“Wealth-the point is to acquire it, increase it, and preserve it . . . as to its reward-it serves to promote charitable causes” (van Buitenen 184). Those who lost their wealth like Saktideva in “The City of God,” who lost his wealth gambling, and Sanudasa, the titular character in “The Travels of Sanudasa the Merchant” who gave all his fortune to a harlot, felt the need to redeem themselves for their digressions. Sanudasa vowed, “‘I shall return to your house with four times more than I have wasted-or I shall never return” (van Buitenen 228). Saktideva felt had nowhere to go, no longer welcome in his father’s home (van Buitenen 81). One can infer that losing one’s wealth, or not having their own wealth to begin with, was particularly shameful. A man who is able should pursue his own wealth to sustain his family as Sanudasa declares to his uncle, “‘You ask me to let my family live on your money, but that is the wrong thing to tell a man who has both his hands and feet. A man who lives with his mother on the money he gets from his uncle is simply kept alive by his mother and uncle as a weak character’” (van Buitenen 232). Love came second to the pursuit of wealth. In “The Red Lotus of Chastity,” even though Devasmita didn’t approve …show more content…
In “The Travels of Sanudasa the Merchant,” Sanudasa is incredibly virtuous, only drinking alcohol when tricked, strictly adhering to the laws and avoiding pleasure. “If this kind of pleasure is indeed, as you claim, the reward of virtue, it puts and effective end to all virtue-and that means also to pleasure, its reward!” (van Buitenen 220). His mother and friends set him up because he “‘followed the scriptures of the Mendicants, Buddhists, and Jains with such devotion that people began to cast aspersions on your life as a family man’” (van Buitenen 254). Because he lost his virtue that he was able to “put the God of Wealth to shame with your celestial riches” (van Buitenen
In the story, The Red Lotus of Charity written by Somadeva (11th century) , Devasmita, a female character who lives in a caste-based society of ancient India, is facing the conspiracy of the four sons of a local merchant, who want to seduce her during her husband’s absence for a business trip. Throughout the story, the concept of the virtuous is controversial: the story literally defines Devasmita as a wise and virtuous wife, who is able to stay faithful to her husband under any circumstance; meanwhile, Devasmita shows her violent and cruel when punishing those who want to seduce her. These traits of Devasmita: her cunning and ruthless, however, will be regarded as unethical traits instead of virtue in many cultures. Any theory of justification
Throughout the novel we see many incidence surrounding the aspect of money and gold. Sometimes when people receive a large sum of money they tend to let it all go to their head. They will spend their money on matericalistic accessories. The relationships they had with friends or family can drasticly change for the worse. Once greed takes over a person there is no telling what they will do or what obstacles they will knock out of their way. On...
Love and affection is an indispensable part of human life. In different culture love may appear differently. In the poem “My god my lotus” lovers responded to each other differently than in the poem “Fishhawk”. Likewise, the presentation of female sexuality, gender disparity and presentation of love were shown inversely in these two poems. Some may argue that love in the past was not as same as love in present. However, we can still find some lovers who are staying with their partners just to maintain the relationship. We may also find some lovers having relationship only because of self-interest. However, a love relationship should always be out of self-interest and must be based on mutual interest. A love usually obtains its perfectness when it develops from both partners equally and with same affection.
After only meeting with her once, he proclaims to her, “I am already beginning to learn from you. I already learned something yesterday. Already I have gotten rid of my beard, I have combed and oiled my hair. There is not much more that is lacking, most excellent lady: fine clothes, fine shoes and money in my purse” (Hesse 45). Upon confronting Kamala, Siddhartha realizes he wants her to teach him everything she knows about the art of love. Nevertheless, she only agrees to do so if he obtains money, clothes, and gifts for her. After acquiring these components, Kamala agrees to teach him the art of love and he professes, “My dear Kamala, when I came to you in your grove I made the first step. It was my intention to learn about love from the most beautiful woman. From the moment I made that resolution I also knew that I would execute it. I knew that you would help me; I knew it from your first glance at the entrance to the grove” (Hesse 50). He shows Kamala that he is completely willing to follow her instruction, so she helps him attain a job. However, before sending him off to his first day, she reminds him that he is to make sure he is never subservient to the merchant and that they remain equals throughout his journey. She then sends him to another town where there is a merchant named Kamaswami. This is Siddhartha’s full transition into the material world, where he learns about work and
No matter the walk you take in life at the end of the day are you rich with love, respect and honor. Or, are you poverty stricken simply because you choose not to allow love, respect and honor to shine through. Not only on yourself but, also on those around you. In life a hard lesson needs to be learned and we can only learn this for ourselves, be rich because of who you are and not what you have because in the end people will not remember the house you had, the material possessions you bought or gifts that you gave, what they will remember is if you held your head high, even through the rough times, the respect you gave and most importantly, the love you
To many material wealth is the epitome of mankind’s earthly desires. With wealth comes money, possessions, a promise of freedom from social constraints and the ability to pursue your dreams. However, the influence it has on a person’s character can be a stark reminder of what the misuse of wealth can ultimately lead to. In both Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte the corrupting nature of monetary wealth is displayed through the lives of multiple characters. It is easy to see that a preoccupation with money blinds people to the prosperity that stands before them and can lead them down roads that end with nothing more than loneliness, misery or even death.
The stronger will do anything in their power to make a profit, leaving the weak with nothing. Kuyper says, “…the more powerful exploited the weaker by means of a weapon against which there was no defense” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 26). Additionally, he states that “…the idolization of money killed the nobility in the human heart” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 31). Kuyper talks about how Jesus felt bad for the rich and sided with the poor (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 32). Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Earthly materials mean nothing because the real treasure awaits in
Being rich can become a way of life for them, they do not see wealth as anything evil. It can become an attachment for them, making them obsessed with becoming richer. At the same time, being wealthy gives them the chance to be nice and help the others in them community who are not as rich. Buddhist do not frown upon wealth as long as it is earned honestly and used to help the community. According to an article, “The Buddhist tradition encourages charity to the monastic community in particular, in order to obtain a spiritual merit for future live.” (Buddhism on Wealth, 2015) Buddhist have a great sense of belief on poverty. They believe that poverty is causing the most effect on the world we live in. Buddhist, people try to use their riches to help out where help is needed, whenever it is needed. Even though some people were wealthier than others, they became that way honestly and did not become greedy with
Most would say that money does not define who we are. However, socially we are conditioned to think that a person of good character has money and can manage wealth. In Stevenson’s day, even more so than today, a person of wealth is assumed to be of good character. who knew you;
In the Poem Ballade of Worldly Wealth by Andrew Lang he says “Money taketh town and wall, fort and ramp without a blow”. I think what the author is trying to say is that people that are wealthy can build or take apart things by just asking because they have money to do it. Lang also says “Money moves the merchants all, while the tides shall ebb and flow”. What Lang seems to be saying in these lines is that money is the thing that keeps things flowing smoothly. “Money maketh Evil show like the Good, and Truth like lies”. I believe what Lang was trying to say is that money makes things that we think are bad seem okay and vice versa. “These alone can ne’er bestow youth, and health, and paradise.” These things can’t be giving to you through money or anything else.
In the first novel, Midaq Alley, the characters are characterized by an obsession with love or money. Hamida, a woman who grows up in an unfavorable financial environment, is often portrayed to be contemplating money and is willing to go against tradition and religion in order to obtain financial success. Hamida, while walking down the streets and gazing into shop windows, is described as having a “yearning for power [that] centered on her love for money. [Hamida] was convinced that it was the magic key to the entire world” (Midaq Alley, P40). This mindset earlier in her life affects her later...
The cost of their greed, in this case, is the heart of the family. Because they cannot control their urge to spend, they lose control of what should be most precious: their children. The mother, “a woman who was beautiful, who started with all the advantages (100)” is, in her opinion, devoid of luck. Although she had married for love, the love doesn’t exist any longer. Her feelings of inadequacy towards being wealthy transferred to her own children. She imagined they were somehow put upon her, that “They looked at her coldly, as if finding fault with her (100)” and, therefore, she could not bring herself to show them love...
“Doing what successful people do is easy”, these are the words of Robert Kiyosaki in exacting the difference between being wealthy and doing wealthy (Kiyosaki, 2013). Others seek out for money as they see it as important in life. While it is important, seeking for money alone is not enough. Kiyosaki (2008) ignored money, gold, mutual funds and other assets that would make up for ordinary riches instead the focus were on knowledge, information, and wisdom. To Kiyosaki (2013, 2008), it is financial intelligence that would make up wealth.
The Greek myth King Midas and the Golden Touch tells the story of a man who goes to great lengths to become the wealthiest person in the world. He wishes that whatever he touches shall turn to gold. His wish comes true. At first, he loves the fact that his clothes, bed, and even his rose garden become golden. But, when he can't eat his food or hug his daughter because they also turn to gold, he becomes extremely upset and wishes that he could take everything back (Hawthorne). Isn't it most people's ambition to be wealthy? Though not many people would admit to it, many people would stop at nothing to achieve such great wealth. That is until their ambition backfires and they loose what is really important to them. The myth King Midas and the Golden Touch reveals that in ancient Greek culture, many of the wealthy people were preoccupied with becoming richer and didn't consider the consequences. Much like many people in our society, who become so blinded with greed their judgement becomes clouded, and they...
...herefore found pleasure and contentment within each other because of the pain that they both shared. Therefore this proves that in a country such as India, where social status and prosperity are crucial, it is evident that love takes preference over all, despite the norms of India, love will always be a priority. Therefore we see that not only did Ammu and Velutha break the ‘Love Laws’ , but so did Estha and Rahel break the ‘Love Laws’ when sleeping with each other.