Materialism - bane of modern society ..

How many times we have had the urge to upgrade our car to a bigger, spacious, expensive one, even though the old one is in a good condition (just because a colleague or neighbour bought a new bigger one), how many times we have looked with a covetous eye on our neighbours' house with more spacious, luxurious rooms, how many times we have thought to get more riches, how many time we have thought of migrating to a different country or switch to a new job in search of material pursuits, how many times we have coveted a higher position in our job, higher salary, upgrade our mobile phones to the latest iphone, how many times we thought we should be happier than our neighbours and so on ?? The list is never ending ..

And we shamelessly get more spiritual and religious, (with ulterior materialistic motives, trying to fool the Supreme Power) thinking that is the path to acquire more riches and to retain whatever we have illfully gained ?

How many times have we prayed to God to help our neighbours, give the sick good health, the poor a decent living, safety and security to the aged and so on ? By nature we are very selfish, we pray to God to make our life comfortable, to cure us of our ailments, give us good health and make us happy. Everything is self-centered !

We know of many people among us who in spite of having a peaceful happy life back home, are dissatisfied with their positions and jobs and being greedy to get more riches, would not mind going to the Gulf or permanently migrating to Western countries for material comfort and benefits. The curse of materialism. We never are satisfied with whatever we have. 

The more we covet others property or riches, the more unhappy we will be, leading to many an illness and mental strife. Most of the time when we find a person who wants to get more and more, not satisfied with what he or she has, will go to any extent, even if it means trampling on friends to achieve their selfish goal.

It gives us a sort of detestation to such people. We try to keep off such people, we do not entertain them. A really happy and contented person is one who is satisfied and contented with what he has, not trying to amass more ..

A step further to be more happy is to give away your riches, your material goods, give away your time and give your life to others. I am sure most of us are not yet in that group, we have many earthly goals to achieve too ..

NR Narayana Murthy house, simplicity personified ..

Here are some interesting quotes by great minds who have deliberated on this and have given us these gems. Read and meditate on them. Are you going in the right direction or are you sacrificing your life for never satisfying riches and comfort ? It is a weakness, all of us fall prey to at one time or the other in life. We are not satisfied with what we have, we crave for more and more wealth, riches, name, fame and comfort ..

Gratitude is the mother of all human virtues.(pl click here for my collection of great thoughts and quotes on gratitude). Instead of showing gratitude  for all that we have, we like to flaunt our newly acquired wealth, nouveau riche !! Narayana Murthy, founder Chairman of Infosys, even though he retired as the Chairman of one of India's most successful professionally managed company and is personally worth at least a couple of billion dollars, still stays in his modest old 3 bed room apartment where he initially stayed with his family when Infosys was growing. he could have gone for farmhouses, big mansions, buy lot of real estate and show off. The fact is he is learned and has common sense. It is the silly among us who show off ! Some lessons in simplicity and humility we need to emulate .. Our aim should be to remain humble, down to earth. We should aim to give back to earth more than what we have taken from it.

No time is too late, try to lead a complete life, let us not get carried away by the materialistic world. It is a myth.

george..