Today is Akshay Tritiya.

Hinduism celebrates spiritual progress as well as material prosperity, today is one day where material prosperity is celebrated, and any new venture started on this day is said to bring wonderful returns. So if nothing else, people just go buy gold. 

All the same, it is important to know the rightful place of material prosperity. Recently someone I know confused ‘motivated by profit’ with ‘we all work for money’. What a dangerous lack of fundamentals, and unfortunately this seems to be a trend in India, not just in our generation. I even remember how my boss (when I was an engineer) sat my colleague down one day and taught her to fake bills so that she could get three times the compensation. 

It is one thing to receive remuneration for your services. It is quite another to be dishonest, to take a bribe or be motivated by profit. Excuses like ‘everyone does it’, ‘It’s not harming anyone’, ‘I’m compensating by helping others’, etc, are all just pathetic. Like I said earlier, the light greys of our life turn to black before we know it. Believe it or not, it IS possible to live honestly, earning purely by honest means, and to thrive, to have plenty. 

Money earned dishonestly will be lost to dishonest people – people who cheat in construction, greedy doctors who prescribe unnecessary medicines and procedures, fake gurus convincing you to part with your money, etc. When you eat food bought with dishonest money, it destroys your viveka, your capacity for discernment. 

So a very Happy Akshay Tritiya to you, and may this day transform the way you look at material prosperity 

Oh, and let us please look inwards and explore our own tendencies to be dishonest please, instead of thinking about others. Be the change; no use pointing fingers.