Money is an important part of our life. There is no doubt about it. Without it we can not survive in today's materialistic world. We need money to buy any thing and every thing we require for living on daily basis. We need it for our food, clothing, housing, transport, recreation, education, health and what not. We have resources for our consumption provided by nature around us. But except air and water, everything else needs to be bought with money. Sometimes, even water is also packaged as a purchasable commodity and if you need pure oxygen for your breathing, you have to have money to buy it.
In the above scenario, there is no scope to say that we do not need money or money is not important for us. But important is ok, the question is how important money is in our lives and how much money we need. Actually, when money fulfills our basic needs like food, shelter, clothing and comfortable life style, do we need more? Definitely not. But who will decide what is the optimum or adequate amount of money needed by a particular individual? If the limit is decided by us and the same is not influenced by our greed for more money, we will find that there is enough money or resources in this world to cater to the needs of each one of us, but no amount of money can fulfill the greed of man kind.
If we look at money from another angle, more money may mean more comfort, more power, more respect in some society; but does it mean more happiness, more contented life. Probably not. On the contrary more money leads to more unhappiness. More money begets more desire to earn more money and its a vicious cycle. So it may be a better idea to stay happy with that amount of money which fulfils our basic needs and allow us to lead a comfortable life. Any amount more than that may not bring unhappiness if it comes naturally. But when we hanker after it or greed for it, we are definitely in for trouble.
There is a saying that if you are successful in your chosen field, if your sincere and hard working, you have no need to run after money. On the contrary money will run after you. There is fair amount of truth in the above saying. Probably money is a commodity, which will elude you if go after it purposefully. But if you do your work diligently to reach certain height in your chosen profession, money will come to you as a by-product of your success and professional competence.
So what should we advice our children for? To run for money or to achieve excellence in life. I think if our children pursue a good education, arm oneself with knowledge and core competence in a subject of one's liking and tirelessly work for excellence in one's own field, money will never be a deterrent. Rather money will come as a proof of success.
But can everybody go after the prescription of success I just laid out above. Probably not. Because there are countless number of children from less well off parents, who cannot wait indefinitely for success to come to their way with the promise of money and comfortable life. So achieving excellence in their chosen field becomes a luxury in their life. In their pursuit of two square meals for the family, they compromise with knowledge and remain content with the money the get with their hard labour. But mostly money of their dream, money in abundance remains a mirage in their life time. The situation may change after a few generations. A descendant of them may succeed sometime some decades down the line. But that is another story, another dream.
In the above scenario, there is no scope to say that we do not need money or money is not important for us. But important is ok, the question is how important money is in our lives and how much money we need. Actually, when money fulfills our basic needs like food, shelter, clothing and comfortable life style, do we need more? Definitely not. But who will decide what is the optimum or adequate amount of money needed by a particular individual? If the limit is decided by us and the same is not influenced by our greed for more money, we will find that there is enough money or resources in this world to cater to the needs of each one of us, but no amount of money can fulfill the greed of man kind.
If we look at money from another angle, more money may mean more comfort, more power, more respect in some society; but does it mean more happiness, more contented life. Probably not. On the contrary more money leads to more unhappiness. More money begets more desire to earn more money and its a vicious cycle. So it may be a better idea to stay happy with that amount of money which fulfils our basic needs and allow us to lead a comfortable life. Any amount more than that may not bring unhappiness if it comes naturally. But when we hanker after it or greed for it, we are definitely in for trouble.
There is a saying that if you are successful in your chosen field, if your sincere and hard working, you have no need to run after money. On the contrary money will run after you. There is fair amount of truth in the above saying. Probably money is a commodity, which will elude you if go after it purposefully. But if you do your work diligently to reach certain height in your chosen profession, money will come to you as a by-product of your success and professional competence.
So what should we advice our children for? To run for money or to achieve excellence in life. I think if our children pursue a good education, arm oneself with knowledge and core competence in a subject of one's liking and tirelessly work for excellence in one's own field, money will never be a deterrent. Rather money will come as a proof of success.
But can everybody go after the prescription of success I just laid out above. Probably not. Because there are countless number of children from less well off parents, who cannot wait indefinitely for success to come to their way with the promise of money and comfortable life. So achieving excellence in their chosen field becomes a luxury in their life. In their pursuit of two square meals for the family, they compromise with knowledge and remain content with the money the get with their hard labour. But mostly money of their dream, money in abundance remains a mirage in their life time. The situation may change after a few generations. A descendant of them may succeed sometime some decades down the line. But that is another story, another dream.
