Sanatan Weekly Online
Issue No. 268 · March 27, 2005
Editor: Mr. Pruthviraj Purushottam Hajare

Articles

Need For Spirituality

Common Misconceptions

Principles of Spirituality for Faster Progress

Did You Know?

Clarification of Doubts

Messages to Seekers

Children's Corner

Upcoming Religious Festivals

Spiritual Experiences

Implied Meaning

ESP Test


 





Need For Spirituality
"Wealth can be an enhancement and a peril in raising children."

    USA. During the Internet boom of a few years ago, several trends were seen. One such trend was ‘financial parenting’ for proper child raising by newly rich parents. According to news reports from New York, the newly minted multi-millionaires of the Internet gold rush wanted more from their financial advisors than just estate planning - they wanted help in preventing wealth from corrupting their children's values. During the Internet boom years, when the number of newly rich people was on the rise, Merrill Lynch and Co., Inc. had seen a growing demand for 'financial parenting' services that help with the problems some families face in dealing with sudden wealth. "Some clients may be concerned that their children won't grow up with the sensitivities or values they had," said Susan Thomson, a spokeswoman for Merrill Lynch's Private Client Group that served families whose assets total at least $100 million. "Wealth can be an enhancement and a peril," said Scott Cooper, who headed Merrill's family office.

    Today most people believe that money can buy everything, even happiness. If this were true, the newly moneyed people would be the happiest on earth and would have nothing to be concerned about. However, the above report is one among many that shows that even rich people have concerns about how the wealth will impact their children and their spiritual values. There are many such concerns regarding children of rich parents becoming spoiled rich children. As rightly pointed out by Mr. Cooper: "Wealth can be an enhancement and a peril."

    For that matter, too much of any object, be it excessive eating, or obsession with love or career, that gives us happiness can be a cause of great unhappiness. Hence, the very object which gave us pleasure at some point can later give us pain. This proves that happiness does not lie in the object, but in us, and these objects are nothing but external triggers that temporarily expose the happiness that lies within us. At the same time, everything around us is ever-changing, including its ability to expose the happiness within us.

    Is there a way to permanently tap into the happiness within? Spiritual practice* is the inward journey that helps us tap into this unlimited source of happiness, namely, the Blissful, divine soul within.

- Editor.

*If one is not currently doing any spiritual practice, or to complement one's current spiritual practice, one can begin with the simple, but powerful spiritual practice of chanting or constantly remembering God's Name according to one's religion. Chanting also acts as a useful complement to any spiritual path one may be already following. It is a practice recommended for the current times by Holy texts and Saints of all religions.

  • Seekers in the initial stages of spiritual practice (less than one year) can repeat The Name of the Lord as per their religion (refer to Issue 3 Clarification of Doubts section for details).

  • Seekers who have been doing regular spiritual practice for over a year or so can determine the appropriate chant for them from the experiment given in Issue 124, Message to Seekers section.



Links