The
current economic crisis is unique in many ways. Economists are calling it one
of the worst the world has ever seen and the biggest since the great depression
in the early 20th century. Barring a few countries like India and China, the entire world has slipped
into a severe downturn. Leading economic powers like the USA, Japan,
UK and Germany are suffering a sharp
decline in their economies. As a consequence, wealth has greatly diminished,
people have lost faith, hunger and poverty are on the rise and there is great
concern that this situation may lead to global chaos and anarchy. It is
noteworthy that when the condition of the environment degenerated to such an extent
during the great depression in the 1930’s, it was followed by a catastrophic
world war.
When an event of this magnitude occurs, it
indicates that some essential principles of life and growth have been grossly
neglected on a global scale. Let us examine some of the principles of being and
becoming laid down by Sri Sri Thakur and understand how their violations have
resulted in this predicament.
Loan Lunacy
Loan leans
the labour-loving traits
and
turns one into a pauper. (Message,
Vol. VIII, p. 331, 3rd ed.)
The immediate trigger for the current economic
crisis was the trillions of dollars of bad loans taken out by people in the USA to
purchase property. Known in business parlance as the sub-prime mortgage crisis,
people borrowed more than they could afford with the encouragement of
unscrupulous lenders. When property prices started falling and borrowers could
not pay their money back to the lenders, large financial institutions such as
the Lehman Brothers started collapsing thereby triggering a crisis of
confidence which virally spread throughout the world.
Sri Sri Thakur never
liked the idea of taking loans. He said that loans should be avoided to the
extent possible and should be taken only when absolutely necessary. When one
does take a loan, he said, it should be returned at the earliest opportunity
and well within the time promised for its return. While giving loans, the
lender should give only that much that one is not shattered if the loan is not
returned. He always stressed the importance of having simple tastes and living
within one’s means. According to him, the
tendency of taking loans distorts the hard working traits of a person by
inclining him towards easy money and hence makes one into a pauper. This
principle was violated by the borrowers and lenders and that made the present
crisis inevitable.
Play of Passions
Inconsiderate investment,
inconsiderate, greedy withdrawal of money
and uncompassionate behavior
are the inimical friends
of business. (Message,
Vol. VIII, p.330, 3rd ed.)
In
the Hollywood movie, ‘Wall Street’, the famous
American actor, Michael Douglas, says, “Greed is – good”. Most investors in the
stock market seem to be motivated by greed in their investment decisions. Warren
Buffet is the wealthiest man in the world and he understands the functioning of
the stock markets better than anyone else. Alice Schroder has written a book on
Warren Buffet, and talking about him in an interview with CNN, she said about
him, ‘He would say that human nature doesn't change, and that
fear and greed are always the two drivers of the market … the market will always be ruled by cycles driven by fear and greed.’
Warren Buffets wrote an article in the New York Times citing his money
making rule, ‘Be greedy when others are fearful.’ Excessive greed feeds on itself leading to an unrealistic and
unsustainable rise in the value of stocks creating what is known as a stock
market bubble. When the unsustainable nature of the bubble starts manifesting
itself, there is extreme panic which leads people to withdraw their money in
fear, causing a sudden crash in the stock values.
Economists worldwide are arguing endlessly about
the reasons behind the current crisis. However, what most of them fail to
understand is that the underlying causes of the current crisis lie not just in
economics but rather in the passionate play of our complexes like fear and
greed. Making superficial changes in the economic structure would not be
effective, unless people’s characters can be moulded in a way that enables them
to keep greed and fear under control. Greed or ‘lobha’ has always been regarded
as one of the main vices in Hinduism. Sri Sri Thakur said:
Where
passionate greed or intent
is the moral goad
there
demon dominates. (Message, Vol, VII, p. 234, 3rd ed.)
He further added:
A servant for money
is often disqualified
to master the same, _
hence wealth mourns away
with insignificant glow!
(Magna Dicta, p.50,4th ed.)
He
never believed in hoarding wealth beyond one’s needs and was strongly against
excessive attachment to money. He said:
Hoax of money
makes one
a man of heartless
intelligence. (Message, Vol. VIII,
p.327, 3rd ed. ).
Capitalism nor Communism
Where capitalists are not
laborious
to serve the labourers—
to make them efficient,
Mammon with a sighful glimpse
converts money into mud ;
and where labourers
deceive the capitalists
without being profitable to
them
and negligently usurp the maintenance
which makes them
fit in life,
Satan with embezzling laughter
presents them
a black necklace
with a steel rope
that pulls them towards vanity ! (Message, Vol. I, p191, 6th
ed.)
One of the fundamental questions that
this economic crisis has thrown up is the very validity of the capitalist
model. When the communist system was undermined after the break up of the
Soviet, there was great jubilation in the camps of the capitalists as it was
apparently a confirmation that the capitalist system was the best. However, the
current crisis is seen in many ways as a failure of unbridled capitalism. This
rampant form of capitalism has placed monetary profits above every other
consideration. As a result, moral values have degenerated and people have
become heartless, self-centred, and corrupt. Capitalism, which is built on the
premise of free markets, is now discovering that true freedom can only be based
on disciplined, ethical behaviour. If people are allowed a free reign to do
anything that they want for profit, without any regard to long-term community
welfare, it will ultimately lead to ‘market failures’ undermining the
capitalist philosophy.
Due to the faults being exposed in capitalism, other models are being
studied to overcome its inherent problems. Among the economic models being
studied are that of India
and Australia,
which have a more socialistic inclination and provide greater support to their
citizens. Long before the fall of communism and the recent doubts about
capitalism, Sri Sri Thakur proposed a system which was neither capitalist nor
communist in the extreme but had the good elements of both. He was against the
exploitation of workers by capitalists but at the same time did not want
workers to exploit their owners through non-cooperation, deception, strikes and
other means. He supported the spirit of individual enterprise and ownership
found in capitalism while at the same time emphasised the importance of man
over money. His was an ‘ism’ of togetherness, harmony and love, which would
enable everyone to live and grow equitably and he called his ‘ism’
existentialism.
Dharma Upholds
The reason
why many of the large companies failed and exacerbated the crisis was the fact
that their accounts were falsified by people in senior management positions
which was only exposed when it became too late, thereby dragging the companies
to ruin. Governments are talking about introducing more legislation to create
checks and balances in the system. But, whatever complex system of checks and
balances the government may create, it will ultimately have to be implemented
by people, and hence will be only as effective as the integrity and efficiency
of the people involved.
Dharma, according to Sri Sri Thakur, comes from
the root ‘dhri’ which means that which upholds our being and becoming. Hence,
real sustained growth in any field of human endeavour can only come about when
the principles of Dharma are aptly followed. When individuals and communities
are goaded on by their whims and complexes neglecting the Dharmic principles of
life and growth, downfall and destruction inevitably await around the corner.
This downfall can manifest itself in many ways and in many forms including an
economic downfall. When adherence to the doctrines of life and growth recede,
recession cannot but raise its ugly head.
Sri Sri Thakur pointed out that the economic capital can only be built
on the back of human capital which can be developed by creating people of
outstanding calibre through proper marriage, education and upbringing. He said:
To combat poverty
good
breeding is essential
and then education
with every active thoroughness
in a
meaningful consistency
that nurtures being
and becoming. (Message, Vol. VIII, p.340)
He reiterated this in another
utterance:
It
is not a fact
that material economy
is the
stay of life,
but it is true
and an eternal fact
that chaste and compatible
economy of genetics
is the
wealth of the world,
though foolish conception
foregoes
it;
origin of economic adjustment
in family
and country
crops up
from
chaste, healthy
and compatible eugenic
relation
within
similar clans.
(Message, Vol. VIII, p. 341)
If we want
to enjoy unhindered economic prosperity, we have no choice, therefore, but to
build our human capital through a man making movement based on Dharma. Unless
we invest extensively in developing this human capital, unless we learn to
discipline our passions, unless we vigorously follow the path of life and
growth, we will be constantly plagued by crises one after the other. In my
considered opinion, the best, if not the only sound method, to understand and
practise Dharma is to be attached to an Ideal who is the living embodiment of
Dharma, a Jesus, a Krishna, a Sri Sri Thakur
Anukulchandra. When there is such an attachment to the Ideal, Sri Sri Thakur
says, economic prosperity becomes inevitable and automatic.
Where sufferance for the
Love [Ideal]
is a
blessing,
where
hearth and home are satisfied,
blended with sweet relation,
economic
wealth of the country
normally
flows
in a puffing flow. (Message,
Vol.VIII,p.342, 3rd ed.)
_____________
Post a Comment