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Originally Posted by The An-Jel  I mean big money and the people who have it are the heroes of the day now, the enlightened ones simply because they have more. While I do not subscribe to this concept I am simply making a point. |
I am not at all against the making of money and wealth through honest means. If people wish to enjoy life with their hard-earned money, they have every right to do so.
However it is also a fact that all objective pleasures result in pain and misery in the long run.
It is a fact that permanent happiness cannot be obtained from sensory pleasures. The romans , in their peak of luxury and enjoyment, used to build basins near their banquets, so that after eating a full course meal, they could go to the basins and vomit what all they have ingested, and again go and eat food, just for the taste of it. This shows the ludicrous extent that man was ready to go , for the sake of happiness and pleasure from objective sources , which unfortunately was temporary.
And it is a fact that true and permanent happiness , joy and bliss is obtained not from without, but from within.
All enlightened masters have described the sheer bliss , joy and happiness of their state,and which is not temporary , but permanent, and compared to which all outside pleasures are trivial.
Even if a person is not enlightened ,but still has substantial spiritual growth, he too would experience great bliss and joy and peace of mind.
So I don't think spirituality should be underestimated in any culture, or society or country.