Man Must Earn Gold

Meaning: According to the Yajurved 8/63 — to run the household properly men must earn gold, animals and money by their efforts. The household is not complete without them. The progress of family-life lies in diligent work.

Message: No work in this world can be carried out without money, then how can the household run without it? The reality is that man earns money as a householder only and simultaneously provides for the economic and other needs of those in brahmacharya ashram, vanaprastha ashram and sanyas ashram. To earn the money for the family’s expenses and to put that money to good use, both are important. Without that, proper administration of the household will become impossible. It is necessary for man to earn for maintaining his family, but the means for the income must be pure.

There are four media for earning: farming or agriculture, business, service and labor. The earning form agriculture can be considered pure, only when there is no exploitation of the laborers and they are paid proper wages. The earning of a businessman is pure when he does not adulterate the goods and does not sell at exorbitant rates by creating artificial shortages. He should charge only the proper interest and pay full taxes to the government. A person in service whether big or small, should discharge his duties with sincerity, should not accept bribes and should not take advantage of the property of the government or the institute for personal use. A laborer must not shirk work and work with full dedication. Money snatched from the poor, the orphans, accumulated by exploiting others and earned through improper means, is impure. For the happiness and prosperity of the household, economic purity is very essential.

Just as one should be alert and cautious about the (purity of) means for income, similarly one must also pay careful attention in putting the income to good use. The husband and the wife are two wheels in the chariot of the household. Whereas it is the duty of the husband to earn, it is the wife’s duty to do various works in the house. If the husband treads the wrong path, is given to addiction or is suffering from disease, the economic arrangement for the family will break down and all will suffer hardships.

Religious books have beautifully described the good use of money as ‘…. Dharmaya yashasearthaaya aatmane swajenaayacha.’ The earned income should be divided into five parts. One part should be given for religion and one in donation for achieving fame. With that only the activities of vanaprastha ashram and sanyaas ashram are carried out and arrangements made for schools for brahmachaaris and so on. One part should be ploughed back into business for earning more or should be kept in reserve for future. The remaining amount should be used for self and near ones.

Those householders who strictly stick to purity in earning and are discreet as described above in using the income always remain happy, contented and prosperous.

Those who have not found their true wealth, which is the radiant joy of Being and the deep, unshakeable peace that comes with it, are beggars, even if they have great material wealth. They are looking outside for scraps of pleasure or fulfillment, while they have a treasure within that not only includes all those things but is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.