Is Wealth a requisite for happiness?
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To answer this question, let us examine of wealth can give happiness. If we have a choice between wealth and happiness, what would we go far? A sensible man would want happiness.
Our connotation for wealth is excessive accumulation of money and material things far more that are needed for good living. A wealthy man has so much money that he can satisfy his needs and has the capacity to buy any product that money can buy. He can surround himself with expensive things which will give him comfort and luxury. So we understand that wealth can satisfy us at the physical level, while happiness can be obtained by doing our duty and making others happy.
We are reminded of the story of King Midas who was blesses with the power of turning to gold anything he touched. In an affectionate gesture, he touched his daughter, and lo! She turned into a statue of gold. Do you think he was happy? He wept and cursed himself for his foolishness. King Midas had wealth but no happiness.
If we analyses the relation between happiness and wealth, we can put it in the form of an analogy. Happiness is to the mind as wealth is to the body. What can give happiness to anyone? A kind word or a good deed can make two persons happy at time,- the giver and the receiver. Thus, we can say that it costs nothing to spread happiness.
A wealthy man spends so much of his time and energy in acquiring wealth and guarding it, that he has no time to think of others. As wealth accumulates, happiness diminishes. The only exceptions which prove the rule are wealthy men who have generously donated towards worthy causes. To such a man, wealth gives happiness and satisfaction.
Have you read the poem, ‘The Shirt of a Happy Man’? The story goes that a king in spite of all his wealth was unhappy. No one could cure him. At last a doctor prescribed that he should sleep in the shirt of a happy man for one night. The king’s men went all over the kingdom, but found no one who was perfectly happy. At last they came across a happy vagabond who had no shirt to his back. Thus the king understood what real happiness was, and began to devote himself in the service of his subjects.
It is only man who runs after wealth. Animals and birds who do not seek wealth, are happier in life.