Living Life to the Fullest: 4 Financial Lessons from the Vedas

According to Vedic wisdom, we have five obligatory duties or responsibilities – as humans. These duties are entrusted upon us by the Creator Himself and include:

• 1. Brahma Yajna(Service to God)
• 2. Deva Yajna(Service to gods)
• 3. PitrYajna(Service to your ancestors)
• 4. ManusyaYajna (Service to fellow human beings)
• 5. BhutaYajna(Service to the rest of the creatures)

The Vedic scriptures also describe that you need wealth to perform these duties. As the breadwinner for your family, therefore, you must make a living and provide for your family by engaging in a profession or commercial activity. Moreover, you must make sure that you use your money wisely, without indulging in any suspicious activities (or avoid bad karma). It is when you acquire wealth through ethical and moral means and use it to fulfill your duties that you can earn yourself a good reputation in front of your family and society at large.

The Vedas describe money as ‘green energy’, which you receive in exchange for your energy (in the form of concerted physical and mental effort). In other words, we put our inherent energy in such a way that it proves to be beneficial for others.

In turn, we receive the remuneration for our efforts, in the form of money (or anything else that we deem of value). This exchange of energy and efforts is called the ‘business aspect’ of life. Therefore, the Vedas emphasize putting your efforts into maximizing your money and patiently wait for your wealth to grow.

Studying Vedas, you learn that the purpose of our existence is to experience true happiness. Many of us spend our entire lives pursuing happiness, while it somehow eludes them. To make sure that we are on the right track towards achieving contentment in life, we need to differentiate between our necessities and desires and create a balance in our lives. Subsequently, we need to start working towards fulfilment of our needs as soon as possible. The sooner we start on our journey towards financial contentment, the better chances we have to leverage the right instruments to serve our purpose.

Take Unit linked Insurance Plans from example. Investing in a ULIP in your late 20s or early 30s will not only allow you to invest in high-yielding equity and debt instruments for a more extended period but also help ensure your family’s financial well-being against life’s uncertainties– both in your presence and absence. On the other hand, the longer you postpone your responsibilities and financial planning, the lesser chances you will have to avail benefits of these investment cum insurance plans.

On the other hand, when you purchase insurance online at an early age, you can avail the benefits of insurance coverage for the maximum period, while paying the minimum possible premium amount. As you age, however, the premium payable for life insurance keeps on increasing while the coverage period decreases

One of the most prominent financial management lessons from Vedas comes from the Rig Veda, which advocates the conservation of resources (both physical and financial) to take care of your future requirements. On the other hand, the Vedic wisdom condemns poverty and advises you to take steps to eradicate it.

Individuals who share this attitude will never compromise their future goals for present-day desires. Instead, they work smartly on accumulating and preserving their wealth so that they can fulfill their present-day commitments while making sure that there is enough financial buffer to take care of their future needs.

To do that, you must have a balanced outlook and try to live within your means. Doing so will allow you to envision your future and take the required steps to transform your vision into results while attending to the tasks at hand. This is how the process of financial planning works – the Vedic way.