Simplicity of life is the sign of true prosperity. Swami Ramdas
Swami Ramdas (1884 – 1963) of his real name Vittal Rao is an Indian philosopher, philanthropist and pilgrim. He is recognized in India and also in the West as a spiritual master of the Hindu tradition.
With this sentence, Swami Ramdas synthesizes an increasingly popular idea that happiness lies in a form of essentialism or what is often called minimalism. We may be living in a period of transition, that is to say, an era in which we in the West, at least, would move from the paradigm of quantity to that of quality.
Simplicity shows an ability to eliminate the futile things, those that hinder us in our search for prosperity, that is, the inner wealth that can manifest itself outside.
Simplicity is difficult to achieve because on the one hand it is fought against by the dominant thought that readily confuses it with mediocrity or ignorance. On the other hand, it finds many obstacles in its path. Indeed, our desires are constantly stimulated, which leads us to buy superfluous things, to dwell on useless things, or to associate with people who do not want to do us good.
Simplicity is the sign of a certain greatness, since we save our time, energy, attention, and willpower by not wasting them on trivialities. Thus, a simple person is prosperous because he or she has resources that many of us lack. The same resources that allow us to focus on the things that are really worthwhile. The ones that make us happy. So, happiness consists in finding what we love and dedicating our whole being to it. Happiness is in simplicity, itself synonymous with wisdom.
