3rd fundamental principle of Prout - and also SOCIETY AND SOCIAL UNITY rlibiIC
3rd fundamental principle of Prout - and also SOCIETY AND SOCIAL UNITY
It is vital for society to have proper economic and social principles.
PROUT has 5 fundamental principles in this regard. Let us now look at
mainly the third. Also, below is an inspiring letter from a priest in
Brazil.
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3rd fundamental principle of Prout
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There should be maximum utilization of the physical, metaphysical and
spiritual potentialities of the unit and collective bodies of human society.
Purport: The collective body, collective mind and collective spirit must be
developed. One must not forget that collective good lies in individuals and
individual good lies in collectivity. Without providing for the comfort of
the individual through proper food, light, air, accommodation and medical
treatment, collective good can never be accomplished. So it is with the sole
intention of doing collective good that one will have to devote oneself to
individual good.
The development of the collective mind is impossible without developing a
proper social consciousness, encouraging a sense of social service and
awakening knowledge in every individual. So, inspired with the thought of
doing good to the collective mind, one has to do good to the individual
mind. Absence of spirituality and spiritual morality in an individual will
break the backbone of the collectivity. So for the sake of collective good
one will have to awaken spirituality in individuals. One or two powerful,
learned or worldly-wise people, or one or two spiritualists do not indicate
advancement and progress of the whole society. The body, mind and self of
every individual have the potential for limitless expansion and development.
This potentiality has to be harnessed and brought to fruition.
PR Sarkar
Ananda Sutram 1962
Last time, we looked at principle 2 of PROUT. How does it fit with
principle 3.
The 2nd principle of PROUT says that wealth throughout the universe should
be utilized at a maximum and distributed rationally to ensure maximum
progress. The 3rd principle says that the physical, metaphysical and
spiritual potentials of the individual and the collective must be utilized
at a maximum in order for both the individual and the collective to progress
at a maximum. Metaphysical potentials are those psychic faculties and
capabilities that govern the physical, such as engineering, political
science, etc. They are not of psycho-spiritual nature but pertain to the
physical. So the 2nd principle says that all collective wealth must be taken
well care of, while the 3rd principle says that all individual potentials as
well as the collective form of those potentials must be harnessed properly
for the good of all.
A simple example:
Different people are endowed with physical, intellectual and spiritual
potentialities. They should be encouraged to serve the society with their
respective capacities. In the same way the collective body should also be
encouraged to serve society. For example, the Gorkhas are a fighting race,
so they should be utilized for special work. Similarly, Germans have an
inclination for scientific discoveries and research, so they should be
encouraged in this direction.
- From Talks on Prout (1961)
One mus not forget that in PROUT, the minimum necessities of all will be
established in order for the effective implementation of principles 2 and 3.
Prout's economic system guarantees the minimum requirements of life -- that
is, food, clothing, accommodation, medical treatment and education -- to
each and every person. Once the minimum requirements have been guaranteed,
the surplus wealth is to be distributed among people with special qualities
and skills such as physicians, engineers and scientists, because such people
play an important role in the collective development of society. The quantum
of the minimum requirements should be progressively increased so that the
standard of living of all the common people is always increasing.
The concept of equal distribution is a utopian idea. It is merely a clever
slogan to deceive simple, unwary people. Prout rejects this concept and
advocates the maximum utilization and rational distribution of resources.
This will provide incentives to increase production.
To effectively implement the guarantee of minimum necessities, increasing
the purchasing capacity of each individual is the controlling factor in a
Proutistic economy. The purchasing capacity of common people in many
undeveloped, developing and developed countries has been neglected, hence
the economic systems of these countries are breaking down and creating a
worldwide crisis. The first thing that must be done to increase the
purchasing capacity of the common people is to maximize the production of
essential commodities, not the production of luxury goods. This will restore
parity between production and consumption and ensure that the minimum
requirements are supplied to all.
In terms of production of goods (and as a result of implementing principles
2 and 3), Prout divides the industrial structure into three parts -- key
industries managed by the immediate or local government, cooperatives and
private enterprises. This system will eliminate confusion regarding whether
or not a particular industry should be managed privately or by the
government, and will avoid duplication between the government and private
enterprise.
In many undeveloped and developing countries of the world there is excessive
population pressure on agriculture. It is improper if more than forty-five
percent of the population is employed in agriculture. In villages and small
towns a large number of agro-industries and agrico-industries should be
developed to create new opportunities for employment. In addition,
agriculture should be given the same status as industry so that agricultural
workers will understand the importance and value of their labor.
According to the wages policy of Prout, wages need not be accepted only in
the form of money. They may be accepted in the form of essential goods or
even services. It is advisable to gradually increase this component of wages
in adjustment with the monetary component of wages.
Prout supports maximum modernization in industry and agriculture by
introducing the most appropriate scientific technology, yet modernization
and rationalization should not lead to increased unemployment. In Prout's
collective economic system, full employment will be maintained by
progressively reducing working hours as the introduction of appropriate
scientific technology increases production. This is not possible in
capitalism.
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A NEW WORLD IS VISIBLE: THE PROPHETIC IMAGE OF PROUT
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Letter of appreciation from a Catholic priest and author
By Father Marcelo Barros
Marcelo Barros is a Catholic Benedictine monk and prior of the
Anunciação do Senhor Monastery in Goiás, Brazil. A theologian
and Bible expert, he is the national assistant of the Land Pastoral
and of the Ecclesiastical Base Communities, and the author of 25
books.
My dear brother Dada Maheshvarananda,
I savored your book "After Capitalism: Prout's Vision for a New
World", as one who sips until the last spoonful of a delicious food,
or a glass of cold water in the desert. I traveled with you, and with
my brothers and friends Marcos Arruda and Leonardo Boff, as well
as with the other contributing writers. Even without knowing them
personally, I recognize them as fellow pilgrims on the same path of
justice, of peace and of communion with the universe, the divine
temple and prolongation of our sacred body.
For me, who since my youth have been restless with the strong
divine call for dialogue with other cultures and religions, your book
was a pleasurable journey of surprises. It was as if, long before
meeting you, we discovered that we share the same pains, the
same longings and the same hopes. I thank heaven for the present
that you have given to me and to all the Brazilians who can,
through this book, discover the prophetic intuition of the mystic
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar and the Prout movement that,
from now on, will always accompany me in life. As the master
Archbishop Dom Hélder Câmara who trained me wrote in a
short poem:
"My paths, as my highways have no borders just as they have neither a
beginning nor an end... "
The landscape that you unveil in your book, written in such a
simple and clear way, seems like one of many of the best
writings of Liberation Theology. Your way of presenting the
subject seems to adopt the Latin American method: "to see, to
judge and to act". Of course we know that in seeing we are
already starting from a certain critical appreciation, or as
Leonardo Boff said, "Every point of view is always the view of a
point." You start from the reality and history of the world and
then elaborate the lessons of the prophet's, Prabhat Ranjan
Sarkar, life and the new proposal of Prout: a new paradigm of
spiritual values that includes the right to live of everyone. You
then show the consequences of reorganizing the world starting
from this priority, establishing a new parameter of economic
democracy, a new concept of ethics and justice and of political
education. Finally, the book urges us to collective action to
make real the new world that we hope for and have faith in.
The beauty and originality of this book is how well it articulates
the critical vision of society, a new proposal of justice starting
from a very deep and ecumenical spiritual option. As blood
travels through a whole organism, this thoughtful vision of the
sacred in the human being and in the universe impregnates the
whole book. It makes the book suitable as a manual for study
and spiritual and community action for the Catholic ecclesiastical
base communities and for Brazilian social movements.
Congratulations, and please accept me, this poor brother, as one
more member and promoter of Prout.
Marcelo Barros
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SOCIETY AND SOCIAL UNITY
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Extracts from works of P R Sarkar.
Society is like a company of pedestrians going on a pilgrimage. Suppose one
among them is attacked by cholera, do the rest go on their way, leaving him
behind? No, they cannot. Rather, they break their journey at the place for
a day or two, relieve him from the disease and help him to acquire strength
in his legs. Or, they start out anew, carrying him on their shoulders. If
anyone runs short of his subsistence, others give him their own. Together,
they share everything with all. Together, they stream ahead, singing their
leading chorus. In their eagerness to go ahead with others, they forget
their trifling differences which in their families might have lead to
negative exchanges and court cases, even down to three generations.
The essence of cooperation born of moving together, aims at widening or
expanding the mental being of a person by striking down one's barriers of
meanness again and again. And hence, I reiterate that society is like such
a batch of pilgrims gathering a strange power of mind in traveling together
and with its help, solving all the problems of their individual and social
life.
(Supreme Expression II, 114)
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From the first expression of moralism, to the establishment in cosmic
humanity, there is a gap. The concerted effort to negotiate this gap is
termed as social progress, and the collective body of those who are engaged
in this concerted effort I shall call the "society".
(Human Society I, 11)
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Encourage everyone to build their careers in a nice way. Let none get the
scope to think that their lives have become meaningless.
(A'nanda Va'nii, May 1963)
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The entire humanity of this universe constitutes one singular people. The
whole humanity is bound in fraternity: those who are apt to remain oblivious
to this very simple truth, those who are prone to distort it, are the
deadliest enemies of humanity. Today's humanity should identify these foes
fully well and build a healthy human society totally neglecting all
obstacles and difficulties.
It must be borne in mind that as long as a magnificent, healthy and
universalistic human society is not well established, humanity's entire
culture and civilization, its sacrifice, service and spiritual endeavour
will not be of any worth whatsoever.
(A'nanda Va'nii, January 1973)
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Lack of unity among the members of society, because of too much
self-interest in the individual members, formation of sects for economic or
social advantages, lack of understanding of others, not only brings the
downfall of society, but also will wipe it completely from the face of the
earth. Instances of so many sects and empires disappearing altogether are
not rare in the history of this world.
("Tattvika Praveshika")
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