Why should I earn money ethically? Can honest money give me peace of mind?

What does nature say? It is not concerned with how much money you spend, it is only concerned with the internal state of pain and pleasure. Nature only keeps account of how much pain or pleasure is derived. A person enjoys happiness even when there is no money whatsoever, and another suffers deeply when there is plenty of money. Therefore pleasure and pain are not dependent on money.

Those who make relatively little money are in peace; they do not have any problems. They even have time to go to the temple and do darshan of the Lord. But for those who are engrossed in trying to increase their money, there is a problem when they earn a million rupees, and when they incur a loss of fifty thousand rupees, they immediately experience distress and suffering. You foolish people! Just deduct the fifty thousand from the million that you have. But no! That would reduce the original sum earned. What are you defining as your original sum? The sum you lost, carried away with it responsibility on your part, so do not complain when that sum decreases. But instead you feel happy when that sum increases and what happens when that sum decreases? Pain. The real sum is within you; the real wealth is within you. Why then do you frantically go around setting yourself up for a heart attack and risk losing this real sum? If you were to die of a heart attack, will you not lose this sum, the Self?             

A father gives his son a million rupees and then decides to embark on a spiritual path. The son squanders the money away, drinking, eating non-vegetarian food, gambling in the stock market, and enjoying himself. The reason behind this is that any money acquired through improper means will never remain; it will leave. Alas today not even honest money earned through earnest means remains with those who earn it, so how is dishonest money to remain? So you will need money that comes from your merit karma, pure money. This occurs when money is gained through honest and clear intentions. Only the wealth from such a source will give you happiness. Otherwise, the impure money of demerit karma will make you suffer even as it leaves, and will bind demerit karma in the process.

Reference: Book Name: The Science of Money (Page #20 - Paragraph #2 to #4, Page #21 - Paragraph #1)

Jewellery-The Best Business

Dadashri: People with a lot of merit karma from their past life acquire professions with the least amount of violence. The business of selling diamonds and precious gems would be one such profession. There is no scope of selling adulterated goods here. But nowadays even in this profession people have learned to do business dishonestly. Nothing prevents a person from doing business honestly if he wants to. In this profession no living beings are killed, but other kinds of violence can occur. Second to that would be the gold and silver business. The butcher’s business involves the highest amount of violence. The potter comes next because when he fires his wares he does a lot of hinsa. It is all violence.

Questioner: Is a person still held accountable regardless of the kind of violence he does, whether it is charge violence (violent intent) or discharge violence (violence in action)?

Dadashri: Can you not see people suffering? They are constantly suffering the results of violence. There is nothing but suffering…

People in occupations that involve violence do not have any radiance on their faces and they appear unhappy. A farm hand is never happy because of the effects of the violence from his past life. His landlord appears happy because he does not have to toil and is enjoying the fruits of his merit karma. This has been the law of life, the law of karma all along. The process behind which a person acquires the kind of work he does is a natural one. He could not run away from such an occupation even if he wanted to. We would not have a defense force if all the parents of our nation thought, ‘We do not want to send our son to the armed forces because he might get killed’. Yet all nations have a defense force. This is the natural law. Nature is at work here and nature brings forth the results, so do not be concerned without cause.

Reference: Book Name: Non-violence (Page #24 - Paragraph #2 to #5 , Page #25 Paragraph #1)