How much you earn
determines the comfort in life, never the quality of life
-Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
At 75 Russi
Modi chairman of Tata Steel was asked to step-down in 1990s. There was lot of
resistance from him and ultimately Tata Steel rules had to be amended to remove
him for making way to younger generation. That time some articles appeared in press
regarding retirement. One of the arguments that attracted me was that Indians
plan poorly for retirement. The same article says Indians plan financials very
well after retirement but they don’t plan for spending the time after
retirement. Just because they have nothing else to do they try to cling to the
chair. An astonishing fact in a land that taught Karma with detachment, work
without desire.
In fact Indians don’t
plan finances either. They just save and don’t plan. They save sometime at the
cost of present. Their savings does not result in portfolio. Generally many
middle class, higher middle class people save in real estate, gold, Bank FDs
and insurance policies popularized and publicized by known people. They spend
disproportionately for education of their children, buying home and marriages
of their children. All these they think they are doing for the welfare of the children.
Doing good to others including your own children at the cost of your own basic
needs is a sin according to Hindu Law. This is also is sign of weakness due to
excessive attachment. For example we are having lot of politicians who are blemish
less till the other day involved in misdeeds for furthering careers of the children. Satyam Ramalinga Raju had very
good name internationally till he tried to save Maytas of his sons. His fate
also got reversed like the name of the company. Truth (Satyam) also collapsed
like a pack of cards.
The biggest problem
and root of many evils like dowry, corruption and black money lies in the unacceptably
higher attachment Indian parents have for their children. They want safety,
security, better life for not only their children but also for children of generations
to come. Love and affection for children is indeed needed. Spending for them to
make worthwhile children is needed even for the society but paying even for
their misdeeds and to see them happy at any cost is deplorable. Adding to this it
makes your real requirement of money uncertain as no one can predict the
requirement of others including their children precisely. Because of this they
try to earn as much as possible and at any cost even if it meant taking the
wrong path. One has to make his child worthy rather than wealthy to lead a happy
life. If we analyze some middle class
families we can observe one more thing recently. Father spends miserly and
saves lot of money in the form of real estate and gold, then gives it to one or
more sons. Sons also have their own well earned jobs, does not touch the
father’s property but adds to it and only increase their mental balance of
assets. It is especially more prevalent nowadays as in the most the middle
class families where both spouses are earning members. It results in dilapidated
houses without maintenance, locked apartments in the urban areas and gold in bank lockers which are rarely
opened thus wasting lot of resources. It is no different form black money. Imagine
all this money invested properly and in circulation, used for investment and
creating employment for the nation. Apart from the traditional preference of
gold and real estate by Indians as the country entered very late into
industrial revolution widely fluctuating equity markets, poorly managed mutual
funds, low returns on bank deposits and looting the hard earned money by some
non banking financial companies are also main reason for the above situation.
Non compliance of tax and relevant building laws as accepted norm of society,
lack of transparency in real estate dealings also results in apparent high
returns and safety of real estate investments. Here Government, RBI and
Industrialists have some responsibility to shift the savings from traditional
areas.
Making child worthy
has another advantage. Many people try to justify the excessive earnings and
thrifty spending to save money for taking care of their old age needs. Poor
people who have to really fear for the old age requirements can not save at
their young age. Financial savings alone can not make the old age safe. Many of
the wealthy parents are nowadays complaining that their children are not
treating them properly or they had gone to far off greener pastures like USA
leaving them alone. Emotional needs also have to be fulfilled apart from
financial needs especially in later years of life. Our grandparents never felt
this insecurity. S.Gurumurthy, noted chartered accountant, columnist for Indian
Express writes that traditional family values like Matrudevobhava,
Pitrudevobahava are the best for social security instead of relying on social
security provided by the Government. Disastrous effects of social security
policies of USA, people relying on social security provided by state resulted
in largest external debt. If a well developed country faces this situation
imagine the effects of broken family values in countries like India. Increasing
demand for old age homes is a big cause for concern. In this we should never
imitate the west for our own sake. Our schools should stop teaching a big
family, small family concept. Small family consists of mother, father and
children. Inclusion of even grandparents makes it big. Uncles, Aunts and
cousins have no place in any family. With this type of thinking it is no wonder
that people feel so insecure. Lack of good health insurance policies and
perception of Indians that insurance also is another investment rather than
hedge against risk is the reason for health insurance becoming not so popular
in India.
Another reason for
old generation not living happily with their children is after working at
decision making levels for long years at both office and home they are not able
to leave that habit to children creating ripples in the family. This is also in
sharp contrast to our grandparent’s time.
Another category of
people simply accumulate wealth without any motive. They neither invest in
productive assets nor make donations to charitable institutions. They don’t
even like to part even with their loved ones. This is simply madness without
even method.
It is very common
now to see people working at even the age of 70 even though really they don’t
neither need the job anymore for financial reasons nor it is giving
professional satisfaction. Their only justification is that they have nothing
else to do. It is a pity that so called intellectual people in seventy years of
their life only thing they had learnt is they have nothing else to do except
working in offices. For example a simple observation around society will reveal
that grandparents not performing their role towards grand children is one of
main reasons for depleting values in society. Most of these people are
exploited and humiliated in such a way that they are paid even one fifth or one
tenth of the salary they used to get before retirement for the same job i.e.
they are selling their time and skill very cheaply.
The above thinking
is due to the fact that in their active life they never thought about anything
except office. They did not even spend quality time with their family or for
simple exercises or intellectual, physical or spiritual advancements. Indians
generally think hard working means working 24x7 without taking holidays.
Another problem is that they don’t delegate for fear of losing recognition.
Both will make them crippled in the later years of their life apart from making
them unhealthy. If you read biography of successful industrialists or
professionals they had enjoyed weekends always and did many more things apart
from professional. For example our missile man and former President Kalam is as
knowledgeable about politics, philosophy, current affairs and socio economic
situation as in science. Putting all your eggs in one basket will be
disastrous.
It is very pertinent
to mention two real experiences described in two great books written by modern
day personality development gurus Mr. Stephen Covey and Mr. Dale Carnegie.
Stephen Covey in his personal message in the book of Seven habits of highly
effective families quotes the address of former first lady of USA Barbara Bush “As
important as your obligations as doctor, lawyer or business leader will be, you
are human being first, and those human connections- with spouses, with children
with friends- are the most important investments you will ever make. At the end
of your life you will not regret not having passed one more test not winning
one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent
with a husband, a child, a friend or a parent…. Our success as a society
depends not on what happens in white house but on what happens inside your home”.
Remember Mrs. Barbara Bush is wife of one president and mother of another
president.
Mr. Dale Carnegie
narrates the life of richest man ever lived on this planet. John D Rock feller Sr in the true stories
sectiono at the end of the book How to stop worrying and start living. John D
Rock feller Sr. had accumulated his first million dollars at the age of thirty
three. At the age of forty three he had built up the largest monopoly the world
has ever seen. The great Standard Oil company. But where was he at fifty three.
Worry and high tension living without humor and family life had already wrecked
his health. At fifty three he “looked like a mummy” says his biographer. Rock
feller had once confessed that he wanted to be loved yet he was so cold and
suspicious that few people even liked him. He felt at 53 he lived on borrowed
years of life and he was looking like 75. He retired. He learned to play golf.
He went in for gardening. He started chatting with his neighbors. He played
games. He sang songs. He did something else too. He began to give his billions
away to the needy people. He established great international foundation, The
Rock feller foundation. He had so changed that he did not even lose one night
sleep when he was forced to accept the greatest legal defeat and was ordered to
pay the heaviest fine in history. He had his happiest years only after 53. It
is recommended to read the full story in the book.
A word of caution here. It is fashionable
nowadays to take any argument to its extremes. So it should not be misunderstood
that people should not have motivation to earn, motivation to work and
motivation to save. Excessive spending, wastage of resources and leading lazy
lives without contributing to any value addition in life are the worst sins any
human can commit. It is written only to caution against saving money without re
investing in productive assets, earning by sacrificing the present for the sake
of never realized future and losing sight of work life balance and family
pleasures.
I would like to
conclude with euphemism frequently heard now a days. Any thing which is told
for better and good living in this is life is called philosophy. Now a days
materialism is defined as living in his own way not bound by family, moral,
traditional or societal values and not even legal restrictions if possible.
Anything less than this is described as philosophical. This is the greatest
disservice to great materialistic thinkers like Ravindranath Tagore or
Jawaharlal Nehru. Any authoritative thinker on Hinduism does not even consider
Mahabharata or Ramayana as philosophical texts. Only Vedas and Upanishads are
authoritative philosophical texts on Hinduism. If better and happy living in
this life is considered as philosophical
then what about advaitic philosophy that teaches Purusha and Brahma are one and
the same. It cannot even be imagined. It is no wonder that we are not believing
this theory because we don’t even deserve
to believe that let alone live like that.
