Radhanath Swami – A Message to the World

Forbes declares there are 2,153 billionaires in the world and their average wealth is around $4.1 billion dollars. Did you know? 26 of the world’s richest people have as much wealth as 50% of the world’s poorest people! Today there are over 2 billion users on Facebook every month, and Instagram has 1 billion users every single month! Social media influencers have the power to reach and give information to 1/7 of the world’s population. With money, fame and influence controlling the way the world runs, the question we may ask is: Are money, fame and power good or bad? The truth is, it depends how we use it. Let’s take an example of a knife. A knife is neither good or bad. It’s determined by who has that knife and how it is used. A thief could use the knife to kill someone and to steal what they have. A doctor will use that same knife to save a person’s life. The knife is not inherently good or bad, it is given meaning by how we use it. With great power comes great responsibility. Those that have influence in the world, that have wealth and power have the potential to share wisdom, bring hope and give happiness to people’s lives. They can truly help bring people closer to their own essence. If our influence is used for this benefit, it can help change the world. However, if our power is simply used to advertise, to exploit people, then power money and fame with all its influence can ruin people’s lives, can make them feel inadequate and truly hopeless. At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. Roughly 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life. 780 million people do not have access to an improved water source. 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation that’s more than 35% of the world’s population. Money, fame and power can help us to solve all of these if they are used for a higher purpose. Each and every one of us, with whatever resources, skills or influence may have, we can make an invaluable contribution to the world and to life itself. Greatness is not in the quantity of what we have, but in the quality of our character. The world is starving for exemplary leaders among family, friends and society. John Wesley has written: “We must do all the good we can by all the means we can, in all the ways we can, in all the places we can, at all the times we can to all the people we can, as long as we can.”