by Parth Pandya
[box] Here’s looking at money from a philosophical point of view. As the writer, Parth Pandya, notes, this is a poem inspired from a tale from the Mahabharata, called the Yaksha Prashna. In that didactic Hindu dialogue, Yaksha, a spirit of the lake, challenges Yudhishtira with philosophical questions, while his failed dead brothers lie around him.[/box]Thus came Manav to the pond,
with bodies strewn around it.
Parched souls on dry earth,
struck down by the promise of water.
“They perished for their need.
Answer, and you shall live,”
boomed a voice from the skies,
as Manav humbly submitted to his trial.
What is the purpose of wealth?
To beget more wealth.
What is costlier than money?
The promise of a safe future.
When is money not enough?
When it isn’t there just when you need it.
What can money not buy?
A breath of air when the body gives way.
When have you amassed enough?
When money feels like a curse.
Who is money’s master?
No one. The slaves change when money changes hands.
What is a man’s worth?
The tears shed on his passing.
A shimmer arose, and Yaksha appeared.
Pleased with Manav’s answers,
he beamed and said in a soft tone,
“You may drink the water now.”
Manav stopped, turned around,
and stalked the road he once came from.
Yaksha, puzzled, inquired after him,
“Who would refuse the gift of life?”
The one seemingly blessed by Kubera himself,
turned around and humbly submitted,
“One who never came
to seek it in the first place.”
Parth Pandya is a passionate Tendulkar fan, diligent minion of the ‘evil empire’, persistent writer at http://parthp.blogspot.com, self-confessed Hindi movie geek, avid quizzer, awesome husband (for lack of a humbler adjective) and a thrilled father of a precocious two-year-old boy. He grew up in Mumbai and spent the last eleven years really growing up in the U.S. and is always looking to brighten up his day through good coffee and great puns.
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