Health and Wealth Management – Swami Swaroopananda’s Talk

Richness and poverty is a mental attitude and has nothing to do with how much money you have. Wealth management is dependent on your mental attitude toward wealth.

We look at someone who has a lot of wealth as “filthy rich.” Consequently, we believe the notion that if you don’t become filthy, you won’t become rich which is a great mental block. Greed results when you are paid well but don’t believe you have enough for yourself. We are currently in the city which preaches that “greed is good.”

Kabir Das said, “Give me that much wealth that my family never goes hungry nor do guests who come to my house leave hungry.” Our Rishis never condemned wealth; they condemned the greed for it. How we earn it and on what we spend our wealth is what really matters. How much wealth does a man really need? Wars have been waged, and invasions have occurred in the name of greed for wealth. A greedy person will never feel rich as the joy of having wealth is never felt. How did we make wealth our goal but not even aim for a happy life? Can we truly say that a greedy society is a rich one? Who is a poor man? It is he who has a lot of greed. Richness and poverty are about a mental attitude, and as such, he who is without wealth can be the richest person as well.

Where do people place wealth? Nobody says it’s not important. However, if we make it our primary goal in life and decide to disregard our family and relatives in pursuit of it, this becomes problematic. One must keep in mind the right values which provide value to one’s life.

When valuables are more than values, we become poor, not rich and lose our family and love.

What is the attitude toward wealth which will always render you rich? It concerns earning whatever wealth you can with your most sincere efforts. It’s not how much wealth we earn but how much we use and for what we use it and the remaining balance after our expenses have been paid.

Real wealth which builds wealth is what you invest. Otherwise, one will constantly be in anxiety and stress. Physical disease arises out of mental dis-ease. Stress and anxiety are born out of greed for wealth. One can reduce his or stress by changing one’s habits. Most of our living habits are geared by our stress rather than living a healthy lifestyle which becomes a vicious cycle. We work on balancing the imbalance which we ourselves create every day.

We are all aware that the food we eat makes up our body. The body has to be in balance, and for that, our mind has to be in balance. Each of our body types is different so what works for one may not work for another. There is no perfect diet for anyone.

One must diet according to climate and food, and fruits are to be consumed according to the season. One must work through a 4-day cycle when consuming certain foods. For instance, if you want to eat tomatoes, potatoes, and capsicums on one day, it’s important to take a gap from eating them for the following three days in order to allow one’s body to regenerate and process and digest the food that was consumed.

The Ayurvedic diet prescribes that we eat half the stomach’s worth of solid food and follow with 1/4 liquids and leave the last 1/4 for Prana (air) for digestion).

We should eat when we are hungry and instead of binging all the time. We must also be aware of what we binge through our eyes, ears, skin, nose and not just our mouth.

Our goal is to bring the mind to a state of quietude and mindfulness. Age comes with its own diet and quantity. It’s important to take a half hour to sit and eat and respect your meal rather than eating on the go. One can master his or her mind by regulating his or her diet. Acidity can result from anxiety in the mind, and the natural instinct is to take stimulants to repair this state which then causes hypertension and stress and other conditions. Negative emotions such as anger and frustration are at the root of more extreme conditions such as diabetes, cancer and any diseases of the mind. It’s mind over matter, and when symptoms arise, they should be treated right away.

Depression is a state of hopelessness and sorrow is different. For this, it is prescribed to get out in the open and be in the company of loved ones. One’s physical health determines one’s mental health which in turn determines one’s capacity for spiritual health and mindfulness. People want to meditate to remove their stress, but one has to be free from stress in order to meditate. The cause is always in your thought. Do not deny your disease. Someone who is healthy can be rich and in turn, live a good healthy life.

Our rishis don’t only talk about liberation and freedom, they spoke about Kama, Arth, etc. We need to change our attitude toward health, looking good and what it means to be truly rich. It’s not about how you look in that body but how you feel in that body. A healthy body produces a healthy mind and vice versa which in turn can allow someone to pursue the great goals of life and attain great spiritual gain.

The statements we make in our head become strong mental assertions. There are five seasons but the 6th season is the season of the mind. What we repeat in our mind will manifest. A specific thought is what stops people from going to the next level of their lives. We are living in a polluted society and eating polluted food but reading spiritual texts can help facilitate a change in one’s mental attitude and cause a positive shift of the mind. An immediate thought can cause a disease which can be removed with another immediate thought.

Accept a disease and its diagnosis if you have one whether it’s curable or not. I once met someone who went into remission for his cancer simply by being told about acceptance. I asked him what he was going through before he had cancer. He was frustrated and angry and in denial of his own suppressed anger. An immediate denial of something always signifies suppressed anger. Eternal values of acceptance and forgiveness can overnight change the condition of your mind and body. Do your best in any given situation and accept the results no matter what they are.

Even with wealth, earn whatever you can but always live by your means. Neither be proud of your wealth or ashamed for having less. The richest of the richest can give, the poor of the poorest are greedy. People are so stingy even with their smiles and tend to barter even with that, claiming that someone didn’t smile enough at them so they won’t in return.

The moment one feels abundant, abundance will come to him or her. If you think destiny has been unfair to you, then make God

What’s in your destiny will always come back to you no matter the circumstances but what you do with what you have is what will build richness.

Summary

1) Always feel abundant, and abundance will come to you
2) Don’t destroy your health for wealth. Wealth can’t buy you health
3) Change your mental attitude toward health and wealth
4) Be mindful of what you eat and thoughts you think so that you don’t allow any negative thoughts to become your belief patterns
5) Produce wealth and share it with your family
6) Be forgiving in life and accept life. If there’s a mental attitude of acceptance, then there’s no agitation.
7) Act according to what’s required at the moment.

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