Monday, December 22, 2008

Seek Wealth


Wealth to the foolish can become a trap to him,
Wealth to the wise is a way to free himself.

We can begin with an inspiration and with a proper aspiration. We shall perspire to work on it diligently. We wish to travel. This becomes an inspiration. Then we begin to plan (aspire) where we want to go. We make an effort (perspire) to make the dream comes true. Similar process if we are seeking wealth.

Wealth can be classified into ;
a. the tangible such as cash, properties, assets or intangible such as honour, recognition, health.
b. the spiritual such as virtue, wisdom, generosity, truthfulness.

Those in youth, while they are energetic, if they do not strive for wealth, when they grow old will be in trouble.

Once we acquire the wealth, how do we spend it? The manner of spending our earnings could be divided into followings:

i) Spend on the necessities for ourselves, family and people around us such as food, housing, clothing, education and charity. Life is full of obligations and responsibilities. We do not live alone. Therefore we have to spend on others for mutual benefits. Contribute back to the society!

ii) Spend and invest in spiritual development includes building places of worship and supporting those who strive for spiritual purity. Printing of books in memory of departed relatives is a noble way to spend for the deceased.

iii) Spend on investments includes retirement planning, children education, training to improve our own skill etc. Also spend to protect own wealth such as insurance, will etc.

iv) Spend or rather save for the rainy days. We do not know when the uncertainty in life would happen. Sickness, recession, accident, unemployment are some of the uncertainties in life. Give up a smaller happiness for the greater one.

The whole purpose of seeking wealth is to spend it in the manner that gives us happiness within the moral framework. Spend within our means and limits in the moral manner. If we happen to lose all our wealth, we should not be upset because we know we have put them into good use.

If we lose your wealth, we lose nothing,
If we lose your health, we lose something,
If we lose our character, we lose everything.

Be contented with wealth because there are other sources and ways of gaining happiness.

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