The wealth that you already have || Acharya Prashant, with youth (2013)
Question : Sir, how to get a wealthy life?
Speaker : First we need to understand that what is ‘wealth’.
Commonly, you understand ‘wealth’ as something that you accumulate, something that you possess. So wealth is something that you acquire. This is the common conception of wealth. This is the notion that comes to your mind when someone uses the word ‘wealth’.
Something to acquire, same as you acquire your identities, you acquire your certificate and money. ‘Wealth’ as commonly understood is not just an accumulation of certain riches.
See what all we accumulate. We accumulate relationships, we accumulate prestige, we accumulate certain reputation, and that is what we commonly call as ‘wealth’. This is the general notion of wealth. So, what do we usually mean when we say ‘wealth’? We usually mean things we have obtained from outside, things which not only include money but name, fame, a certain social credit.
Now moving to a more fundamental question. Why do we gather all this? There must be a certain reason or cause when someone acquires all this. Why does this accumulation take place at all?
It is a very funny thing. There is this child and you tell the child that life is worthless unless you have acquired this, and that, and that. Society says, “Life is worthless unless you have money, reputation and power.” Obviously, the child is not born with this notion. You tell that to the child. One, “You must have money, reputation and power. Only then life is worth-living.” Two, the society says, “Only I can give you money, reputation and power.”
Now combine statements one and two, and you will know the reason we acquire wealth. What is happening in this process? Now see carefully. Statement one says, “Your life is worthless without money, reputation and power.” Statement two says, “Only I can give you all these.” Now combine both the statements.
Statement one says, “Your life is worthless unless you have a quantity A.” Statement two says, “Only I can give you A.” Hence the conclusion, “Become my slave otherwise your life is worthless. Only I can make your life worthwhile.” We do not acquire all this out of our free will. We have been conditioned to acquire all this.
What do you think, why would a man in his right senses keep running after accumulating all this? He sends out a thousand cards on New Year, on Diwali, and on such occasions to maintain his network of relationships. There is an urge in him that I want more money and more possessions. Why any man in his right senses would do all that? Because it has been filled deeply into him that unless you do all this, your life is worthless.
It is not his own understanding. He has been conditioned to believe that unless you have this, life is nothing. He has never experienced life on his own, he has just believed that this must be true. So he goes on accumulating. And the more he accumulates, the more he proves that he is a slave, slave of the same forces that are making him accumulate. This is the truth of what we usually call as ‘wealth’.
This wealth is something that you have but there is another wealth. And this is not about what you have, but about who you are. Now this wealth cannot be given to you by anybody, and sure enough, that it cannot be taken away by anybody.
The first kind of wealth leaves you highly insecure, because the wealth that came from outside, can also go back to the outside. Somebody else gave you that reputation, and somebody else can take away that reputation. Your reputation is in the minds of others, and others can change their mind. So you are highly insecure. The first kind of wealth generates a deep fear within you, and makes life miserable.
The second kind of wealth leaves you secure, because it is about who you are, what you are, and that cannot be taken away by anybody. It is about your understanding, it is about your intelligence. And it’s about the shine in your being, wherever you are, in whatever situation. And that nobody can give you and nobody can take away from you. It comes to you with your existence. It is there with you because of the very fact that you exist as a human being. But it remains hidden when you keep running after the first kind of wealth. Are you getting it?
When you are run to accumulate, to get wealth, you totally forget that you are already wealthy. It’s such a funny thing, totally amusing. In your race to acquire wealth, you forget that you are already wealthy, that the wealth is already with you, and no one can take it. It’s value is far greater than anything you can possess, than anything you can ever get.
You all are surprised because you don’t know about that wealth. That is why you run after the first kind of wealth.
That second kind of wealth is your own being. The very fact that you can understand what is happening right now, is that wealth. It is not insignificant at all. It is not a small thing at all.
(Pointing at the camera) Look at the wonder of science, this camera. It keeps on recording all that I say and it never misses anything. But the poor fellow never understands anything. Sitting here, in a few minutes, you have understood a lot, and that is such a supreme wealth, nobody can give it to you. Science can’t give it to you, society can’t give it to you.
You have it and you can’t lose it. It can remain hidden, but you can’t lose it.
We have spent our lives chasing the first kind. Just explore the real one, the second one, and things would be different. You will be less afraid, you will feel more secure, you will be less apprehensive, less fearful when you find this second kind of wealth. And that is worth it.
Excerpted from a ‘Shabd-Yog’ session. Edited for clarity.
