How much money do I need?

As far as my memory can recall, money has been a part of everyday live. Mortgages and loans, assets and liabilities, investments and spendings have been as much a part of everyday casual conversation. Initially among the family, then with friends and then with myself. Money, it seems has been stitched into the fabric called life. 

Another colour in this fabric has the hue called happiness. Initially, happiness has been directly proportional to materialistic pursuits. Beginning with toys, then clothes and finally with “assets”. But materialistic happiness is a weird beast, the more you feed it, the more it grows. But that is how we have been conditioned, aren’t we? Money brings in happiness.

Gurus and spiritual leaders have always been very vocal about how materialistic happiness is only eyewash. The real happiness has to come from within, from within the soul. Money they say is perhaps the worst thing that could happen to mankind. Money brings in comparison among peers, money leads to murders and wars, money leads to unhappiness.

I, however, beg to differ.

Money definitely does not bring in happiness. However, being a mortal and an active member of the society, I do feel the need to have money. Money, I agree, doesn’t bring in complete happiness, but it does help in contributing to the overall happiness of an individual. So when gurus, with due respect to them, and life coaches advise that we should give up money, I laugh. These very people own acres of land and tonnes of money. They sell their books and accept donations from devotees. We all definitely need money.

But how much?

I had much earlier written an article about how not to be part of the rat race. I need just as much money so as to keep myself alive and fulfil my materialistic needs. I need money to buy books that I crave. I need money to eat good food that I love. I need money to have a roof over my head which I need. But I need it just so as to keep me walking and not running myself to death along with the other rats.

The more I run with the other rats, the more my hunger for materialistic cravings increases. This eventually becomes greed. It is this point of time which I feel all of us need to avoid. It is this point of time when we give ourselves up to the devil. It is this point of time when we stop caring about our peers or even our brothers in the lower social strata. It is this point that fears me. It is this point of time which makes us think we do not need the poor, we need to rise no matter what, we need to cheat and we need to fight and we need to kill. It is this point, which makes us what we are not.

I was reading about the popular hedge fund manager who got people to give him valuable but seemingly harmless information. And the column writer had specifically mentioned that these were all good people. So what made them cheat, without realizing that they were doing something wrong? Was it success? No, these individuals were already at the pinnacle of success. Was it fame? They did get their share of it, though not in the manner they would want it to touch their lives. The answer is fairly simple. Greed.

Money is not the devil, greed is. Just because I live an everyday life with people, sharing emotions and feelings, does not mean I am not a saint. I am a saint. I am a saint because I refuse to fall into this trap of killing my own brethren for greed. I am happy with an average rating at work. I do just about enough to earn enough for my needs. No, money is not evil. The noose of restraint has to be put around the animal called greed.

How much money do I need then? Just enough. Just about enough.