For the majority of people richness is associated with money, so to say, material sphere. However, it is a big delusion, which may lead a person to poverty because of his/her ignoring the other significant aspects of this notion. Meanwhile, it should be realized, that the reasons for success or defeat lie in the spiritual sphere, from where the “seed” germinates into cruder – psychic and physical – levels. That is why spiritual sphere is always principal.

• Psychic and physical health
If you observe moral and other principles of yoga – keep to healthy diet, fast, do asanas, your health will be preserved or will even improve.
Thinking that money is more important than health, people first make money and then spend it on restoring their health. At the same time, if one chooses unfair way of earning money, he/she is going to ruin his/her health. There is an invisible connection between the mind and the body. Preserving harmony between them is of vital importance.
• Respect and trust of the society
As a proverb says: “a friend in court is better than a penny in purse”. Conventional wisdom teaches to prioritize certain things, like one’s reputation in the society, which is really very important.
• Clean water, good food, fresh air and pleasant surrounding
Some people suffer from a complex caused by lack of financial resources, at the same time they take no notice of the variety of riches that the universe has granted to them. For instance, the opportunity of walking in a gorgeous park or cooking delicious food with simplest products.

In the yogic philosophy there is a concept, that the Supreme Consciousness creates the Universe within It’s own mind by crudifying Itself. In other words, the Consciousness acquires cruder vibration, which manifests itself as the physical world, composed of the waves. Within this creation, the microcosms appear; they further evolve, ascend, gradually making their vibrations subtler. With the evolution of the microcosms the Supreme Consciousness delegates them a certain degree of control. So, the more the microcosm is developed, the higher its position on the evolutionary ladder is, the more freedom it possesses. If a microcosm is misusing its freedom, by that promoting its own degradation or degradation of the other beings, it is going to be deprived of its freedom and would roll back in evolution.

• Confidence in the future
This aspect of richness does not depend on the material savings. To feel confident about the future one should have spiritual, psychic and intellectual reasons.
In order to attain richness, it is necessary to elaborate all the above-mentioned aspects. The money do not necessarily have to take part in this concept, though it may be there as well. If all the elements are there in your life, with no money involved, you may consider yourself a rich person.

•Ability to absorb, to perceive the spiritual reality, to be attuned to it.
In this case your mind, your psyche will be moving in cosmic rhythm; you will be able to feel spiritual bliss, flawless satisfaction. Even though you do not own anything material, but you have attained spiritual richness, you will be feeling happy.

This is what the process of spiritual practice is. A person is evolving, getting subtler, more elevated, not vice versa. The movement towards crudeness is called “degradation” – it is narrowing in all spheres. The movement towards subtleness is evolution, expansion, enrichment and prosperity.

So, in order to gain spiritual richness, not in theory or conceptually, but in practice, it is necessary to strive to achieve Higher Consciousness, divine reality, God in your life.

The question arises: what is the true goal of richness? The first one is self-realization and liberation of the soul. The second one is taking care about the others and helping them in gaining liberation. It is important to realize that our being is primarily the spirit, less – intellect, and, to a very little extent, it is a physical body. We are much more spiritual beings rather than physical. Material resources are necessary for satisfaction of the five needs: food, clothes, dwelling, education and medical care. At the same time, the key point is to invest into your future psychic and spiritual development.

Another crucial aspect: minimum 2% of your income are to be donated to service, since the purpose of your existence in this Universe is to do Sadhana and serve the other living beings. Also it is necessary to allocate resources on your spiritual development: buying spiritual literature, attending retreats (retreat – a yoga-seminar, collective yoga practice), traveling to inspiring places, donations and help to the others. It means one’s main resources should be directed to spiritual elevation and service to humanity.

The first cause – incorrect prioritizing, when a person is oriented more on wasting money, rather than on saving and multiplying. One should realize that money is necessary for development, but not for luxury and pleasures.

Another cause of poverty is harmony laws violation, larceny.


There are different types of larceny. For example, striving for freeloading, in other words, desire of getting everything for free. Another type of larceny – not paying or giving somebody something, which is due to him or her. The third type of larceny – taking someone’s property, which is a theft. Even trivial desire of possessing someone else’s property is an act of theft. These different types of larceny traumatize the soul. Larceny is an extreme degree of egoism, manifestation of animalistic form of behavior.

The third cause of poverty is envy. To envy somebody is the mentality of a poor person. Generosity is the mentality of a rich one. Absence of service also bears poverty, because the duty in relation to the Universe is not fulfilled.

The fourth cause of poverty is excesses, which lead to degradation of the mind. When a person is striving to get more and more material goods, following his/her desires, not needs, the Universe deprives him/her of such an opportunity, encouraging asceticism.

The fifth cause is when a person is dissatisfied with life, does not value what he/she has. Such people constantly feel that they need something else, they try to buy the cheapest things, bargaining for a penny and forgetting that another person also needs to earn his/her living. The best option here would be keeping to the idea that I buy something more expensive in order to give another person an opportunity to move towards prosperity as well.

There is an interesting criterion for determining how far you are from prosperity. Ask yourself a question: how would my life change if I got a big sum of money? A person, whose mind is in the state of prosperity, would answer, that his/her life would not change in any way, but the opportunity of doing service would grow.

To be continued…