How you can be wealthy?
Disclaimer:
Hello, O seeker of wealth! Before we go forward, I assure you that this is no get-rich-quick or Ponzi scheme, nor a scam. It is a fresh perspective to understanding the foundation of wealth, the mechanics of its growth.
Irrespective of who we are, we want wealth. That includes renunciates-yes, you read that right. Although most of us want aukaat, we confuse it with money. Deep down, the real purpose of wealth is a sense of power and security. This makes us feel in control.
There are indeed no free lunches. There’s a price for everything. We have to pay to get something in return, and wealthy people know exactly how and what to pay for. That is how they end up being better off than the middle class. Let’s examine the secrets that the wealthy know already.
The problem and solution
The problem lies in our flawed understanding of wealth. It does not specifically mean money, property, luxury, precious metals, and stones. This narrow approach ends up costing most people their whole lives, without much gain. The broader approach has been part of the stories around us since millennia, but we’re ignorant.
There are three types of wealth and, in Hinduism, symbolized by three goddesses. Let us understand what each represents so that we can use it better.
Lakshmi — Material Wealth
The classic form of wealth we all understand and identify is Lakshmi: the abundance of money, riches, and goods. Even her image represents the same — adorned in gold ornaments, a pot of gold coins in hand, and riches all around.
It primarily enables us to buy more products and services. Mukesh Ambani and Jeff Bezos are looked up to since Lakshmi is at their side. There are thousands of books on how to gain, multiply, and protect material wealth. But, Lakshmi can’t sustain herself. If not managed correctly, it brings many other problems.
Saraswati — Intellectual Wealth
To some extent, we are aware of Saraswati, too. The goddess of knowledge, dressed in pure white and plays music. We need her intellectual wealth, too. Knowledge or information is the key to success in so many professions; finance, research, law, medicine, blackmail/crime, politics, etc. Even in the absence of money, men have risen to the highest levels solely based on their mind power.
Despite not being as rich as industrialists or famous as movie stars, we have immense respect for scientists at ISRO and NASA, researchers at CERN, oncologists, religious scholars, etc. There is no upper limit on how much intellectual wealth one can hoard. It can multiply exponentially just by sharing; hence, easier to acquire than Lakshmi. However, the potential pitfall of too much knowledge is arrogance.
Durga — Emotional Wealth
This is the trickiest of all three. Durga is also called Shakti (power). A very intense image of many emotions, she is symbolic of emotional wealth. We often fail to acknowledge that in the end, everyone has but one goal: feeling good. If we leverage our power of words, speech, and action to make people feel good, wanted, and appreciated, it is more potent than any currency in the world.
Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. neither had any money nor exceptional knowledge. Yet, people were willing to die for them. What payoff does one get to be comfortable dying for a cause, when someone else may not do it even for a vast sum of money? A sense of purpose and hope of a better future — all forms of emotional wealth.
This wealth will never exhaust. As long as we’re alive, we can keep creating as much of it as we want and when we die, leave a legacy that is enjoyed by our kin, too.
(Inspiration and illustrations from devdutt.com)
Are you ready to be wealthy?
If you don’t have money or knowledge; it doesn’t mean that you cannot rise. Identify and prioritize the kind of wealth that you wish to acquire in your life. Leverage your inner belief and talents. Find ways to ensure meeting this goal. You’ll surely build a lot of wealth: while reading this article, at work, on holidays and even while sleeping.
Originally published at https://thewiseidiot.in on May 5, 2020.
