Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sw. Dhyan Aniket on March 23, 2011 at 11:31pm

Great debate Sandeep ji ....I will let my master speak here :-

"I am not against money, remember. Don’t misinterpret me: I am not against money — I am not against anything. Money is a means. If you are happy and you have money, you will become more happy. If you are unhappy and you have money, you will become more unhappy because what will you do with your money? Your money will enhance your pattern, whatsoever it is. If you are miserable and you have power, what will you do with your power? You will poison yourself more with your power, you will become more miserable. But people go on looking for money as if money is going to bring happiness. People go on looking for respectability as if respectability is going to give you happiness. People are ready, at any moment, to change their pattern, to change their ways, if more money is available somewhere else." - Osho

I am just giving my masters perspective... not for the prize because these are not my words... but just to add to the discussion..

Permalink Reply by Rakesh on March 24, 2011 at 12:09am

Enjoying your Materialistic Life ( off course with Lot of Money ) and  also Leading a Spritual Life ( If One has really understood , what really is called a Spritual Life ) at the same time,   is neither Contradictory NOR Sin.

 

Without entering the deeper  intellectual realim of Vedas, Upnisheds and Higher Conciosness.

 

From Puranas :-

Most of the Indian Gods & Goddesses are wearing Golden Crowns on their Head, wearing lot of Golden & Diamond Jwellery ,  Best  Silken Clothes, enjoying thier Life in their Palaces !!

We all seek Boons , Guidence from the Gods mentioned in Puranas.

 

Therefore No dicothemey is involved, its Very Simple and Straight Forward.

One can allways enjoy a Spritual Life and also Lead a rich Materialistic Life Simultaneously on this Planet Earth.

 

Permalink Reply by Ruchi Mehra on March 24, 2011 at 12:34am

More from Osho :-

 

What is wrong in having money? One should not be possessive; one should be able to use it. And Jews know how to use it! One should not be miserly. Money has to be created and money has to be used. Money is a beautiful invention, a great blessing, if rightly used. It makes many things possible. Money is a magical phenomenon. If you have a ten-rupee note in your pocket, you have thousands of things in your pocket. You can have anything with those ten rupees. You can materialize a man who will massage your body the whole night! Or you can materialize food or you can materialize ANYTHING! That ten-rupee note carries many possibilities. You cannot carry all those possibilities with you if there is no note; then your life will be very limited. You can have a man who can massage your body, but then that is the only possibility you have with you. If you suddenly feel hungry or thirsty, then that man cannot do anything else. But a ten-rupee note can do many things, millions of things; it has infinite possibilities. It is one of the greatest inventions of man; there is no need to be against it. I am not against it.Use it. Don’t cling to it. Clinging is bad. The more you cling to money, the poorer the world becomes because of your clinging, because money is multiplied if it is always moving from one hand to another hand. In English we have another name for money which is more significant — it is “currency.” That simply indicates that money should always remain moving like a current. It should always be on the move from one hand to another hand. The more it moves the better.
For example, if I have a ten-rupee note and I keep it to myself, then there is only one ten-rupee note in the world. If I give it to you and you give it to somebody else and each person goes on giving, if it goes through ten hands then we have a hundred rupees, we have used a hundred rupees’ worth of utilities; the ten rupees is multiplied by ten. And Jews know how to use money; nothing is wrong in it. Yes, greed is bad. Greed means you become obsessed with money; you don’t use it as a means, it becomes the end. That is bad, and it is bad whether you are a Jew or a Jaina, Hindu or Mohammedan; it doesn’t matter.

Permalink Reply by Shanu Goyal on March 27, 2011 at 2:22am

Yes, do not possess it.......it should always be on the move......If you do not use it as means it becomes the end....nicely put.

Permalink Reply by Deepti Sachdeva on March 24, 2011 at 12:44am

It’s very easy to be spiritual when you have an abundance of money in your bank account and you don’t have to worry about buying the necessities. It’s a lot harder to focus on spirituality when you are working sixteen hours a day just to be able to buy groceries for the week, pay the mortgage, or buy your kids new shoes. Money becomes your priority at this point.

Moreover, there is no right or wrong. What are one person's thoughts are another's illusions. What is right for one person does not fit for another.

Permalink Reply by Bela Singh on March 24, 2011 at 12:52am

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Says - Prosperity and spirituality can coexist but greed and spirituality can’t coexist. Unethical means of earning money and spirituality simply cannot coexist. If you have a factory or a business, you can continue do that and still be very ethical. You don’t have to leave your industry, which may be giving employment to a few hundred or more people, for spirituality. There is no need of saying materialism is bad and leaving that you want to go towards spirituality. That is not at all necessary. You can continue doing your duty. This is what is expressed in one of the scriptures ‘Ashtavakra’ where Ashtavakra told king Janaka that he can be a king and be totally spiritual. King Janaka was the embodiment of the highest knowledge. There are many examples like this. What I usually say is ‘keep money in your pocket and not in your heart or head’. When the money is wrongly placed that is when the problem arises. In India, materialism and spirituality are not in conflict with each other. Lakshmi – the symbol of material prosperity is portrayed pressing the feet of Narayana - the symbol of spirituality. We always say LaxmiNarayana which refers to the combination of wealth and spirit. But it is very important to note that greed and spirituality don’t go together.
Unfortunately we associate negative tendencies like greed and jealousy with materialism. Even if you have to do charity, you can’t do it with an empty bowl. How can you think of feeding ten hungry children with no money at hand? Is it not your dharma to feed them? In one of the ancient scriptures in India it is said ‘Righteousness comes from wealth. Proper governance is the basis of the economy‘. I think it is all connected. And the most important is the faith in the being, the highest self - the faith that I am going to get whatever I need and whenever I need. Then you give miracle a chance. Materialism is measuring every step too much. (Then you don’t know when the stock market is going to crash and banks are going to be bankrupt.) Don’t bank your faiths on the banks but bank your faith on the divinity and the power of your own sankalpa(positive sankalapa) and thoughts.

Permalink Reply by milan bhattacharjee on March 24, 2011 at 11:35am

"Money and Spirituality"...to me it's not a subject for debate, In my believe, a debate means two different opinion on one topic. But here it is the single coin with two sides. It's not right without one. In today's world i think the most successful person is the one who has 200% life.....100% spiritual and 100% worldly. Spirituality for self and Money for others.

Namah Shivay

Milan Bhattacharjee  

Permalink Reply by Rishi Babbar on March 24, 2011 at 11:55am

Its a very interesting topic for debate and you are right that we often have heard that money does not grow on trees but according to me as much as I have learnt from law of attraction that money is in our mind so we can plant a seed of money tree in our mind and from that money tree we can take any amount of money we wants and for planting that tree we do needs a great gardener that is a great mentor who can teach us how to plant that money tree in our mind and once we have learnt that then its very easy for us to attract money and according to me Mr Suresh Padmanabhan is a Great mentor and I m sure that he can plant that money tree in everyones mind and I m also very excited to learn from such a Great personality and I m very much thankful to God that God have given me chance to associate with the NEW AGE FOUNDATION GROUP THANKS GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Permalink Reply by sudhangsu kumar ghosh on March 25, 2011 at 1:06pm

 

Money is a creation of God, so is spirituality. so both are necessary to lead a balanced life. You have to create harmony between the two.  otherwise huge problem. So balance your need and want. Again if,  what you want is bigger than what your need, please relate it to something that is a function of spirituality ; may be some social work, charity, doing something for the good of mankind. Happiness,accomplishment are related to making others happy. So dear ones, there is nothing wrong in having money as much , but you should not be its slave; you shall control ,not that it shall control you. Bigger thing is to know you, your existence, and realize that. Easier said than done, but every thing has a  beginning,once you do that you are destined to win. Why do you worry about fruites if you have the tree ( source). May god bless you. Thank you all.   Sudhangsu

Permalink Reply by Deepti Sachdeva on March 25, 2011 at 1:29pm

I feel "Money" is not the root of all evil but "Lack" of money is the root of evil. We need abundance of Money, Love & Happiness in order to be able to turn to spirituality... As they say "Bhookhe pet bhajan na hoy gopala"

Permalink Reply by Shanu Goyal on March 26, 2011 at 12:44pm

After getting sms from The New Age Foundation about the topic of debate ‘Money and Spirituality’,  my immediate reaction was “No way…..they don’t mix….what a weird topic!”. And I continued my daily chores but somewhere at the back of my mind ideas about the topic were popping up, thought process triggered and gradually the ideas streamlined. With a paper and pen in my hand, I started to pen down what all came up to the brim…..

So dear friends…….it would be a lot easier to come to the crux of the topic if we first define ‘Spirituality’. Spirituality is a state of consciousness where one realizes the fact that one is a spiritual being having a human experience. It’s a state when we are able to distinguish ‘spirit’ and ‘physical body’. With this single thought the concept of Oneness comes in. When we know that we are all connected with each other and a  part of  this Universe, everyone will understand the most mind boggling question- WHO AM I? And at this level one will reach the periphery of Spirituality. There is more to be explored if one want to reach its core. This is the point where all differences between rich and poor, good and bad, love and hate, caste and creed vanishes. What remains is the pure connection with self and others.

After understanding the true meaning of Spirituality, now the task is to connect it with MONEY. Money, is the primary need of an individual like food shelter and clothing. No doubt it is essential to sustain life but the definition changes for a person for whom it becomes essential to have a luxurious living. The definition again changes for a person for whom it becomes essential to accumulate it and the desire to do so never ends. Money remains same but the need to acquire it changes. Till the objective to earn money revolves around sustenance and giving it back to the society in any form, it aligns with the laws of Spiritualism. The principles of spiritualism are a revelation. They remind us of our relationship to Universe, our relationship to each other, and our immortality. They reveal to us that reality is a logical and fair system created by  loving Universe, to teach us that love, and unselfishness, and service to others  lead us to joy and happiness .

So the essence of Spirituality is the search to know our true selves. When we discover this deeper sense of self, we are freed from many fears that plague us unnecessarily. We discover a greater inner peace, an inner security that does not depend upon the events or circumstances in the world around. As a result, we become less self- centered, we have less need for collecting possessions and social status, become happier, more loving and spiritual.

Reaching this level of consciousness (spirituality), we still earn money but out entire purpose to have it changes. It depends as to what is our primary focus as whatever we focus upon, grows. If we set our minds upon obtaining wealth then this will assume more importance in our lives. At the same time our interest in Spiritual growth will diminish as to make a lot of money requires a lot of concentrated focus. It also requires commitment that is primarily directed outward toward the material world.

The truth is that, spiritual growth also requires a high level of focus and commitment directed inward. Whatever is important to us we will spend most of our time doing and thinking about.

If we make spiritual path our primary focus, then we will eventually attune to the forces of Universe that will ensure abundance. And if we can truly link ourselves to the Ultimate source of all abundance then how can we remain poor?

FounderPermalink Reply by Sandeep Goswamy on March 26, 2011 at 2:28pm

Most people feel that to be spiritual is to be anti material and those who are materially inclined automatically start feeling that they can not go into spirituality. This has unfortunately created a world full of either Materially Confused Spiritualists or Spiritually Confused Materialists :-)

This confusion translates into their realities of life and we find enough examples of that around us and this pains me at times. I see spiritual people resisting money in their lives and materialists avoiding spirituality in their lives...

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