“Human life is essentially a social interaction, of give and take transactions. Give and take can be for social objectives, or if for profit, it becomes a business transaction. I will focus on the business side presently.
People get into business for multiple reasons. Earning a livelihood, taking care and providing enough for the family and one’s own need for independence, is the basic motivation which starts people into business.
Some people who achieve this objective become content with their financial needs, aiming only at natural growth, enough to keep them financially comfortable, and alongside, start pursuing other social interests as arts, adventure, philanthropy, creativity in any form etc.
For other people, now the aims change, and once they understand the power that money provides, start pushing ahead to enhance that power. They become more and more ambitious and interests like ambition, fame, domination in market place or over people, starts driving them. They give their consent to enter the ‘Rat Race’ and give their all to this passionate and never ending pursuit. Business then does not remain a part of life, but the essence and purpose of life itself. Different people, according to their inherent nature, then start giving their business a life and direction.
Nothing exposes the character of people like power, and money does have great power. Responsible people will do business responsibly and irresponsible people irresponsibly. The former will look to use the power towards building reputation, help dependents to grow and prosper, help others when needed, get engaged in socially beneficial activity, and start enjoying arts and creativity etc. alongside. These are the people who will allow money to adorn them, making them humbler and more and more caring and setting examples and applauded in their respective areas of influence
On the other hand, irresponsible people will be consumed by greed and power for selfish reasons, will be narrow minded, unethical , ruthless, have low sensitivity to social causes , will pull out all stops in naked pursuit of power and be driven by unbridled greed for money, power and fame. Accumulation of money makes them look ugly.They will lose friends and their benefactors, lose all support systems and keep losing them till they become lonely at the top and by the time they realise the futility of it all, if at all, it is just too late.
As in life, one only gets what he gives. By giving to others, he will get the same from others. By being ruthless, clever, greedy, narrow minded, selfish, one will slowly but surely attract similar minded people around himself, leading to a constricted life. A closed mind will build strong walls around and these walls will grow inwards, ultimately crushing the person mentally surely, and maybe financially too. An open mind will attract similar minded people and lead to an open and happy state of mind and financially too, retention will be far easier.
So before and after getting into business, it is advisable to find one’s own reasons and compulsions and revisit them from time to time. It is also very important to understand that the law of cause and effect is a fundamental law of nature, call it Karma or otherwise, but it is certainly inescapable. Let us be well aware of this.
