No. If it was, then everyone who was rich would be glad, not sad. Unfortunately, if we look around, the lives of many of the rich and famous are riddled with problems, misery, and even suicide. Surely, happiness is not solely dependent on wealth. Yes, happiness is the goal of life, but happiness is not just about being rich. It is a myth that ONLY money makes people happy.
Not everybody wants money to be happy. Some may seek happiness in other forms of achievement be it sports, art or literature. Artists and sportsmen are also passionate about success that is ultimately nothing else but happiness. Even a politician is seeking happiness through his achievement in public life. But to each of them, money, wealth, and achievement are very important. It seems like their ultimate goal of life is achievement, money, success, wealth, and eventually happiness.
Material pleasures, of course, make us happy, but do they create unending pleasure? Such pleasures could make us happy for the moment, but they fail to create fulfillment or grant us the peace of mind that takes us to the true peak of happiness.
A few are fortunate to transcend from achievement to fulfillment, to stop seeking happiness from pleasure, and to live a life of contentment and fulfillment in peace and tranquility. In most cases, making money is such an addictive habit that the achievers forget that there is also something called – Making a Difference.
How does it matter? Even I was making money. It was just money, money and more money – whether it meant to have deposits in the bank, gold that glittered, or properties and assets that made ones net worth sparkle. We become blind to everything else in the chase to make money.
However, I was fortunate that my success opened new doors that gave me more happiness and more joy than money ever did.
I started serving the poor on the streets of Bangalore. In the nights, I would take food packets and distribute to the people who were hungry, sleeping on the streets, or distribute blankets to these people freezing in the chill winter. This gave me a very different kind of happiness, a joy that I realized money couldn’t buy. I was still making money and enjoying the exhilaration of success. But I was fortunate that my humanitarian heart gave me more quality happiness from the compassionate work that I was doing.
There are people in this world whose happiness does not stem from wealth. To them, making a difference is far more rewarding than making money. They would make magnanimous contributions to service groups rather than invest in personal assets. These are very few who are fortunate to realize that happiness is not just about being rich.
All these years, there were seeds of compassion and inspiration in me, but I was racing down the achievement track to be happy. By now, my retail stores were generating more profits than I could spend. No doubt, I was extremely happy, but there was no peace. Life of success is a life of problems because achievements attract more challenges than one can imagine.
I was just going to embark upon a new project called Kemp City envisaged on 200 acres of land, with an amusement park, a casino, a golf course, hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, and everything one could dream of. It would be connected to the city via helicopters and special shuttles. But then… the question came to my mind, “How would this improve the quality of my life?” What would it gain a man if he gained the whole world, but lost his own soul! I realized that achievement and wealth were important, but it was not everything.
Suddenly, one day after 25 years of achievement and success, I shut down my business and decided that I would make a difference rather than just make money. I had experienced joy doing humanitarian work and serving people on the streets. It gave me great excitement to inspire people to live rather than just exist. Praying and building a connection with God gave me peace and tranquility that was blissful. While pursuing success, achievement, wealth, and happiness, there was no time left to pursue my passion of doing H.I.S work – Humanitarian, Inspirational, and Spiritual work. I called it a day. I shut down my business and transformed my life! I even changed my name from Ravi V. Melwani to RVM and created a new RVM Philosophy – Rejoice, Value Life, and Make a Difference. I suddenly felt that life was so much more fulfilling! I was blissfully content.
Many people work like machines. It seems like life is a journey of achievement rushing from womb to tomb. They know that the money is not theirs. What they earn, others will burn, but even then, their only priority is to be rich and wealthy.
Blessed are the few who realize that the first peak of life is achievement, but one must transcend and evolve to the second peak – the peak of contentment and fulfillment. A journey that seeks fulfillment is more blissful and has more peace and tranquility than a journey of achievement.
For 8 years, I enjoyed this fulfillment journey traveling from one country to another discovering the wondrous creations of God. My journeys took me from Iceland to Antarctica, Alaska to Australia, and I thought, “Could there be a happier man on the Earth than me?”
Yes! Those who are content and fulfilled are far happier than most of the multi-millionaires of the world because while money can buy pleasures, it cannot buy true happiness. Where does a wealthy man enjoy peace, tranquility, joy, and liberation? He is just programmed to earn money and more money till the journey of life ends. Success becomes a drug. One who succeeds can’t do without it. We keep wanting more success, more success, and more success, thinking that more success equals more happiness.
But those who are fortunate to find the second peak are blessed. They transcend from pleasure to peace. They move from Achievement to Fulfillment. Their life also is about success but it is beyond. It is not just about making money. It is also about making a difference. They find something that the achievers don’t. They find bliss that comes from contentment and fulfillment. Those who climb the second peak of life are thus far happier.
What is the second peak of Fulfillment all about? What creates happiness which is beyond the happiness that achievement and success creates?
What is Fulfillment? It can be understood as -
F - Full Satisfaction and Contentment
U - Universal Connection
L - Living with Meaning and Purpose
F - Faith, Hope and Surrender
I - Inspiration, Energy and Enthusiasm
L - Liberation and Freedom
L - Laughter and Love
M - Making a Difference
E - Emotionally Positive
N - Noteworthy Success and Achievement
T - Tranquility and Peace
One who lives life with fulfillment, contentment, with connection, meaning and purpose, surrender, enthusiasm, energy, freedom, laughter, love, positivity, peace…how can such a person not be truly happy? How can a person still be wanting?
I too was on that peak for 8 years, in Bliss! However, after 25 years of achievement and 8 years of fulfillment, I questioned myself, “Have I not reached a plateau? Undoubtedly, I have all the pleasures the world can offer and I also live a life of peace. But does my life have a real PURPOSE?”
When I decided to climb down from the peak of achievement by closing my business, I was apprehensive. What if I lose my happiness as I give up success and making money? I had trusted my sixth sense and the advice of my mentor, only to be rewarded with contentment and fulfillment. Now, I was provoked again and the question that came to my mind was – Why should I embark upon another journey when I am so blissfully content and happy? I have everything that I have ever dreamt of. Is there need for another search, a second transformation? The trigger from my mentor kept haunting me and the question arose – What is the purpose of life? Will I just live like this till I die?
While I had started thinking on these lines, I had not left the fulfillment peak. I was living in a comfort zone – blissfully content and in peace and tranquility – with love, laughter, liberation, and freedom. I even asked myself the question: I am doing such amazing work – making a difference through reducing pain and suffering, vibrating positive energy, and making people believers – then why must I rock the boat?
There was a tug of war between my mind and my conscience. My mind refused to think further about life and its true purpose. But my conscience pricked me to delve deeper into the meaning of life.
And so did my Guru, who provoked me to seek the next peak. He urged me to go on a search, a Quest – a Talaash....