Shilpa shah, director in-charge, HKBBA College
After my twenty-five years of academic experience as a professor, I can say that the only desire of all students in their life is success and money. For ages, our thinking has been materialistic as our experience has taught us that happiness, success and prestige in life are possible through money only and we know most of the desires and aspirations are fulfilled through money. So people of all ages are anxious about how to make money and strive for it.
Even in the modern age, the only purpose of education seems to have survived and that is the acquisition of wealth. Hardly a single student comes to me every year who wants to acquire knowledge, skills or philosophical understanding. Everyone is only interested in marks because it gives them a job, a degree, a girl, a reputation (as a degree holder) and life is set. No one bothers that how that materialistic life will be, it will be calm or restless, loving or conflicting doesn’t make any difference. Moreover, when there are conflicts, unrest, problems and sufferings in life, one realizes that everything one has got in the name of education is probably incomplete, inappropriate or useless and then starts blaming modern education, the teachers, the entire education system, the government. It does not solve the problem but creates a web of excessive conflict and negativity and the person becomes more and more entangled in it. But we should all understand it from the beginning and also explain to the children at the right age especially that for all kinds of comforts, peace, affection, protection, understanding, success in life, three things are essential: knowledge, power (energy) and wealth. Moreover, earning money is not possible without real knowledge and energy, so more importance has to be given to knowledge and energy.
Earning money is not possible without capability or power (energy). We all have the experience that the purpose of earning money can be succeed only in the presence of physical, mental and spiritual strength. Sick from the body, weak from the mind and impure from the soul, that is, an internally powerless man can never make money. Thus power or real energy is a prerequisite for earning money. The only indispensable condition of power is the attainment of knowledge as to how one can attain anything without knowing it. If you want to get power, you have to get knowledge of its tools, it is natural that nothing can be obtained without knowing. In that sense, wealth power and knowledge are interconnected and interdependent. Now, if we try to achieve money without knowledge and ignore the necessary tools for earning money, then how can we achieve success in our goal? For example if someone says that I want to be healthy but I will eat junk food instead of nutritious food, I will live a lazy life without exercise, I will live only in enmity and negativity instead of love and positivity, I like to live in an angry state, I can’t free my mind from stress, do you think that person can achieve perfect health in life? In the same way, all kinds of happiness, prosperity and success in life can be achieved only if the sincere efforts for the acquisition of knowledge and the necessary power for acquiring wealth is started at the right time.
There is no doubt that money is absolutely essential for all kinds of material happiness and success in life and there is nothing wrong in the desire or effort for making money but it is not desirable in the absence of real power and knowledge as immoral wealth without conscience and knowledge may give comfort for short time but can never make life best happy calm and conflict free or problem free. That is why before wishing for wealth or success, one must understand how to attain real power and how to attain true knowledge. Which automatically leads to success in the pursuit of wealth. There are many types of power, physical, mental, economic, social as well as spiritual. We need to pay attention for achieving all kinds of power or strength that requires real and deep understanding i.e. knowledge such as nutritional diet, exercise, regularity etc. is required for physical health as well as yoga-meditation for mental health, adequate oxygen, determination, morale, positivity etc. as well as selfless spirit in relationships for social health, desire to do something for everyone, life without complaints and expectations, readiness to understand the others etc. Social health cannot be achieved without knowing these factors. For spiritual strength one has to be free from vices, evils and sins. The six main toxins or evils of human life are lust, anger, greed, attachment, ego and jealousy, which can be removed to increase spiritual power. Spiritually powerful human beings automatically acquire mental, social and physical health. All such deep understanding is known as knowledge by which energy or power generation becomes easy and through which getting money or wealth becomes natural.
In short, your dreams of empowering your kids and others can only be realized by the younger generation if you teach them to become strong and knowledgeable before teaching them the lessons of wealth and success and you have to explain them the need of it in a practical way. That is why in Hindu culture there is a system of four ashrams in which the order of BRAMCHARYASHRAM is placed first during which special emphasis is laid on the work of acquiring power and knowledge as without it a successful homestead or life is not possible. Moreover, the acquisition of knowledge is not a theoretical matter, just knowing is not enough, its proper practice should be done at every moment in life. Besides, no goal or success is possible without the inevitability of determination or firmness to change any kind of mindset or situation. For the sake of physical fitness only the desire to do exercise is not enough firm determination and honest efforts should be done regularly.
In short, wanting money without strength (power) and real knowledge is sheer folly. Desiring wealth without power and real knowledge is nothing more than madness according to me. Because earning money without power and real knowledge is not possible but unfortunately in today’s age everyone has that stupidity or madness. Madness or craziness for making money alone does not make you successful or rich in absence of knowledge. If we all understand this, then it is not particularly difficult to be rich or successful because human beings are excellent for power and knowledge and perhaps man has been created for these two purposes only. So let’s first become powerful (energetic) and knowledgeable so that wealth and success automatically enter in our life.
