O Lakshmi! I am born in this country with the heritage of wealth. May the friends of Lord Siva (Kubera, Lord of wealth and Kiriti, Lord of Fame), come to me. May these (having take their abode with me), bestow on me fame and prosperity.

National Spirit

I WANT WEALTH BECAUSE MY NATION WANTS IT FOR GROWTH

I WANT WEALTH BECAUSE MY CULTURE INSPIRES GROWTH

People say that concept of Nation in South Asia is pretty new, not older than 400 to 500 years. Before that it was area divided in small Kingdoms maintained by Kings and fighting with neighbors to expand their kingdom. And countries like INDIA? It is just 60 years old country! They have long way to go before they are called developed Nation. I certainly defer to this point after reading Shri Suktam�s shlok number 7. It is right that Modern concept of India as republic Nation came into existence for last 60 years but�ONE NATION FOR ONE CULTURE is thousands of years old thought process in this culture. Of course, Shri Suktam is not the only evident which certify, that concept of one Nation is not new to my Countrymen. It is special thought sung since thousands years. There are numerous such verses in Atharva Ved, which explains one Nation theory and benefits of it but due to our inability to decipher message written in Sanskrit, we accept what is taught to us by history written by colonial influenced historians.

In context of wealth, life and Economics, Sages when utter �Give me wealth because I am born on this great land� has significance in terms of progress provided by this land to her citizens. It explains connection between National Spirit and wealth management. I can be very sure for asking something when I have full faith. Here, Author has full faith in motherland and her strengths to make his life happy. It shows importance of National Spirit.

76 years ago, when United States of America was shaken by great economic depression, then president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took his campaign for the presidency by putting this words in speech: “Faith in America, faith in our tradition of personal responsibility, faith in our institutions, and faith in ourselves demands that we all recognize the new terms of the old social contract.”� And 75 years later, president elect , Barack Obama called for the same Faith! Faith in Nation, Faith in Values! Both the presidents in bad economic conditions, asked for re-appraisal of values. (USA is a strong nation in current time and I want to show that even Strong Nation in Bad condition calls for basic value system reforms) Shri Suktam in this shlok suggests the same appraisal of values and faith in them. I am born on this great land which has all possibilities and I must gain wealth for pride of the nation. Since last 2000 to 5000 years, we have seen a dangerous erosion of the rules and principles that have allowed our market to work and our economy to thrive (And management like Satyam to fraud). Instead of thinking about what’s good for INDIA or what’s good for business, a mentality has crept into certain corners of New Delhi (or Mumbai or any corporate house) and the business world that says,�”What�s good for me is good enough.”� And there where Economy fails to sustain after certain level of growth. (American president Obama has already made this point in his speech many times.) Remember one thing here, you are not the only living entity on this planet and one cannot survive without healthy environment � be it virus or human. Self-centered earnings at one point become poison and falls like a card castle.

Sadly, even after 60+ years of reestablished as a nation, we lack National Spirit. Not only in our day to day life but also in our greatest dream, there is no trace of National Spirit. And with such spirit, it is not only difficult but is impossible to become developed nation. You and I will die living for 50 years but our coming generation will surely curse us for demolition of value systems.

FRIENDS

Devasakha is used for Kuber( Friend of God Shiva). Kuber is known for his unlimited wealth. So that means, Shri Suktam asks for making wealthy friends! No, not at all. By word �Devsakha�, author wants to become friend of God. Friendship is a relation between souls having common charateritics. You cannot be my true friend if we don�t have common purpose, common way of living and enjoying life so when author asks God�s friendship, he suggests acquiring God like characteristics so that eternal relation with God can establish. If you want to be friend of Kuber, earn like him, manage wealth like him and give like him.

Learnings:

1. National spirit drives the Economy and not individual-centric efforts.
2. Friendship is the relation having common purpose and selfless love. To become friend of the best in Society, I need to become the best.
3. One Nation � One Planet; No wars � No Conflict.

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���� Connect the dots�to enlighten!

���� Wow, �Fear of unknown origin�, sounds like a plan. I think it is a disease or illusion but let me�think as i am surviving another Friday evening. Yes, Its 7:00 PM and I grounded another difficult case. I did what I can do but still there is a fear on back of my mind that did I screwed more than what I think? I don�t know what that is but for now I would like to name it as, �fear of unknown origin.��My internal scorpion�had already started chanting the tunes�of denial in order to increase my level of confidence in this moment of quite. And, to distract myself from this, I started working on my Vedic learning task. I thought of searching online the relevance of Spirituality and economy.�

�������The Network of Spiritual Progressives defines spiritual people as �all those whose deepest values lead them to challenge the ethos of selfishness and materialism that has led people into a frantic search for money and power and away from a life that places love, kindness, generosity, peace, non-violence, social justice, awe and wonder at the grandeur of creation, thanksgiving, humility and joy at the center of our lives.��

���� …Philosophers learned from Kant that ethics is autonomous with respect to religion�

���� �Plato created the figure of king-philosopher, combining power and wisdom as the excellent leader. Spirituality was for Plato an intellectual and emotional search for an inner enlightenment. A physical, mental and spiritual training was needed to reach enlightenment and to become a good leader�

���� Have you felt that sometimes you are so much involved in minute details that you miss the boat? That�s what happening here. We know everything while knowing nothing and vice versa.

���� Well, let�s try to connect the dots, my fear, definition of spiritual people & quotes from Plato and Kant as well as missing the main problem has one motive which inclines me to work more and more on our ancient literature. I am thankful to Nisarg for raising the question to involve Sri Suktam in our Monday learning. We need that enlightenment in the form of our remaining spiritual training so as to become king-philosopher.

���� As per economy, ecology & spirituality: Toward a theory and practice of sustainability, there is a growing gap between rich and poor and accelerating environmental and social disintegration which offer powerful testimony to the failure of conventional development practice in countries of both South and North. This failure has given birth to a global effort to build commitment to an alternative citizen’s vision of human progress grounded in commitment to just, inclusive, and sustainable human societies. Most of the times we do things because someone told us, we heard or�read somewhere. That means someone drives your life and not you. Yes, everybody is driving someone else. Countries are landing their products and money to other country for survival. And still we are having falling stock market, rising prices, layoffs and decreasing spirituality?

���� Remember as Richard Saul Wurman well said, �Learning can be defined as the process of remembering what you are interested in.� Sri suktam brings spirituality and materialistic life together as close as anybody can get. So, what now? We need help and nobody is helping us. This situation requires self-learning and enlightenment. We think on materialistic life but forget our self and vice versa. Yes, we are so away from self that even while calling our own number from our own cell phone states , � please check the number and dial again� or � this number is busy please dial after sometime.� We have to call our self from our internal spiritual network as the outer cell phones (materialistic world) don�t connect us to our self before we leave materialistic world (die). Happiness is inside and we had to reveal and cherish that. More inclination towards the outer world causes loss of attachment of self and increasing confusions. And, that�s what the essence of Sri Suktam is.

���� So, let�s gather on the common spiritual background of Vedic learnings and try to understand the maze of life, economy and spirituality with the help of Sri Suktam.�

���� We invite your dear suggestions and warm critics.

~ Taral Sharma

-image courtesy: flickr