It was then that Gnanmuni had his awakening. He gave up his business career, renounced his possessions, traveled to India, and enrolled in a Hindu seminary. Six years later, he emerged a monk. From that time on, the sum total of his worldly possessions has been two robes, some prayer beads, and a wooden bowl. He is prohibited from even touching money.
What would this rebel who had left the capitalist world behind have to say about free enterprise? I took a deep breath, and posed my query nonetheless. "Swami, is free enterprise good or bad for the soul?
His response was rapid. "It's a good thing! It has saved millions of people in my country from starvation." This was not quite what I expected. "But you own almost nothing," I pressed. "I was sure you'd say money is corrupting."
He laughed at my naivete. "There is nothing wrong with money, dude. The problem in life is attachment to money."
The formula for the best life, as he told it, was this:
Abundance without attachment.
-Arthur C. Brooks, The Conservative Heart: How To Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America
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