Too much materialism can backfire. Many don’t get it. What is there in too much money. While explaining our basic needs with regard to retirement, someone was telling me this: You may be making say for instance one lakh of rupees per month in service. But would you be spending your entire earnings? NO. Typically we Indians spend only 30 to 40% of our gross earnings and have the habit of saving/investing the huge chunk of the reminder. One reason Indians are getting richer is this. Frugal lifestyle and savings habit. So for 1 lac income earner, it means, he and his family can subsist on mere 30 k or 40 k per month which will be their monthly needs maximum except under unforeseen circumstances – good or bad. You learn to live within this money bracket. You train your tastes, expenses, spending style everything to stay within this expenditure band. Even if your income is to increase to say 2 lac per month, you are going to live within the same limits mostly. Your spending style may change but the percentage of savings is going to remain equally proportional to your past savings percentage. You stick to the same 30-40 or even say 50-60% spending bracket. Whatever strata of society you may belong to, you are going to go for major savings.
On retirement, it is just that, your earnings come down to that 30-40% spending expenditure limit of yours. You won’t be having that buffer to spare, otherwise you are fine. So in retirement, with pension or with PF/Gratuity investments, you can still maintain the same standard of living that you are used to. You don’t have to sacrifice anything as you fear. What you shall be missing is only your SAVINGS PART. The savings from your service years is going to be your nest egg which shall be passing on to your legal heirs someday, should it remain unused by you. Well, this is how we Indians have lived for decades at least ever since the 9-5 routine became the standard norm of our society. With minor adjustments you will be fine on retirement. You will be aware of the non availability of the surplus that used to go into investments like in your working years. You will be factoring it in long before you retire in your scheme of things. You will retune yourself to ‘the new normal’ of sticking to within 30-40% range at mind level that you have been adhering to anyway.
So tell me what is the reason to work your head off ? You accumulate more, you make your sons lazy! The greatest incentive to go after our economic goals is poverty. This is why you see the sons not succeeding as well as the fathers even in Bollywood. The fathers never had the cushioning. The fathers had to toil at every step of their way to glory. The sons had it easy so the inspiration part was missing.
What happens when you build an empire with the massive savings and investments you stack up in your lifetime? You are going to live the rest of your life only on the same 30-40% income level that you are conditioned to mentally. The savings are going to go to your kids – and if they are used well, it is fine. Otherwise, the mere existence of the nest eggs can dull our children and kill their spirit. They are spoilt right before they are born. Hundred years earlier, we don’t know who lived in the space where we live today. What is going to happen to our fine jewelry.
I find too much materialism sickening really. I believe strongly in helping in whatever way ease someone’s life if we can. I believe in sharing your fruits a little at least in your own lifetime with poorer relatives, poorer friends or in general with the community you are part of. That plough back or giving it back is absolutely essential. Do something to pass on your life earnings in whatever shape to next generations who may benefit from it. That is the only legacy that is going to last long. Excess of anything must go into MEANINGFUL charity or strengthening of existing institutions that inculcate values such as schools, art or any kind of creativity that can engage future generations resourcefully, homes for the aged/destitute if we cannot create one ourselves. That improving of quality of life for fellow humans is a matchless service.
The leading Malaysian business tycoon, a billionaire Hindu of course and one of the richest in the world, Anand Krishnan who owns Maxis etc., had his son becoming a Buddhist monk, forsaking worldly pleasures at the age of 18.
There is a limit to materialism. Now we have the younger generation opting out of marriage and parenthood fearing responsibilities. What will they do in their old age with the huge bank balance?
Our friends and relatives come home not because they are lacking for food. They are coming for that human warmth, which is what life is all about. Treat them well. Feeding people at home is one of the greatest punyas, the good karma of which shall be passing on to your children. ‘Aditi (guest) devo bhava’, we say in Sanskrit. God comes to your doorstep in the ‘roop’ of guests. IN our Mylapore home, nobody left without being fed. Our home was known for hospitality. People remember how my grandma FED people. Never regretted whatever my grandfather gave away for charity toward temples and institutions. Even when left with bare minimum we could still make it better in life. We Hindus have haldi-kumkum etc., at home for this reason: to feed the Sumangalis on auspicious occasions. I recall my grandma saying ‘elai vizhanum’ – which means ‘the (banana) leaf must fall (into garbage) from our home as much as possible. It meant we must host guests at home who eat heartily (the food we serve on banana leaf – typical south Indian custom). The tongue may not bless, but the stomach will. It is the blessings like these that save our children when times could get critical. Those of us who have made it against all odds know, our parents and grandparents saved us with their good deeds and good karma.
Positive vibes is about this really. This generosity, this broadmindedness, this empathy. Do your bit and don’t brag about it. Stay low key. Touch people’s lives. Let the business tycoons get filthy rich. They are going to take a million janams. Let us reduce our Karmic footprint on earth. One great way of doing this is by being sensitive enough to give help without being asked for it. Affect someone’s life in a way to totally transform it. Even those things as buttermilk distribution in hot sun in our Chennai streets is a great effort.
There is no point in always thinking in terms of I, ME, MYSELF, MY WIFE, MY KIDS. You are going to get a fresh batch of all of these in your next janam! I am sure, every Hindu believes in rebirths. Not all of us can become monks but we can lead a Dharmic life even within our family system. We call this LOUKEEKATHIL DHARMAM as my Guru would put it. You can lead the perfectly ‘loukeeka’ life which means familial life – eating well, enjoying life, admiring aesthetics such as art etc. But every single act of yours must be in pursuit of Dharma. All roads must lead to Dharma eventually. The order of things is: DHARMA, ARTHA, KAMA, MOKSHA. Lead a dharmic life, prosper with your hard work, enjoy life’s pleasures and then finally make your way to Moksha. This is how a Hindu life must be lived.
Hundred years later, in the nether waiting for your next janam and the carrying vehicle called a mother’s womb, you may wish you had lived differently! All the materialism of the world could make no sense. Our loukik dharmic life never dissuades anyone from making money and living a prosperous life. Its only what you are going to do with the wealth you are building that matters. ‘Immai, Marumai’ – we say, we must live well both in this janam and in the next. Do something that shall guarantee the next part.
A regular visit to orphanages and homes for destitute and special schools for kids born with a range of debilitating physical and mental disabilities – can totally change you at heart. Those who do not understand the purpose of life will learn their hardest lessons on reality then. Its a must for everyone to step into these most blessed places of God every now and then. It can have a huge impact on your psyche. I don’t believe in keeping everything to ourselves. Yes, of course, we must first take care of ourselves and we don’t have to cut corners to take care of others. Beyond that, we have to do our bit to causes. Too much of anything is poison and this first applies to money. Also this is a reason why star kids are bored to the extent of taking to doping.
Why is religious faith important: You can break down complex faith into blocks of simpler logic. Faith keeps repeating boring messages underscoring the virtues of charity and righteousness. May be that can get stuck into some dumb heads?! Where there is no discouragement to vices by way of religious worship in family life, materialism shall assume mammoth proportions of significance. Success in life will sadly get equated success in material life. NOw those who lead the society with their material acquisitions are only calling the shots. They decide the governments. And this becomes the vicious cycle. It is so banal because there is nothing in this lifecycle other than physical satiation in every way. There is no scope for enriching the soul, the mind. This is the reason for rapid rise in mental health issues of late. Caring and sharing are in our blood: human beings are social animals basically. We herded that way for millennia before we settled down in institutions of marriage and civil societies with culture and laid-down code of morals. Nurturing our genetic traits of sharing is therefore crucial for our very existence.
EVen an autowalah in Chennai makes 1000 bucks easily if he drives for 6-8 hours in the city. My regular one says he makes 2 k everyday without having to join hands with Uber or Ola. Money making is not exactly difficult. What you do with that money is the question. Use your resources to make planet earth a little bit better place to live in than how you found it. Giving a helping hand to fellow humans, playing your part in protecting nature and environment, sustaining institutions of academics, arts, skills and providing for upkeep of the children of the lesser god, those destitute and those underprivileged and sick and poor and those special kids – is what will be the legacy you leave behind. You may not be remembered long after you are gone, but what you help grow will have your name printed on the wind that shall stay forever. Enjoy your life full quota, but take care of your Karma footprint.
*************************************
Inspiration comes from various sources. A friend’s brother who was doing exceptionally well in the US returned to India and is engaged wholly in social service catering to 500 meals a day for children’s hospitals besides rendering other humanitarian services. From lifting the Gods in temple festivals to attending to invalid elderly living alone, their team is paying yeoman service to society that cannot be measured in financial terms. We call this ‘vana prastham’ in Hindu Dharma. Over 60 or when the Hindu parents would become grandparents, in ancient Bharat/India, the older people would leave their homes and make their way through forests substisting on bare minimum such as fruit and root vegetables there for survival until death came to them by way of a wild animal attack of disease or natural calamity such as river flooding. During this time, their aspiration is to seek ‘nirvana’ or ‘moksha’ as they hone their spiritual quotient. This after-60 part of a Hindu life used to be entirely devoted to seeking ‘liberation’ which is how our ancestors lived for centuries. That much detachment they purposely developed giving up material pleasures for the supreme bliss of getting eliminated from the birth cycle.To me what my friend’s brother and his wife are doing is modern day Vanaprastham. Not all of us are after money ruthlessly. Our society needs atmas like them to show us what is the point of taking this birth as a human being. :Pre-occupation with sensory pleasures in this mature age is not going to do us good. It means we never grew up. We choose to live by our own set standards that define us. Loukeekathil Dharma: I am seeing this at a very advanced level with my own eyes. Get influenced by right things in life. Leave a mark but don’t expect others to acknowledge the part you played in the scheme of things. Those who plant coconut trees and mango trees are not doing it for themselves. They are doing it for the future genertions remember. We are sitting under such a shady banyan tree that was planted by our forefathers.
vijiravindran's 