Maya and economy
- Views and Words / 49
- 29-11-2022
- 02 Min Read
An alternative economic system is possible. That System believes that what is practically possible is to control one’s desires to ensure the minimum use of the natural resources as a prelude to provide enough for one and all. Such an economic system is the outcome of ‘mumukshvitviam’. A ‘mumukshvi’ (a person who practices ‘mumukshvitviam’) always believes in the fact that the uncontrolled market forces are incapable to provide constant happiness. So a person who perceives the world in a different angle can evaluate the market also in a different angle. Therefore ‘mumukshvita’ is an act of seeing the world differently rather than living in a different world.
To live differently does not mean that one has to relinquish the ordinary world in which we live. It only means that the world in which we live must be one and the same. But the approach to that world must be different. So the great men according to the ‘upanisadic’ tradition are not the ones who believe that they should abandon the ordinary world. They insist that one has to live in the ordinary world with extra ordinary care. Therefore, the great men do not avoid ordinary human problems. They have to live within that frame, but at the same time, they must be able to approach the world in a different angle. Hence, what is necessary is to effect changes in one’s own approach so as to transform oneself into a ‘mumukshu’.
The perfection of the world can be changed only when the inner perfection of the human being also is changed accordingly. The inner perfection can be changed by the practise of the five eternal vows (pancha mahavrita). They are ‘satyam’, ‘ahimsa’, ‘asteyam’, ‘aparigraha’ and ‘brahmacharia’. When one tries to practise these eternal vows internally, then starts seeing the changing world from a different angle. This does not mean that a person who practises the eternal vows has to tune into a different world which is free from the ordinary issues like conflicts, crises etc. but it only means to approach all such problems from a different angle. Great men never do great things but they do ordinary things differently and make such things great.
The term ‘satya’, which has already been described in a different context, need to be defined properly. Literally, ‘satya’ can be translated as truth in English. But, etymologically this Sanskrit term ‘satya’ means anything that is free from change. It is part of the common human experience that change can always be known only in comparison with something that never changes or something that is relatively constant. That is why, the constant velocity of light has been accepted as the measuring rod to every change that occurs in this universe. Without having the constancy of velocity of light, nothing can be measured out. That is, nothing can be known or experienced in such a world that is insufficient to provide an atmosphere to maintain life element in this universe.
These texts are as given by Dr K S Radhakrishnan, a renowned writer and an voracious reader, during 2010-2014. These posts help us dig into the inner meanings of Indian culture, Scriptures and heritage.