Money is Not Everything
Of course, money is important…
It helps us make a living
But we must discover the truth of life,
That money can't buy everything.
There is a big debate in the world on the importance of money. Even a fool will agree that we need money to live. Life without money would be a tragedy. We need money for our food, our clothing and our home. Money is very important, but unfortunately, we start believing that money is everything. We become so blind that we keep chasing money. We even make money our God!
There are different types of people in this world. There are those who develop the art of being happy, eating a simple cheese pizza. But there are others who go to an expensive restaurant to eat imported crabs and lobsters to fill their stomach. There are women who are satisfied buying a designer bag at Zara or Charles & Keith, but there are some who will crave for a Louis Vuitton or Bottega Veneta handbag. We may desire many things and to fulfil these desires, we can make money the ultimate objective of our life. But where will this take us? Even if we get this branded merchandise, will we be satisfied?
A man was eying the new Mercedes Benz and had saved all his money to get it. But the next day, after he had celebrated his new car with a glass of Champagne, he was heartbroken, because his neighbour had bought an even better car, the latest model of BMW.
We human beings tend to believe that money is everything, when in reality, it is not. We somehow are unable to choose a balanced way of life where we give importance to money but don't believe that it is the only thing that we should focus on.
Somebody said it very well that with money you can buy a diamond ring, but you can't buy true love. With money you can buy an expensive mattress, but you can't buy sleep. With money you can buy all the medicines in the world, but you can't buy health. Yes, while you can buy many things in this world, you can't buy life.
Life is priceless. It is our biggest gift. But unfortunately, we make money a priority in life, so much so, that we are unable to understand the significance of life. Because the whole world salutes those who have money, we tend to follow the herd. In fact, some people are so poor, the only thing they have is money. As we read this contradictory thought, we may start wondering and even worrying what life would be without money. We should immediately stop and put our thoughts in perspective. Nobody ever said that poverty is a good thing. Each of us is blessed to earn our money and to live. But is the objective of life to make more and more money?
Does becoming rich guarantee that we are going to have a better, happier life? Unfortunately, those who don't have money look up to those who do and wish that they could be in their place. In fact, they spend their entire life trying to make money, and sometimes, life is over in the chase of cash. If you look at those who have a lot of money, most of them are so enamoured with their plastic life, that they seek to continue to make money, as they fear the loss of financial resources will not only make them lose their standard of living but also their name in society.
Then there are those who have so much money that they are stressed managing their wealth. Their money may be in cash, in banks, in stocks or shares, in business or even in expensive jewellery and merchandise they stock at home. Their life is spent dealing with their anxiety of having too much money and managing it. They live and die with the myth – Money is everything. But is it so?
Those who treasure life and want to make the best of it, stop and introspect the role of money in life. Neither do they condemn money as evil, nor do they make money their God. They correct those who read the Bible wrongly – Money is the root cause of all evil. This is not what the scriptures say. Love of money is the root cause of all evil.
Those who escape from this craving of money and wealth, lead far more peaceful lives. They may not have all the riches to live in expensive bungalows and drive the world's best cars, but they sleep peacefully at night. After all, isn't that more important than money?
We have a choice. We can start our life with a goal and ambition to make a certain amount of money and then, continue to be greedy, wanting more and more. Or we can make sufficient money to live a decent life and then, make the best of this gift called 'Life'. It is most unfortunate, that very few people are blessed to do so. We are attached to our possessions and we want to please the people in our life with all the expensive things that need money. Thus, we exchange our life for money and soon, we are left with a lot of money, but no life!
Of course, it will be foolish to say money is nothing. But it will be even more foolish to believe that money is everything. Money has a place in life but we can’t take money with us when we depart from this world. We must understand the meaning of life, that is far more important than just living our life in pursuit of money. Peace, bliss and joy are greater treasures and what is more important is to achieve the ultimate goal - to realize we are the Soul and unite with the Divine.
IN A NUTSHELL