Spiritual Dimension Of Wealth

Humans have always aspired to elevate their consciousness to a higher spiritual level. Many practitioners and gurus have endeavoured this rather challenging and uncommon journey with the conviction that this is the true mission of human life. While for many people this path remains entirely closed throughout their lives due to their excessive material orientation, few know about this. Still, very few are blessed with and courageous enough to pursue the spiritual life. According to our scriptures, the road leading humans to God is spiritual. 

At a glance, material and spiritual are antonyms. Sanatan culture views that the spirit is a divine portion or seed in the human heart, which is kept secret. It demands certain efforts to evolve, come forward and guide the individuals to their true destinations. To bring the spirit forward, we need to understand various dimensions of spiritualism. This article is an attempt to shed light on the spiritual aspect of money and wealth based on the thoughts of Sri Aurobindo, a prominent spiritual thinker of the 20th century. The Life Divine, Savitri and The Synthesis of Yoga are his world-renowned books. 

Materialism

Understanding the spiritual dimension of money is required at a time when humanity has become a slave of money and wealth due to the worldwide emergence of materialism as an integral part of both capitalism and communism. This has become the root cause of declining good governance and rampant corruption around the world. What is money, and how should it be used in spiritual terms? For Sri Aurobindo, money is a visible sign of a universal force, meaning that it is a power at some level. This force, in its manifestation on earth, works on the vital and physical planes and is indispensable to the fullness of the outer life, suggesting that money can fulfil our basic material needs. 

Furthermore, in its origin and its true action, it belongs to the divine. But like other powers of the divine, it is delegated here and in the ignorance of the lower nature can be usurped for the uses of the ego or held by Asuric or bad influences and perverted to their purpose. What is the true use of money? He states that money is not meant to make money or to be profit-making. Rather, money is meant to make the earth ready for the advent of a new creation or higher consciousness. This means humans should use money only for creative and noble purposes. However, almost all financiers and businessmen fail to realise this due to their narrow materialistic orientations. They should invest more in opening the path to greater love, compassion, truth and novelty, which are badly needed for the current and future generations. 

Spiritually, who is the true owner of economic resources? Sri Aurobindo asserts that it is to the Divine (God) that all riches belong. This spiritual understanding about the real owner of wealth helps human beings to overcome their materialistic ego sense and become excessively engaged in corrupt practices. He further makes it clear that it is the Divine who lends the resources to human beings only for the right purposes. He warns that knowing the real owner carries the risk of earning and using money for useless purposes, inviting adverse consequences.

Sri Aurobindo predicts that all the wealth of this world, freed at last from the enslavement to the anti-divine forces, will be created and utilised only in godly works. He suggests that all resources must be invested in divine manifestation. For him, such an investment will make all the resources inexhaustible.

Who are the rich in spiritual terms? Sri Aurobindo states that truly rich are those who employ their resources for the divine cause. Here, divine Cause means all those undertakings that help elevate human consciousness, promoting harmony and equality. He prefers the distribution of wealth rather than accumulation, as it promotes equality and thereby peace and happiness in society. He views that generosity must come without vested bargaining and selfishness, and the sustainability of economic resources multiplies with their harmonious exploitation. 

The powers of thoughts and actions are profound. It has been warned not to mix in our thoughts, spiritual power and money. It leads straight to catastrophe by clouding our thinking and reinforcing our materialistic ego sense. Indicating the power of hard work, sage Ari Aurobindo considers that a gift or bribe made through vanity is profitable neither to the giver nor to the receiver, indicating the need to ensure pure economic governance in the country.

Spiritual consciousness

There are also people in our society who become resentful of those who have become rich through the right means. What to do about it, spiritually? Sri Aurobindo advises that wise ones actively seek to remain above these negative attitudes with a benevolent smile and facilitate higher spiritual consciousness among people. He also indicates that in the absence of spiritual consciousness, most of the rich become egoists and ultimately fall down ultimately whereas poverty may prevent people from such spiritual tragedy. 

In sum, understanding matters. In the light of Sri Aurobindo, our materialistic understanding of wealth is illusory, narrow and counterproductive. Wealth is not for profit generation alone. Wealth is for promoting divine values in society. While it is truly owned by God, we are just trustees. We must be accountable for wealth generation as well as its utilization. Its power magnifies with its right use. Nepal’s existing rampant corruption is rooted in our narrow materialistic understanding of money and wealth. Truly understanding the spiritual dimension of wealth can create a good society, economy and governance in the country. This is what Nepali state actors sorely lack, inviting Gen Z protests recently.

(Dr. Bhusal is a development expert.)