“Money talks” is an idiomatic way of stating that those who show money are taken seriously – others respect them and hasten to do their bidding. Therefore, we often crave for the sense of power that money brings. When we let money infatuate us, we see it not as a functional necessity, but as the basis of our self-identity and self-worth.

Though money does talk, it also walks away as it is talking. That is, when money is to be exhibited, it also has to be expended. And once we get hooked to letting money talk for us, we often don’t realize that money is walking away till it is too late. That’s how shoppers end up as shopaholics and buyers as debtors.

The Bhagavad-gita (16.13-15) depicts materialistic people who go to the extremes of immorality and brutality to gain money and the power it brings. Despite doing all this, they are torn apart by anxieties (16.16), which is the inevitable result of seeking pleasure in controlling externals that are ultimately out of our control.

Gita wisdom explains that we are at our core spiritual beings and are meant for a far greater satisfaction than the fleeting gratification of the ego that money provides. We are meant for lasting fulfillment in spiritual devotion to the all-attractive Supreme, Krishna.

To enrich ourselves with devotion, we don’t have to give up money or its power; we just need to harmonize it with the higher spiritual purpose of our life to love and serve Krishna and others in relationship with him. In such a spiritually purposeful life, the wealth of devotion talks too, but not to the ego – it talks to the heart. It enables us to develop the strength of character that inspires loving, trusting relationships of a depth that money can never purchase.

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