Don’t equate the essential with the exclusive

A person driving a car needs fuel, but if they carry with them nothing except fuel and if they imagine that fuel can satisfy their hunger and their thirst, then they are mistaken — horrendously, tragically, ludicrously mistaken.

Money is often the stuff of our strongest fantasies. Such longing is understandable given that we need money for our necessities. Yet more often than not, our longing transmogrifies into an unbalanced, uni-dimensional obsession that has little to do with our needs, and everything to do with our wants, wants that are often triggered within us by our corporate controlled media.

To let money acquire exclusive control over our aspirations and actions is to set ourselves up for disaster. The more we recognize that we are meant to be more than money-minting machines, the more we can strive to ensure that money aids our purpose and doesn’t become our purpose. Otherwise, we court the deadly danger of money slowly, but sinisterly treading over and then trampling upon all the other aspects of our life, aspects that we hold sacred, aspects that make our life worth living. The Bhagavad-gita (16.13-15) outlines the money-centered megalomaniac mentality that makes people murderers of their rivals.

Those who drink car fuel hurt themselves. Similarly, those who live only for money end up hurting themselves. Only when we remember that money is meant to be used for a higher purpose can be keep money in its proper place in our priorities. Gita wisdom offers us a complete understanding of our being and of the purpose of our being, wherein the aspiration for pure eternal love — love for Krishna and all living beings in relationship with Krishna — helps us redefine money as a resource meant for service and contribution, not for aggrandizement and exploitation, thus contributing to our deep inner fulfillment.