A’ca’rya Gun’iindra’nanda Avadhu’ta
A man is a social being destined to the spiritual goal who lives in society and fulfills one’s needs through society. A society is an organisation comprising a good number of people skilled in some trades and engaged in producing essentials to cater the needs of all in order to move progressively to attain happiness, peace and welfare of all. The socio-economic behaviour of a man includes production of commodities, marketing and consumption in order to facilitate happy and progressive life. It means that the flow of the economy must provide ‘purchasing capacity’ to every individual in society so as to purchase the essentialities of life to secure one’s progress in all spheres of life while maintaining the sustenance. It proves the inherent dynamic of an economy.
An individual does not earn and spend only to fulfil one’s own and the family’s immediate needs but also make considerable ‘savings’ for any future exigencies like old age, sickness, travels, marriage (social functions) etc. which depends upon different customs and societies- the social settings) and other unexpected expenses to meet in emergencies. ‘Emergencies’ may refer to all unwarranted situations like the acute and chronic diseases in aggravated conditions, death, travels, litigations etc. So ‘savings’ is one of the important aspects of earnings and it is well included in the ‘purchasing capacity’ of an individual according to PROUT. Earnings, Expending and Savings maintain the dynamics of an economy. A ‘delimitation of keeping wealth’ may be fixed by the ‘collective body’ (the governing body) as a considerable Control on to maintain the economic flow smoothly realising the overall needs of individuals in respect to the growth of economy of that society according to the availability of resources available and being provided by the governments. In this regard, savings cannot be called ‘Accumulation of Wealth’ as it comes under ‘minimum requirements and maximum amenities’ to life. The limit of ‘minimum requirements’ depends upon time, place and person (three relative factors which are the subjects of change).
The principle of ‘Aparigraha’ does not make a fixed limit of keeping resources with an individual in view to fulfill one’s minimum requirements, rather it suggests to minimise the limit of requirements as far as possible so that other individuals may get the sufficient means of subsistence to fulfil their needs. Thus earnings and savings as per the minimum requirements of an individual is allowed. The excess of earnings can be invested in ‘cooperatives’ (the government approved economic investment institutions) so that the wealth can be utilised in maintaining the dynamicity of the economy with transparency so as to help building the collective social wealth. So PROUT does not delimit the earnings as it depends upon the merits of an individual. An individual may have several skills and can utilise them and earn. But the excess must be invested in government economic ventures after maintaining the fulfilment of one’s ‘minimum requirements and maximum amenities’ as PROUT signifies the concept to consistent enhancement in the ‘standard of living’ of people in a social setting in a given frame of time(Yuga).
PROUT discourages ‘Accumulation of Wealth’ in the hands of individuals. That means individuals must declare the wealth they possess and it is the prerogative of the government to acquire the excess wealth from the individuals after the rational delimitation of individuals’ requirements to keep wealth. This way, no individual will be allowed to accumulate wealth beyond a sanctioned limit that discourages the ‘psychology of accumulating wealth’ which remains excess to the desired requirements.
The Capitalist frame of economy allows individuals to earn more and more and spend or accumulate as per individual desires as the income is generated by the individual. It generates undue opulence with a few individuals and the rest of the society suffers to fulfil even their minimum requirements and maintain a healthy standard of living. It generates economic disparities in society and divides society economically between the rich and the poor effecting a big economic gap which develops several unhealthy situations like corruption, exploitation, oppression, suppression, dominance, depriving the weaker of their due etc. In this situation, the storing of consumable goods or accumulation of wealth or resources becomes a psychic phenomenon. They accumulate even though they have things in abundance just to show off. The Accumulation of Wealth is also a symbol of social status which brings social prestige and honour to the individuals. There is no economic insecurity but they like to accumulate to maintain the status of social prestige. In this case, wealth is mostly misused for non- productive purposes and at the other end, the majority of people suffer for the want of minimum essentialities. There is a mad rush of amassing wealth today on this earth depriving the due of billions of population resulting in starvation, malnutrition and undernutrition. Accumulation causes economic stagnancy- inflation, depression and recession.
Now, individual earnings compliment spending over requirements both short term as well long term. First of all immediate needs like food, clothing, shelter, education and medicines must be fulfilled and the savings must be maintained for future needs for either emergencies or old age medical requirements, social functions, health issues of family members etc. In many countries nowadays medical care has been upgraded and provided well to their citizens to secure health care by the governments. But in many other countries, there is a huge spending on medical care for that savings becomes quite essential. Spending on other occasions of social functions like marriages, shraddha, social and religious festivals etc. (especially in India), a huge amount of money is spent as a mark of free-handedness in spending even by borrowing money just to show off socially. It needs to be curtailed to rationalise the importance of spending on value-based essential requirements which is also a subject of delimitation by the government. Charity is also an essential part of the civic and spiritual life of an individual, groups and communities which incur expenses. For all charitable renderings, individual contributions are to be ensured. At times of natural and man-made calamities too individual contributions are made to help people in distress by the individuals as a gesture of love and concern for the calamity-stricken population. It extends to all humanitarian endeavours to support all humanitarian causes. It must be a good reason to save money for any philanthropic causes as such.
Man has to take care of protecting and preserving the ‘ecological balance’. Humanity as a whole must contribute to the survival of animals, plants and flora and fauna to ensure ‘a healthy survival in a harmony in consonance with Nature’. It necessitates the individual contributions of individuals which need savings for the cause. It’s a Neo- humanist approach to life which helps maintain the psychic equipoise and equilibrium and facilitates psycho-spiritual progress.
In all, it can be concluded that there must be good earnings by the individuals to maintain healthy and happy living on this earth by fulfilling one’s essential requirements with a purpose of meaningful living to make desired progress in life while rendering services to the needy and caring the existence of the flora and fauna to help ecological balance and save life on the planet earth. The concept of ‘savings’ does not correspond to ‘ the accumulation of wealth’ as it restricts the economic dynamics and creates economic stagnancy at one hand and deprives billions of their due to survive and progress as human beings.
(It is the personal view of the author.)
A’ca’rya Gun’iindra’nanda Avadhu’ta
