Financial Obesity is the term that perfectly describes the affliction, the so called “Rich” people have in this world.
Look at a person who is obese. Their life is boring with no fun. The only thing they can do is eat and eat and eat. Even if they are full, they keep stuffing themselves. They do not enjoy the food but eat as some sort of a compulsion. If one thinks that life is meant only to eat and eat till you drop dead, that’s fine. It does not hurt others, as now we live in a food surplus world and one can keep on stuffing themselves. In reality, it’s a curse, one cannot enjoy the rest of the worldly pleasures as you have no energy to move and be active, or even the drive to do anything worthwhile in the world.
Extrapolate this to finances. The criminal and the corrupt keep stealing money from others and stuffing themself with more and more money (not earned but stolen). And then they wonder why their lives are no fun and why do they attract other crooks and criminals. They cannot enjoy what they have but yet run for more. They do not know why they are running for more. They think by showing off they are enjoying, but that also leaves them empty within, prompting them to do more of the same. A vicious cycle, difficult to break out of.
We eat so that our body gets the energy and nutrients, so that we can enjoy our lives on this earth. We earn money so that we can fulfill our basic necessities and enjoy other wants and desires of ourselves and our near and dear ones. It’s always good to have a bit more than our wants but this madness to keep accumulating, that silently kills an individual from inside.
Hence the term – Financial Obesity. Like an obese person cannot be active and free like a healthy person, similarly a financially obese person can never be financially independent. They will always run after more, even though they cannot enjoy what they have.
I always ask the so called rich people who approach me – can you spend 1% of your net wealth on yourself only, every year? Many get startled with this question but as they think through this, they do discover a lot about themselves.
Let me tell you a story.
There was once a very rich merchant in a kingdom. He ran his business well but was a bit miserly. He did not spend much of his fortune – either on himself or his family – but kept buying gold coins. Once in a while he would take his guards and go to an ancient temple in the forest. There he would keep his guards at a distance, go with his trusted servant and hide the gold coins in a trunk, that was hidden underground, somewhere close to the temple. This carried on for many years and one trunk became two, two became four.
One day he found that the trunks were gone. He was shocked and in despair. He did not know what to do.
In the olden days, Guru’s would move from city to city, kingdom to kingdom, staying at the invitation of their devotees. As it so happened, the Guru had come to spend some days with his devotee, the king. The rich merchant went to see the Guru. Told him the whole story. The Guru advised him, to get some old trunks, fill them with rocks and go and keep them in the same place. The merchant asked how would that help. The Guru told him that anyway all the gold coins were of no use to him. It was the thought of having gold coins somewhere that was important. So fill up the trunks with rocks and think they are gold coins.
This story has deep significance. We are all running like headless chickens, in circles, only to fall down dead! The old merchant accumulated gold coins, we keep accumulating stuff and digits in the bank. The objects may be different but the need to accumulate is the same. Ask anyone, why or for what are you running. The underlying answer is the same – to show off to the world that I am better than you.
So what needs to be done. Stop – ask yourself what you really want from this life of yours. If the answer is to show off, it’s fine. Go ahead, accumulate non-stop and show off. If on the other hand you want to enjoy life fully, that’s fine too. Decide what is enjoyment for yourself and then work towards it.
Meditation helps you calm yourself and gracefully understand yourself and your desires. Once you are aware of this, you move into the state of detachment. As Shri Krishna said in the Bhagwad Geeta – Detachment is not you owning nothing but nothing owning you.
Be brave, be bold, be free. You are on this earth to enjoy. Take the first step with meditation.