INTRODUTION-

“Besides you know Prosperity is the very bond of love, whose fresh complexion and whose heart
together aflication alter” by William Shakespeare.

“To prosper” comes from Latin word prosperous which means “to flourish”, “to enjoy vigorous
and healthy growth”. Prosperity means to flourish physically, psychologically, socially and
spiritually. Whereas wealth although is an element in prosperity, material wealth does not
necessarily indicate a happy and fulfilled life, and emotional and spiritual wellbeing. A key
difference between wealth and prosperity is that while the word prosperity captures much more
than material gain, the word wealth is confined to material gain only. There are various other
concepts that come under the auspices of Prosperity such as Happiness, Success , Love, Wealth
and Health. While studying the relation of prosperity with love, we notice that Prosperity, like
love, is not a ‘thing’ that can be measured; it is an experience that can only be personally
declared. Love is an essential feeling that is the evidence of prosperity through relationships in
action. Through one-to-one relationships you will find abundance, opportunity and prosperity,
and your life will become richer in every sense of the word. Abundance resonates with words
and ideas like joy and love and wisdom. Abundance is not really of this physical world, although
we use it to manifest in the physical world. We cannot see abundance, we can only see
manifestations of abundance. So, too, we cannot see love or joy or wisdom, but we can have
feelings, pictures, and examples of the manifestations. All energy comes from Spirit. And Spirit
is abundant, infinite, unlimited.

In the Epic of Ramayana there are various instances which prove that love is an essential form of
prosperity like the brotherly bond shared between the brothers, the love and respect he possess
for his parents and the pure love for Sita is portrayed makes us realize the understanding about
love. According to the Quran marriage is the union of two individuals in the relation of love,
prosperity and delight and that compassion is an essential part of a prosperous. It also states that
Allah loves all His people. In the Bible, Jesus never encouraged his followers to follow
materialistic wealth and considered it to be temporary. His teachings state the fact that this
relation with the materialistic world would further lead to a downfall in relation with God.
The Exposition of Love in the Bible

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not
dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

Corinthians 13:4-5

The original languages of the Bible ― Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew ― have many different
words for love. The unconditional love expressed in 1 Corinthians 13 is Agape in the Greek,
Chav in Aramaic, and Ahav in Hebrew. Hebrew and Aramaic have a fourth word for loving with
tender mercy ― Racham. Chav flows from one person to another, but Racham flows back,
completing the circle. Love, in the Biblical sense, is an action, a choice that goes beyond any
feelings, and sometimes in spite of them. When you love in this way first and foremost, it can
only enrich the other “loves” in your life.

He who tries to act justly and kindly (Ps 34:14) will prosper and obtain justice and honor.
- (Psalm 34:14)
According to the Bible, Philia, which is the kind of love present amongst the masses is a very
strong bond and example of brotherhood and peace prevailing in the society. The Bible
advocates the selfless love and sense of service towards one and another as suggested by the
verse - Corinthians 16:14 which reads “Do everything in love”.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This
is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as
yourself.”
Biblically, the central basis for men to love one another is rooted in the nature of God himself-
"God is love." God does not merely love; he is love. Everything that God does flows from his
love. The Bible emphasizes repeatedly that God the Father, loves the Son and that the Son loves
the father Because the Father loves the Son, he made his will known to him. Jesus in turn
demonstrated his love to the Father through his submission and obedience. God alone is the
source of love ( 1 John 4:7-8 ); he "poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom
he has given us" ( Rom 5:5 ). God's love then awakens a response in those who accept it. God
loves through believers, who act as channels for his love; they are branches who must abide in
the vine if they are to have that love ( John 15:1-11 ). We have the assurance that we have passed
from death to life because we love others ( 1 John 3:14 )1.
In the Bible, the whole idea of love- of loving and being loved revolves around God, who had
sent to Earth his only son to help the people achieve salvation, only because God loved his
children and God is fair and kind towards them. According to the holy Christian scripture, one
cannot find love in his heart if he does not find love for God in his heart. The essence of what it
means to love God is to be satisfied in him. In him — not just his gifts, but God himself, as
glorious as he is. The Bible says there are six ways in which a child of God can achieve Wealth
and Prosperity, as God wants him to be.

Diligence:
“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe
carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set
you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and
overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God.”2
The Bible tells us that to be prosperous and grow, one must follow the path of God, for the God
knows, God loves his children and WANTS them to prosper. God’s happiness is an echo of
excellence of his children hence, to develop and prosper, treading in the path of God is quite
pivotal. The holy scripture of the Christians Compassion is necessary to truly grow, empathy is
necessary to develop brotherhood but Love is the most important of all, is necessary for the soul
to prosper. A sinful person may never make it till the end of the tunnel where the light is, he may
never feel compassion and thus may never prosper.

1 Peter 4:8: “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
Hence, we can say that according to the book of the people, love is the reason through which
peace is induced and through which sins washed, love is the idea through which the soul
blossoms thus, creating a world which is prosperous in the truest sense.

1
http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/love/
2
http://www.cfinancialfreedom.com/keys-guarantee-biblical-wealth-prosperity/
QURAN

According to Christians eternal prosperity is achieved only through the eternal love of God after
His full understanding and the establishment of a perfect relationship with Him and its condition
is that love should surge up on both sides. For a seeker after truth the only question is how to
achieve true prosperity which should be the means of eternal joy and happiness. The sign of a
true religion is that it should carry one to that prosperity. Through the guidance of the holy Quran
we learn that eternal prosperity is found in the true understanding of God Almighty and His holy
and perfect and personal love, and in perfect faith which should create a lover’s restlessness in
the heart.

The real purpose of religion is to recognize God who has created the Universe and to arrive in
His love at a stage where the love everything else is burnt up and to have sympathy with his
creators and to put on the garments of true purity. To avoid sin and to be devoted to the love of
God Almighty is a grand goal for man and is true comfort which can be described as heavenly
life.

No religion urges its followers to adopt mutual love, affection and intimacy like the religion of
Islam. This should be the case at all times, not just on specific days. Islam encourages showing
affection and love towards each other all the time.

In a Hadeeth  (narration), the Prophet, said: "When a man loves his brother, he should tell him
that he loves him."3 

In another Hadeeth, he said: "By Him in Whose Hand my soul is, you will not enter Paradise
unless you believe, and you will not believe unlessyou love each other.Should I direct you to
something that if you constantly did it, you wouldlove each other? Spread the greetings of peace
among you."

Moreover, the Muslim's affection includes inanimate beings. Talking about the Mountain of
Uhud, the Prophet, said: "This is Uhud, a mountain which loves us and we love it." 4

3
Abu Daawood and At-Tirmithi
4
Al-Bukhari and Muslim
Love in Islam is all-encompassing, comprehensive and sublime, rather than being restricted to
one form only, which is love between a man and a woman. Rather, there are more
comprehensive, wider and sublime meanings. There is love for Allah The Almighty, the
Messenger of Allah, the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, and the love of good and
righteous people. A successful marital and family life is based on love and compassion. There is
love of the religion of Islam, upholding it and making it victorious and the love of martyrdom for
the sake of Allah The Almighty as well as other forms of love. Consequently, it is wrong and
dangerous to restrict the broad meaning of love to this type of love only.

Love among humans is not only love of opposite sexes only for intimacy, love is when you for
something good for someone else for the sake of humanity. Here love for God is indicated as a
motivational factor of believers along with love for kin, orphans, the needy, and others for which
one spends of his substance.

Allah is with those who are of service to others.5 It is not righteousness that you turn your faces
to the East or the West, but truly righteous is he who spends his money for love of Him, on the
kindred and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and those who ask for charity, and for
ransoming the captivesand those who fulfill their promise when they have made one, and the
patient in poverty and afflictions and the steadfast in time of war.6

Islam is about freedom, Islam is peace, Islam means removing conflicts and forging cooperation,
thus creating a world of Justice through love, as Prophet did with the Aswad.

So now we come to the crux of why we deemed it important to investigate the Qur'anic teaching
on the love of God. What we have observed is that while the Qur'an tells of the love of God, in
most cases it is expressed in a negative fashion, "God loves not ..." or it is based upon human
conditions for its exercise. God loves the one who does good, the pure, the just, the trusting, the
patient and persevering, the one who takes up arms to fight in God's cause.

But where is there room for a God who initiates love in order to win over the lost and erring?
Where is He who loved us while we were yet sinners? Where is the room for the one who was
rich, yet for our sakes became poor so that we might be made rich? The contrast is too great to

5
Al Quran 29:70
6
Al Quran 2:178
overlook. Could we not also reply that, yes, we too love those who do good and are just and
demonstrate good qualities. But that would mean that God only expresses a human love if His
love is based on conditions. A revelation of infinite love demands something of the
extraordinary, something commiserate with the nature and character of God Himself. The cross
is the only historical expression of that love.

For those acquainted with the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the Qur'anic
commentary of God's love is striking in its paucity, and in its human-like description of God's
love to mankind. Jesus said in Luke 6:32 "But if you love those who love you, what credit is that
to you? For even sinners love those who love them."

If God then only loves those who love Him, or do good, or are pure then this love is not above or
beyond man's love since man also loves and appreciates such people. But a love that goes
beyond the surface and loves the unlovable and seeks to win over even the most wicked and
rebellious can only be a manifestation of the One who is love.

RAMAYANA

Ramayana, originally titled as, ‘Kaavyam Ramayanam Kritsnam Sitaayaas Charitham Mahat’, is
not just a story. It is one of the largest ancient epics in world literature, consisting of nearly
24,000 verses.

As in relation to the concept of wealth and prosperity, Laksmana, had said to Rama that, ‘all
actions issued forth from the prosperous one’ and that the one who was wealthy was the
fortunate one. This piece of assignment will be dealing with the concept of love as was discussed
and seen in Ramayana.

Ramayana had first stressed on the immense love that the parents had for their first born son, for
whom they had vouched for a lifetime. In fact when Lord Rama was sent to exile for fourteen
years, the people of Ayodhya were so deeply hurt that every mother henceforth became unhappy
at the sight of her first born son. Lord Rama had an extremely great impact and occupied a very
special place as in terms of love, in the hearts of the people of Ayodhya. Another relation which
symbolised love and respect was that between the gurus and the ‘shishyas’, wherein King
Dashrath himself said that gurus were another form of God, who should be respected and looked
upto by the people.

As pointed out earlier in the context of Quaranic verses, ancient religious scriptures throw a
significant light on the love between two brothers.7 Although one of Ramayana’s main focus is
on the duel between Ravana and Lord Rama, brotherly love is another important part of this epic,
which can be seen between the four brothers, Ram, Lakshmana, Bharat and Satrughna.

When Ram is sent to exile, he feels extremely happy when Lakshman insists on accompanying
him to the forest in order to ensure his brother’s well being and protection. Even when Kaikeyi,
one of King Dashrath’s three wives, and mother of Bharat and Satrughn, tries to cause a rift
between them, in regards to the right heir of the throne, the four brothers stick together and
ensure that this bond of love is not lost amongst them. When Bharat comes to know about his
mother's deeds, he is enraged and even addresses this anger in a harmful manner towards her. He
is stuck between the role of a son and that of a brother and feels extremely guilty to have taken
over the throne from Rama, who he feels is more worthy of it.

Moreover, he goes to the forest and requests Rama to take the throne from him, but Rama
displays his trust and respect for his brother, giving him the confidence to rule with dignity, love
and affection towards his people, until he returned from the ‘vanvaas’. Alternatively, this
brotherly love can be seen not only amongst the four brothers, but can also be seen between
Ravana and his brother Kumbhkaran, where Kumbhakaran feels that it is his duty to save and
protect his brother and his honour during the war between Ravana and Lord Ram.

Another aspect of Ramayana which is very important when we talk about prosperity with
relation to love is the unconditional love between a couple portrayed as a virtuous phenomenon
in modern religions. Neither the teachings of Jesus, nor Buddha, nor Lao Tzu, nor Mohammed,
nor the Old Testament Bible includes the idea that the passionate love associated with a soul
mate is a positive element in life. None of these teachings contain such a prominent powerful
couple. As we shall see, most religions consider this compassion as a sign of weakness, a passing
phase, or a temptation that must be overcome. What has happened between Rama and Sita is
nothing but a supreme incident of love which ultimately gave them a purpose to live and fight

7
Supra 3
for. Therefore, we can summarize these incidents in Ramayana to conclude that love is an
essential element to live a prosperous life, be it for a father who in spite of having all the riches
in life longed for an offspring to shower his emotions on, or be it a love between siblings or be it
the eternal love as shared between two partners, which became their ultimate strength and reason
for survival.

Conclusion

Ramayan, Bible and Quran often said to be the word of God by followers of various religions are
the works of the Supreme Being. They describe how we are related to the ultimate God and how
we should live our life so that we do not incur any kind of sins while doing what we must do.
Here is where the strongest point of difference is most pronounced between Christianity and
Islam. The Qur'an is a revelation of God's will that is to be obeyed by His creation. The Bible is a
revelation of the Person and character of God. It is here where we find what God is like and what
that means in our relation to Him. God is Spirit, God is Light, God is Love, are all statements of
the revelation of God's person and character. On the other hand Ramayana talks about the
immense love that the parents had for a first born son for whom their love was eternal. In fact
when Lord Rama was sent to exile for fourteen years, the people of Ayodhya were so deeply hurt
that every mother henceforth became unhappy at the sight of her first born son.

Muslims are then driven to speak of the unity of God, but in reality they mean the "unicity" or
absolute oneness of God. If God is One then He cannot have any parts. And to speak of attributes
implies that God is somehow relying on His inward parts to sustain His existence. This can
create misunderstanding between Christians, who are Trinitarian, and Muslims who are extreme
monotheists.This is a similarity between Ramayan and Quran as it is mentioned in a Hadeeth
(narration), the Prophet, said: "When a man loves his brother, he should tell him that he loves
him. And Ramayan also talks about the great brotherly love between ram and lakshaman.
comparison of traditions by exploring some examples from the Old Testament. As the ultimate
love between Ram and Sita. While there are hints of deep couple love in the Bible, they are
certainly not highlighted and are frequently tainted. One of the more positive examples of couple
love in the Bible concerns Jacob and Rachel.
We have confused profit with prosperity, success with statistics, and many people now live only
for profit and status, but it is an empty profit, a profit haunted by fear and loss and ultimately
ruin, a profit dependent on uncontrollable outer circumstances.

Do what you love, die into life, and you will know true and dependable prosperity beyond profit,
the prosperity that no amount of profit can buy, and no loss of profit can destroy. The mind,
which operates in the realm of profit and loss, cause and effect, time and space, will fear loss of
profit, loss of image, loss of security, and will always long for more profit.

Acknowledge the fear and the greed, do not make them into the enemy, but let your focus be on
your prosperity and the prosperity of those around you, on what you love, on your truth, and do
not let anything become an excuse to neglect your deepest calling, that which pulls you
effortlessly onwards. Do what you love without distraction. Yes, you may lose what you have,
what you think is yours. You may have less money than before. You may face criticism and even
ridicule from some. That’s possible. But you will be absolutely aligned with life, and you will be
open to opportunity, to unexpected help appearing along the way, to e-mails and phone calls out
of the blue, to who and what you need appearing on time, and what you don’t need disappearing
on time.

You will be so in love with what you do that you will lose all fear of absence of money
altogether, and trust will replace fear, and out of this fertilizer of absolute trust, enough money
will grow, or at least the means to support yourself, or at least the willingness to be supported as
you find your footing. In unexpected ways, support will come, connections will happen
somehow, the right people and circumstances will appear, and things will start to flow, including
money, if that is what you are worried about, for money is only energy anyway, and all is energy.
Maybe it will come slowly at first. Maybe not to the schedule the mind would like, but it will
come, in its own time. The flow is what is important, not the outcome. You will learn patience
and trust, and you will be forced to make friends with doubt. You may say “it’s not possible, it
will all end in failure”, but you’ll never know until you try. You may make a good living doing
what you love. You may even make a great living. It’s possible. Others have done it before you.
And from what life gives you, you will be able to give back more than you ever imagined
possible, and the cycle of prosperity will keep going and going.
Live the life you love, because you may only have today, and nobody else can live it for you, and
you will get tired of waiting. Love never walks alone; wherever love is, there is always
prosperity and wealth. They all go hand in hand. If you like it stay with love, Spread love, give
love and take love.

Perhaps with love, we can reach the highest and purest levels of wealth and success. The kind
that is not fleeting. The kind that does not exclude. The kind that does not become depleted as it
is shared, but rather multiplies and grows in strength, abundance and true power.