Free things in our life.

What do we want in our life? What are our needs?
Most people will say, they want wealth, power, happiness, success, love, fame, security and freedom.  Of course, all these things are needed in our life. But there are other things too, which are highly valued but we often neglect them. interestingly most of these things are free of cost. for example air, you can not live without it. Hold your breath for a minute and you will experience how important it is. We don't value it because it is available in abundance. Just like air, there are so many gifts of nature available in abundance and we never appreciate it.

We are slaves of our worldly desires - wealth, power, pleasure, comfort and fame. We spend almost all of our time seeking them with a feeling that having them will make us happy.  But unfortunately, no matter how much we get it, we will get used to it and will start demanding more. The greed takes over the needs.

The most valuable things are free and there is no need of purchasing them. One of the most valuable things is knowledge. Benjamin Franklin once said, "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." Knowledge is an inexhaustible wealth, which the more you share the more you gain. It requires self-efforts to gain knowledge. In the current era, access to knowledge is almost free from books, people and the web. Knowledge has the power to make you wiser. There is famous saying in Sanskrit:

न चौर हार्यम न च राज हार्यम |

न भ्रात्रभाज्यम न च भारकारी ||

व्यये कृते वर्धते नित्यं |

विद्या धनं सर्वे धनं प्रधानम्  ||

Which means:
The wealth that cannot be stolen,  neither abducted by the state nor can be divided amongst brothers,  neither it is burdensome to carry, the wealth that increases by giving, that wealth is knowledge and is supreme of all possessions.

Another most valuable thing is time. It is distributed fairly to all us. Everyone has the same amount of time, no matter how rich you are or how poor you are, the time will not change for anyone. All the wealth in the world can not purchase a second of time once it is exhausted. Most people don't value the time and they waste it doing nothing. We must learn to value the time and use it wisely. If we use our time for important things, we can lead to the great life ahead.

Next thing is freedom. It is the greatest source of happiness. Everyone wants it and those who have it, are fortunate to have it. We are living in the era, where our current generations are having the maximum freedom in the history of mankind. We are free to choose our profession, our spouse, our major and minor life decisions and some are fortunate enough to change their country and religion too. We forget the value of freedom in our quest to achieve the materialistic things, which we often never use. Use freedom to do what is best for you and keeping in mind that it will not affect others freedom.

Health is another valuable thing, which most people don't value. Most of us are born with good health but we neglect it and focus on other priorities. People spend their health to earn wealth but later they need to spend their wealth to regain the health. We realise the value of health after losing it. It is impossible to retrieve the health completely after critical illness has damaged our critical body organs. We should be cautious about our health. It is not very difficult to maintain good health. By maintaining the healthy lifestyle including proper diet, physical exercise and mental peace.

Love is the greatest gift. We get love from the moment we are born, we are loved by our parents, elders and everybody, even an unknown person loves the child. Unfortunately, as we grow, we start losing the value of love because it is available for free. We realise the value of love after losing it. Once we realise that we have lost most of it then we start seeking love. Then people try to purchase love with money, which is impossible. True love is always free.

The family is gods gift to you, as you are to your family. The man is born in the family and dies as a family man. Our Family takes care of us until we stand on our foot and in later life too. The family is a small world created by its members that sustain on love. Most people lose their families to archive external things of life.  People don't spend time with their family and later they regret it when the time is passed. We should value our family.

We can't choose our family but we can choose our friends. If you choose your friends rightly then you can make your life heaven. Friends are the greatest support system in the world. They are with you for your good as well as bad times. Joy is multiplied when shared and sorrow is divided when shared. People are blessed who have friends with whom they can share joys and sorrows. Sadly, in today's materialistic world while chasing the materialistic things we often neglect our friends. We do not give sufficient time to our friends and we loose their contact and friendship. Famous writer Charles Caleb Colton said, "True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost."

Only fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from others mistakes. If knowledge is the food of mind, art and literature are the food of the soul. literature can provide the experience of the world without personal suffering. Music, dance and other forms of art and literature can nurture your soul. Good music can change your mood and revitalise your soul. Similarly, good literature can broaden our mind and develop our understanding.

Trust is another most important thing. We are born trustworthy but due to our own mischief, we start losing it. Trust and faith are essential to living a life full of love, peace and joy. If you are a trustworthy person, people will value you highly and follow you. It is also very easy to be a trustworthy person. Walk your talk, be honest and fulfil your promises to be a trustworthy person. We must remember that lost trust cannot be regained. Billy Graham quoted, "When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost."

Finally, one more most important thing is selfless service. It is the essence of all religions and provided in all scriptures such as Geeta, Bible and Koran. Selfless service will give the greater joy when you serve with no consideration for a good cause, you gain the greatest joy from within. It is always free to serve others. It is said in Matthew 6 that "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."