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Hinduism And Wealth - Hindu Religion Teachings On Wealth Accumulation - Personal Finance - Richness

'Hinduism And Wealth' article is written by SB, a software analyst based in USA.

Hinduism is world’s oldest religion, as they say it’s the mother of all religions. But, we do not find a lot of reference of Hinduism and its teachings on wealth accumulation, personal finance and richness. Whereas there are tons of websites dedicated to bible verses on the same subject.


I think it is up to us to discover the wealth of knowledge in Gita, Puranas and Veda on personal finance and managing wealth. The four pillars of Purushartha (goals of life) are  
  • Dharma (behavior)
  • Artha (wealth)
  • Kama (Physical Pleasure, materialism) and
  • Moksha (Spirituality)
Hinduism, thus, does accept earning and accumulating wealth. According the scripture Rig Veda wealth can only be pursued through the right path without indebtedness and illegal activities (Adharma). Hinduism recognizes that wealth is needed for personal happiness and well being.

A person needs wealth to take care of the family and their well being, its called dharma. It is also our dharma to look after the less fortunate; he should give it back to the society that made him wealthy in first place, this is duty.

Rig Veda does mention that Artha can only be accumulated up to certain extent, till there is a real need, wealth should not be accumulated out of greed. For mankind the ultimate goal is to attain Moksha, which is going beyond materialism and going in to the state of spirituality.

If we think of Rama, he was epitome of wealth, he was the king, but at the same time he was ‘giving’ too, no one returned from his court empty handed. Rama was rich in terms of physical wealth and power, and he did his raj dharma by distributing wealth to citizens. Ramayana mentions that no one in Ayodhya was poor and unhappy during Rama’s kingship.

What I am trying to establish is building of wealth is accepted in Hinduism and it is established as the main requirement for doing dharma, towards your family and your society.

I would urge every Hindu (or non Hindu) to start building wealth, by means of increasing earning by more hard work, saving money by controlling unnecessary spend and lastly investing money wisely to make it grow.

In the process if you have built more wealth than you would ever need in life time, give it to charities, give it to people in need, help poor and let them build wealth too.
SB, the author of the article, is a software analyst based in USA and part-time personal finance writer. He writes on his blog One Cent At A Time, where he discusses about personal finance, frugal living and investing ideas. His blog discusses finance matters which are relevant to Americans, but most of his ideas fit to almost any one in any country.