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Happiness and Money

 Ravana, Dashanana, Lankapathi. A many of many names and many more words, Ravana had it all- ten heads worth knowledge of Vedas, Puranas and Fine Arts, 20 hands worth power, a city of Gold to rule. He had knowledge, power and money. During his days, knowledge was free to those who sought it, provided they had the dedication, wealth came to those who worked for it and power came to those talented enough to wield it. Yet the combination of the 3 failed to assist Ravana in his battle against Rama. The lack of character cost him a city of gold, his powerful army and finally his life. Money couldn’t buy him victory. This is a very good example that money can’t buy everything. Rama purely won by the strength of his character. 

However, the argument that the world has become more money centric is used by many to disprove the above argument. Knowledge has a monetary price and value, and to come to power, you need to have money to campaign in democracy or money to pay the army in a coup. The very fact that everything has a price leads many to believe that money can buy everything. However, this is far from the truth. Working under the former assumption, many people have lost sight of the means to justify the ends. Drug-Cartel lords, underworld leaders and many more have taken the wrong path to achieve their monetary success. But most of them forget to realize that money can’t buy the two most important things in life- character and satisfaction. No matter how much money you have, you can’t buy a good character and no matter how much money you make, you can’t get satisfaction from it. And a combination of the above two is what is required for a happy and content life. And no matter how much money or power you have, if you are unhappy, and not content in life, it is not a life worth leading. 

Rich people commit suicide due to lack of happiness and poor people lead a happy, contended life. Due to the varying definition happiness, a person’s happiness may not depend on money. Granted, we live in a money centric world and hence we need money to sustain ourselves and a bit of extra money as a cushion during hard times, but beyond that money that is excess is just money that is wasted. 

Money can grant temporary material satisfaction but on a long term, it can’t provide personal satisfaction. That can only come if you have the right character, personality and contentment in life. It is as the Bhagavad Gita says- only your Karma affects you. No amount of money can buy good karma and erase the bad ones. Hence money can’t buy everything.

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