Yoga and Money

Yoga and Money are two terms that do not go hand in hand for most people. Many yogis and yoginis do not like to associate their work with money or finances. This is because our brains are conditioned towards thinking money, gain, finances, as having negative vibes. We are conditioned to think that they should not be linked to something as pure as yoga.

Ancient yogic scriptures, on the other hand describe 4 objectives that humans should achieve to have a sense of complete fulfillment. In Sanskrit those are known as 4 Purusharthas (Purush (Human/ Divine Being) + Artha (Objectives)). These objectives are defined as
Dharma (Righteousness/ Duties/ Obligations)
Artha (Wealth)
Kaama(Desires)
Moksha(Enlightenment/ Liberation)

Of these 4, the second objective talks about wealth, money and abundance. Ancient yogic scriptures thought of wealth as a positive, powerful form of energy. Of course, the means of earning this wealth can have negative energies linked to it. That is the reason why, the first objective talks about walking the path of righteousness and fulfilling our duties towards ourselves, our people, our society, our nation and our mother earth.

Once we take care of our Dharma, the next objective is to live a wealthy, abundant life. Keeping religion aside, if we can think conceptually, Bramha, Vishnu and Mahesh are the 3 main gods described in Hindu philosophy. They essentially represent concepts of Creation, Preservation/ Upkeep and Destruction respectively. While the 3 Gods are concepts, their wives, represent the energies required to implement these concepts. Saraswati, wife of the Creator, Bramha, represents energy in form of knowledge, intellect, wisdom, music and art. She is the one who can make the concept of creation possible. Laxmi, wife of the Presever, Vishnu, is represented as energy in form of wealth, prosperity and abundace. Energy in the form of Prosperity is required for the maintenance and upkeep of any creation. Lastly, Parvati, wife of the Destroyer, Shiva, is represented by energy in form of power.

We can see how wealth and prosperity form the essential founding energies of leading a fulfilling life. Though the ultimate objective of Yoga is to attain salvation, it cannot be obtained if we do not obtain the first 3 objectives. This is not to say that there are souls out there who have already achieved their first 3 objectives in some of their previous lives and their sole objective in this life is to attain Salvation. Those souls are far and few and they wont be reading this or any other article to understand their objective in life. For the rest of us, we still have to take age old described path.

Yoga in its truest form, helps you attract all the prosperity you wish to live a good life. Yoga is about empowerment. It is about living life to the fullest. One very important aspect of living life to the fullest is, not feeling deprived. Yoga helps in overcoming the sense of deprivation by helping you recognize your inner strength. It also helps you to either overcome or accept your weaknesses. Once we know the power within ourselves, which is nothing more than a form of energy, transforming it into a different form, in this case prosperity, happens very naturally. It also helps us look at wealth and prosperity in positive light.

This is one of the many, albeit important, aspects in which yoga can help in leading a fulfilling life.