How to Become Rich Book Review
This book How to Become Rich: 12 lessons I learnt from Vedic and Puranic Stories is based on stories and concepts about money from Hindu mythology.
The book draws a parallel between the modern concepts of wealth, exchange, taxes, money, investment, return on investment using the concepts from Vedas and Puranas. It is always amazing to know that most of what we know today was also known thousands of years ago.
The book is not only an introduction to money but also serves as an useful introduction to Hindu traditions and mythology.
While I am not sure if author’s interpretations in the book are 100 percent accurate, I absolutely enjoyed reading the book. It refreshed my memory of the stories I read during my childhood in the Chandamama children’s magazine.
Must read if you follow the Hindu mythology or want to understand more about it.
How to Become Rich Book Summary
What the Vedas and Puranas Taught Me about Money and Commerce
Symbols of bounty are an essential part of every Hindu festival.
Lakshmi is considered a restless goddess (chanchal), which means wealth brings value only when it is circulated, not locked up. Those who grab and lock her up, get profit (labh) without happiness, not prosperity with happiness (shubh-labh).
The concept of freedom (moksha) is related to repayment of debt (hrinn).
Charity that makes the receiver dependent (bhiksha) is frowned upon, whereas charity that makes the receiver independent (daan) is advocated.
Wealth is to be seen as a fruit (phala), to be enjoyed now, and a seed (bija) to be invested for the future.
Lakshmi (wealth) and Saraswati (knowledge) argue until we discover Vidya-Lakshmi (knowledge of circulating wealth).
Mythology is the truth of a culture, the truth of a people, retold through stories, symbols and rituals.
In Hinduism, truth is not fixed or static. We are constantly moving from limited truth (mithya) to limitless truth (satya).
Being rich is about paying all bills, repaying all debts, and sharing wealth with others to make them independent and dependable.
Is Wanting to Become Rich Normal?
To become rich is to seek Lakshmi in our lives. Lakshmi is dhan (money), dhanya (food), sampatti (assets).
Shiva destroys hunger – the craving for Lakshmi.
Kama is popular as the god of sexual desires. But Kama is more than that. He is the god of hunger, all needs and wants, of all cravings, yearnings and ambitions. Kama makes us jealous of others who have what we want.
Shiva realized why Parvati called him the destroyer. When he destroyed hunger, he had effectively destroyed the craving for Lakshmi, hence craving for life itself. To recreate life, to recreate the world, Lakshmi had to be sought, hunger was needed.
Hunger is what makes us look for Lakshmi. Lakshmi is resources that help us stay alive and thrive.
Hunger motivates us, drives us, propels us, goads us. If we are not hungry, we will not chase Lakshmi.
Kama motivates us to make the journey from poor to rich.
Hunger can be classified as need and greed.
Need is seeking to satisfy our hunger and the hunger of those who feed us. Greed is being consumed by our own hunger at the cost of those who feed us.
Without hunger, we would not value Lakshmi. The more Lakshmi we have, the more comfortable our life can be.
Need-based hunger creates delight, with the rich working to help the poor satisfy their hunger.
Greed-based hunger creates quarrels, with the rich withholding food, forcing the hungry to attack them constantly.
Annapoorna’s lesson: Wanting to become rich means wanting to enjoy and share a comfortable life. And that is perfectly normal.
How Do We Earn Money? Brahma on Exchange
Brahma is called the creator of the Hindu world – from him emerged all living creatures. This means Brahma created hunger, hence life.
Once, Brahma called all his children for a meal. When the food was served, he said they could eat but they could not bend their elbows! Now how can you eat when you cannot bend your elbow? Brahma said nothing. Some children bent their head and licked the food. They became animals or Pashu. Some children complained and got angry. They became Asura. Some children disobeyed Brahma, grabbed the food and ran away. They became Rakshasa. Some Rakshasas hoarded food and refused to share. They became Yaksha.
The one who fed the other, in the hope of getting fed, came to be known as Yajaman. The one who was fed, and had the option of returning the favour, became Devata.
Those who kept demanding and receiving food but not feeding others became Pisacha. Those who danced and sang in the hope of getting fed became Gandharva.
In a civilized society, humans do not need to grab – they get food from other humans, and they are expected to return the favour. This is exchange or yagna.
To exchange, to feed others and be fed by others is dharma. Participating in yagna is dharma.
We earn by participating in yagna.
The steps of yagna are simple:
- the Yajaman calls the Devata and gives the Devata something, expecting something in return.
- When the Yajaman gives, he says ‘Svaha‘ – which means, ‘that which is mine is now yours’. This makes Svaha an investment.
- Yajaman hopes that the Devata will reply with ‘Tathastu‘ – which means, ‘what you want you will get’. This makes Tathastu the return on investment (ROI).
- As Yajamans, we invest to get returns from others. This is full of risks, as the debt may not be repaid.
- As Devatas, others invest in us to get returns. This is high pressure, as the debt has to be repaid.
- Now how does the Devata know what the Yajaman wants? The Yajaman expresses his wishes clearly before the yagna by doing Sankalpa and after the yagna by doing Phalastuti.
- Sankalpa means ‘here is why I am going to perform the yagna’.
- Phalastuti is a reminder and means ‘this is the fruit I expect for performing this yagna’.
- Sankalpa is before giving and Phalastuti is after giving.
- Only after Sankalpa does the Yajaman do avahan, or ‘summoning the Devata’.
- If the Devata cannot fulfil his wish, he does not come.
- If the Devata is not satisfied with the Svaha, or offering, he does not satisfy the wishes of the Yajaman.
- If the Yajaman feels the Devata is not giving him what he wants, he does visarjan of the Devata, i.e. ‘bids him farewell’, and never calls him again.
- Instead he does avahan of another Devata.
Yagna means to give what you have to get what you want. This is the basic principle of economics or artha-shastra.
Brahma taught the value of exchange to Brihaspati and Shukra, who composed the earliest books on economics. Brahma also taught the value of exchange to Manu, who composed the dharma-shastra, as it is also the fundamental principle of humanity.
Devatas: those who owe you, and have to repay you
All your Yajamans: those who you have borrowed from, and have to repay
In the Vedas, those who make you think of other people’s hunger are known as the Brahmins, because they help you expand (brah-) your mind (manas) and make you look (darshan) beyond your own hunger.
The place where people exchange goods and services is called a kshetra, or market, the cornerstone of civilized human settlement. He who establishes a kshetra is the Kshatriya. He ensures that exchange is respected, that people are not exploited, that what is given is not more than what is received, and what is received is not more than what is given. To ensure this is dharma.
Vaishyas or Vaniks are product creators and distributors.
Shudras are service providers. They are all Shudras, service providers. If you hesitate to use this word, or see this word as downmarket, remember you are suffering from ignorance (avidya) and ego (aham), also known as low spiritual index.
Those with a high spiritual index never say this job or this product is superior to that job or that product. They realize that every product, every job, every good, every service is bhog – that which is consumed by the hungry.
In dharma, exchange is key, exchange between equals. The Yajaman needs the Devata and the Devata needs the Yajaman. They acknowledge each other’s hunger and nourish each other.
Brahma’s lesson: To earn money, we must be sensitive to the hunger of customers and provide them with goods and services they want, so they give us our due as part of yagna, or exchange. If we do not think of customer needs and demands, we cannot do yagna.
How Do We Lose Money? Brihaspati on Complacency
Will people prefer buying from him instead of me?
Does he not want what I wish to sell?
Am I taking my buyers for granted?
Remember, you do not lose money by spending. That only creates debts – expenses that are booked, which you have to repay whether you earn or not. You lose money by not earning enough.
Brihaspati’s lesson: We lose money when there is someone who can give better goods and services to the market than us, when there is no demand for the goods and services we offer, or if we become too lazy to take feedback from the market and improve.
Who Pays Our Bills? Agastya on Obligations
We need money to pay all that we owe the past. Our expenses are booked even before we start earning.
We carry the burden of debts, bills and responsibilities. To be debt-free is to attain moksha.
Hrinn, or debt, is a central concept in Hinduism.
All Hindus are expected to repay their debts five times over.
- First, to their ancestors, by raising the next generation of children.
- Second, to the divine within, by taking care of the body in which it resides.
- Third, to the divine without, by taking care of their community, even strangers.
- Fourth, to the ones who feed us, by providing them goods and services.
- Fifth, to nature, by taking care of plants and animals, rivers and mountains.
To be alive, is to be in debt of the world around us.
Agastya’s lesson: We have to pay our own bills. Most of our bills are incurred even before we start earning. When other people pay our bill, we are in their debt. Sooner or later, the money lender will demand return one way or another.
How Do We Save Money? Satyabhama on Saving
When we receive an income, we have to first pay ourselves before we pay others. We pay not our ‘current’ selves but our ‘future’ selves.
The rule of saving is simple: save first, spend later.
Saving is actually paying your future self. Always pay yourself first. You owe it to yourself.
Satyabhama’s lesson: We save money only when we spend less than 90 per cent of what we earn. We must save first and then spend. Saving means paying our future selves first. As a young person we must provide for our old self, rather than hope that our children or family will take care of us. That is the responsible thing to do.
Why Do We Grab Money? Kubera on Extortion and Exploitation
Parashuram’s warning to kings: You shall not grab. You shall not allow grabbing. You shall teach people to exchange. You shall ensure people repay debts.
Stealing (when you have no other option) is not so much the real crime as not creating opportunities (when you have all the resources).
People grab wealth when there are no opportunities. People grab wealth when they do not value exchange.
Kubera’s lesson: We grab money when we find no opportunities for exchange, or we have no trust in exchange, or when our hunger matters more than other people’s hunger.
How Do We Manage Money? Ganesha on Accounting and Planning
Past successes and failures informed future actions.
The past is gone and the future is yet to come. But in the present, the hook of the past helps to create the prod of the future.
Accounting makes us aware of past successes and failures. Planning gives us a vision for the future.
Accounting alone has no value unless it informs planning. Planning, without accounting, is wishful thinking, not a goal.
Planning helps us temper our dreams with reality, and gives us a map for the future.
Ganesha’s lesson: Accounting and planning are key activities for managing money. Only accounting without planning stops us from thinking long term. Only planning without accounting prevents successful implementation.
Why Can We Never Avoid Taxes? Shukra on Fairness
(NOTE: Devas are not ‘gods’ and Asuras are not ‘demons’. In the Puranas, Asuras are not seen as evil or morally wrong.)
(NOTE: Asuras and Rakshasas are not the same thing, though most people today use the terms interchangeably, as both are feared. Rakshasas fight Rishis and Asuras fight Devas.)
Taxes are people’s money to be spent on people. King and government are mere custodians who make this happen. They are service providers, not masters or owners. The tax is not theirs to keep.
Shukra’s lesson: We cannot avoid taxes as long as we share the earth with other people, and as long as we cannot give food away voluntarily to those who cannot feed themselves and others.
How Do We Guard Wealth? Hanuman on Insurance and Will
Insurance is a strange yagna: it is investment that gives us returns only when things go wrong.
The smart man focuses on maintaining the stability of good times rather than being hungry for a return on money deposited for insurance.
The smart man focuses on the money his family will get after his death, rather than money he is ‘losing’ when he is alive.
The dead cannot communicate their will to the living.
Hanuman’s lesson: When we are alive, we guard wealth by insuring ourselves against predictable and unpredictable risks. When we are dead, we guard our wealth only if we have prepared a clear will when alive.
How Do We Attract Money? Vishnu on Repeat Orders and Referrals
Hanuman is a popular god because he is sankatmochan, or the problem-solver.
Ganesha is a popular god because he is vighna-harta, or the obstacle-remover.
Vishnu’s lesson: We attract money when we delight our customer with our goods and services so much that they keep coming back, and they even recommend us to others. This is the opposite of grabbing money by cheating the system, tricking the market and exploiting employees.
How Do We Share Money? Varuna on Charity and Investment
Unlike animals who eat when hungry and don’t eat when they’re not hungry, humans are hungry all the time. We imagine future hunger and so we are never satisfied. Also, society encourages us to be dissatisfied and aspire for more.
Human hunger is insatiable.
The more food humans get, the more insecure they get; they want to hoard more food. Need gives way to greed. But they call greed “ambition” and fool themselves. No one can satisfy everyone’s hunger. Hence, he who feeds, must demand to be fed.
As long as we are hungry, we will hate feeding others. That is why we hate taxes and avoid charity.
In the absence of contentment, taxes are forced using ideas like ‘social justice’ and charity is demanded using ideas like ‘social responsibility’.
Tax is dakshina we are forced to give in order to repay our debt to society.
Charity is bhiksha that puts the hungry in our debt, makes them increasingly dependent on us, and we feel increasingly entrapped.
Neither tax nor charity is daan. Daan is a wise, long-term investment without any expectation of any returns.
In daan, our money eventually returns to us in a different form: as a peaceful, prosperous and civilized world.
Daan is generosity born of detachment, done without being self-conscious, and without knowing or seeking any outcome or recognition – by focusing on Svaha alone.
Varuna’s lesson: We can share wealth by paying our bills, by repaying our debts, by paying taxes. In most cases, we share wealth grudgingly, because we are expected to. Sometimes we share wealth with expectations and conditions attached, hoping to change the world, or be remembered for our good deeds. But true sharing is giving money where the returns are not measurable or guaranteed, to feed the other without concern for the self.
How Do We Grow Money? Shakambari on Debt and Equity
Labh: Profit without Joy
Shubh-Labh: Profit with Joy
Rana-bhoomi: I am afraid Lakshmi will be taken away from me because I invest only in myself.
Ranga-bhoomi: I am confident Lakshmi will come to me because I always invest in others for myself.
Income has two parts: Income is both fruit (phala) and seed (bija).
In Gita, Krishna says that we must focus on action (planting seed) not on results (harvesting fruit).
How do we create a Vaikuntha where Lakshmi given, returns manifold? We do this when we look at our income as fruit (phala) and seed (bija). Fruit is the money used to pay bills, repay debts and buy property. Seed is the money used to invest for the future, to help ourselves by helping others.
Just as seeds take a long time to germinate and transform into fruit-bearing trees, investments take a long time to give returns.
Investments demand patience.
Giving loans to people and businesses (debt-fund): Promise to return four fruits after one year
Buying shares in business (equity-fund): If seeds germinate, half of the trees and the fruits they bear belong to me
The trick of making money is to see money as fruit and seed. Fruit we enjoy. Seed we invest. All seeds do not germinate. All trees do not bear fruit. Yet, even if a small number of seeds sprout, we make money without having to provide goods and services. Our money makes money. From the fruit comes the seed, which yields more fruit.
Shakambari’s lesson: To see wealth as fruit to be consumed and seed to grow more fruit-bearing trees is the secret of growing wealth and becoming rich. Your current money must be used to create future money if you want to become rich.
Conclusion: 12 lessons I learnt from Vedic and Puranic stories to make sure Lakshmi always walks our way
Is Wanting to Become Rich Normal?
Annapoorna’s Lesson on Hunger: Wanting to become rich means wanting to enjoy and share a comfortable life. And that is perfectly normal.
How Do We Earn Money?
Brahma’s Lesson on Earning Money: To earn money, we must be sensitive to the hunger of customers and provide them with goods and services they want so they give us our due as part of yagna, or exchange. If we do not think of customer needs and demands, we canot do yagna.
How Do We Lose Money?
Brihaspati’s Lesson on Complacency: We lose money when there is someone who can give better goods and services to the market than us, when there is no demand for the goods and services we offer, or if we become too lazy to take feedback from the market and improve.
Who Pays Our Bills?
Agastya’s Lesson on Obligations: We have to pay our own bills. Most of our bills are incurred even before we start earning. When other people pay our bill, we are in their debt. Sooner or later, the money lender will demand return, one way or another.
How Do We Save Money?
Satyabhama’s Lesson on Saving: We save money only when we spend less than 90 per cent of what we earn. We must save first and then spend. Saving means paying our future selves first. As a young person we must provide for our old self, rather than hope that our children or family will take care of us. That is the responsible thing to do.
Why do We Grab Money?
Kubera’s Lesson on Extortion and Exploitation: We grab money when we find no opportunities for exchange, or we have no trust in exchange, or when our hunger matters more than other people’s hunger.
How Do We Manage Money?
Ganesha’s Lesson on Accounting and Planning: Accounting and planning are key activities for managing money. Only accounting without planning stops us from thinking long term. Only planning without accounting prevents successful implementation.
Why Can We Never Avoid Taxes?
Shukra’s Lesson on Fairness: We cannot avoid taxes as long as we share the earth with other people, and as long as we cannot give food away voluntarily to those who cannot feed themselves and others.
How Do We Guard Wealth?
Hanuman’s Lesson on Insurance and Will: When we are alive, we guard wealth by insuring ourselves against predictable and unpredictable risks. When we are dead, we guard our wealth only if we have prepared a clear will when alive.
How Do we Attract Money?
Vishnu’s Lesson on Repeat Orders and Referrals: We attract money when we delight our customer with our goods and services so much that they keep coming back, and they even recommend us to others. This is the opposite of grabbing money by cheating the system, tricking the market and exploiting employees.
How Do We Share Money?
Varuna’s Lesson on Charity and Investment: We can share wealth by paying our bills, by repaying our debts, by paying taxes. In most cases we share wealth grudgingly, because we are expected to. Sometimes we share wealth with expectations and conditions attached, hoping to change the world, or be remembered for our good deeds. But true sharing is giving money where the returns are not measurable or guaranteed, to feed the other without concern for the self.
How Do We Grow Money?
Shakambari’s Lesson on Debt and Equity: To see wealth as fruit to be consumed and seed to grow more fruit-bearing trees is the secret of growing wealth and becoming rich. Your current money must be used to create future money if you want to become rich.
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- The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
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Well it’s a good I would recommend some of mine friends this book for it’s clean understanding and ther way of expressing ideologies of hinduism.
Good summary, thanks for sharing