talents, he will surely prosper and his earnings will bring him happiness. If one is busy with something he has distaste for, or in general makes his living fraudulently, money will bring him misfortune and according to the Vedas “be gone away from him in ten years at most”
A parable:
One woman complained to a Master that wealth didn’t bring her happiness.
To what the Master responded:
“You’re reasoning as if there’s no happiness without luxury and comfort. Indeed to be seriously happy you need just one thing — to get carried away by something so much that you forget yourself.”
The second rule says: in order to be successful we must be sure that our work is for the benefit of somebody. We must feel it. Research shows that people who work but don’t feel that their work brings any benefit in a few years time fall into depression. They work hard, earn a lot, but they are unhappy.
Ayurveda says that we shouldn’t start any business if it isn’t directed toward the benefit of all living things. There’s a deep sense here. For this we live in this world. When you work only for material values, it develops only greediness. How does our greediness prevent us from our social fulfillment? It restricts us. Because of greediness we go to work not in accordance with our destination but where they pay more. And in the end we kill our talents, cursing our unloved work. Or out of greediness we may cheat on somebody, or may be unscrupulous to our partners or colleagues at work. All this has a negative influence on our reputation, on our self-realization and in the end on our material prosperity. Could greedy and envious man hear his intuition? Or experience the feeling of flying and creative enlightenment?
I’ve heard lots of times the assertions of modern psychologists and businessmen that our inner subconscious attitudes and negative qualities hinder us from growing rich. One of these qualities is envy. Envy is quality which quickly leads us to degradation. One of the rules in this world is: the rich grow richer and the poor grow poorer. Observe your attitude to it. Do you perhaps feel envy or irritation towards it? If somebody earns a lot why shouldn’t we be glad for them? Especially if they make people around them a bit happier? Spot the moments of your envy and greediness and watch them.
Greediness and envy — these are the two most destructive feelings which cut off our way to happiness and wealth. To overcome these feelings you need to accept the idea that there is enough of everything in this world and we get as much as we need. Mostly God doesn’t want us to be poor. And we get as many different material benefits as we can use for the benefit of people around us. Sadly, a lot of us still think that rich man is a bad man. Quite the opposite! If we have enough money, we always have a possibility to help somebody. A beggar can’t help anybody. Remember it. The key thing is the richer we are, the more possibilities we have to give and in this way to reveal our love. There is another point: money lets us develop ourselves and make progress, money lets us study. It lets us be where we want to be. It is very important to understand — money gives us a certain freedom. It gives us freedom and an ability to realize ourselves.
Money must bring joy. Love for money means we are not attached to it and always pay respect to money. We must love money but please keep in mind that there is a big difference between the notions “love” and “attachment”. The attachment is a wish to exploit and receive more, to use for selfish purposes…
One of the synonyms of the word “attachment” is dependence. How to feel whether we got attached to money or not? You need to observe if you are proud that you have a lot of money, and if you regard with contempt those who have it less, and envy those who have it more — that’s one of the signs.
Another example is if in your work there appeared lots of fears and doubts about your income and bonuses for your work. For instance, people come to you, but instead of a sincere desire to help them you think how much money you can get from them. If you live by love, you don’t care about such things. But, of course, you are reasonable about it and you surely charge reasonable (but not necessarily little) money for your services, but you’ve got no fear. Come what may. You rely on God in every way. You do your business and that’s it — the rest is in the Almighty’s hands. These are the main points to be observed in this regard.
It’s also bad when we are ashamed of taking money for our services. Perhaps you’ll be surprised, but most people can’t accept money properly, even for services rendered. It’s a lack of respect to money too. It’s very important to learn to accept money calmly. For example, you have made a decision to do something pleasant for somebody and give them a lift. In this situation we don’t care whether they will pay us or not. But sometimes they pay. And what is our reaction? Some people start to protest against it, regarding it as “dirty money for their pure hearty impulse”. Or there arise thoughts that you need to do something extra, to help with bags, for example. It gives us a complex of dependence, and we feel that we must work off this money. How to check if we have a similar complex? If somebody gives you money and you simply thank them having no further questions and doubts, and feeling only gratitude, then it is normal. We live in a society, therefore, we must learn to accept. In this world we can achieve success if we can communicate with other people. For this it’s necessary to be able to ask and take as well as to be able to offer and give.
We have approached the next issue…
For most people it’ll be a surprise, but the overwhelming majority don’t want money. If you’ve got no attachment to money — it’s normal. But we must have a true wish for money. I often come across this paradox. When asked to outline their life’s objectives, one would hardly write: My aim is to be rich. It shows that there is no such desire in our subconsciousness. And we attract into our life only what is there in our subconsciousness. If we don’t have in our plans for the coming year or for the next five years to earn a definite amount of money, it means money is of no importance to us! Many just feel shy to talk about it, but why? Is there someone who doesn’t want to be rich?
There is one more rule to be rich and happy: we must want it and definitely know how much money we need. It’s extremely necessary to write down your objectives. Without it our subconscious mind won’t accept them.
Now let us move from common philosophical principles to concrete techniques of working with money.
The eastern psychology says that money and time are things which require respect in the first place. And should you have a disrespectful attitude towards money, so what does it do? Money leaves you just like time does. Especially if you don’t count it. The next rule says that we must always know how much money is there in our wallet. For this we must at least count our money from time to time. But it is better to always keep record of our expenses. Don’t worship money, but it’s necessary to show respect to money, count and control it. If we don’t keep the record of it, it is gone somewhere. And we can’t imagine where to. It’s mystical process. Just simply take a thousand dollars, go shopping and don’t keep the record of it. The money will be gone and you won’t understand where to. You seem to have bought only a pack of socks but there is no money left. It has been noticed that when you keep a daily record of money, you always have it. Any good businessman knows that he needs a bookkeeper. The rules are simple: treat money with respect, keep the record of it and never talk badly about it. Never use for designation of money irreverent words, like “cabbage”, “the green”, “dough” — it’s an obvious disrespect for money.
There is an internal display of respect for money and there is an external one. One of the external manifestations of respect consists in keeping money in a clean, beautiful and comfortable wallet. As the saying goes, our money must have a beautiful house. It’s our duty to secure our money a comfort and cosy “stay” with us. Another display of respect is when counting money, not to put it onto a place where you sit. Even if you put it on a sofa, lay a paper under the money. Otherwise it will be gone from you. It’s one of the rules. Another rule: never put money on a dirty place. For example, on a dirty table. It’s better to put something under the money.
And one more of the most important principles: every one of us has to begin donating a part of his income on deserving projects every month, minimum the tenth of your income. This is a very profound esoteric principle. Donation breaks obstacles on our way to prosperity and wealth. If you donate every month, it removes our affection for money and saves us from greediness. US researchers have concluded that people who donate the tenth of their income some years later begin to live in more wealth compared to people around them. Our mind will always be telling us: “Now I’ve got little money, don’t have enough for myself, but when I earn a lot…” And what is interesting: the more money we have, the more such thoughts we have…
One should learn to make donations properly, because to simply give money to somebody is not always good. We can spoil a person with it and do harm to his soul as well as to ours. For many it’s really big problem — where to and how to donate money? The Vedas say that we must donate to deserving people and on deserving projects. It’s not easy to find such now… But please take into consideration that when you donate to deserving people, your success grows…
A parable:
— I’m rich, but very unfortunate. Why?
— Because you spend too much time to make money and too little time to give love to people.
Let’s repeat all the most important principles of our dealings with money:
In order to be reach and happy everyone should act in accordance with their destination using the most of their talents and knowing that their activity brings a benefit to all people around.
On the way to prosperity it’s necessary to overcome the two most destructive feelings — greediness and envy, having realized that there is enough of everything for everyone in this world and we get as much as we need.
We must be able to take money with gratitude for the work performed or the service rendered.
Set yourself a clear financial objective for the nearest year, five years. We must have a true wish for money!
Keep a daily record of your income and expenses.
Never use curse words for designation of money.
Buy a beautiful and comfortable wallet for your money. You shouldn’t keep money scattered all over various corners and pockets.
Never put money on dirty places or places where you sit on.
Get used to donating to deserving people on deserving projects a part of your income, minimum 10%.
These are very simple rules and their effectiveness was proven by thousands of years. Following these simple, unsophisticated rules you’ll be able to see already in a year’s time how much your financial well-being will grow and how calmer, happier and more confident you will feel.
Good luck and prosperity!
Rami Bleckt
