09.22: Reforming Our Priorities

When faced with financial challenges, we often worry, “What do I live with?” When the bottom line doesn’t look good for our lifestyle, that situation may be the impetus required for us to look at the top line of our life: “What do I live for?”

The eleventh canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam describes the story of such a priority reformation, wherein a wealthy super-miser lost everything and everyone due to a series of disasters. While trying to make sense out of the loss of the ultimate means for living, he discovered the ultimate purpose for living: developing an eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord. Being enriched with this sense of purpose, he cast off the feelings of being impoverished – and went on to attain life’s ultimate fulfillment and success.

His experience of enrichment-in-impoverishment demonstrates the assurance of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita (9.22): when we take care of the whys of life, the Lord takes care of the hows of life.