[world-vedic] (no subject)

[Guest guest]

My dear Romesh Diwan,

 

I have come across your moving araticle on the Vedic culture conference.

Bravo. Yes, more Indians need to hear your message about respecting thier

home land, traditions and heritage.

 

I have been working on a vedic economic model based upon varna-asrama-dharma

that correspondends to our own comtemporary issues.

 

You must be familiar with the global network of political, religious and

community contacts the ISKCON devotees have. We can tap that once we have had

this model verified by a professor or university. If this model -referred to

as ROOPA -proves true, it will be the single most important economic

breakthruough this century. You be the judge.

 

I'm sending you a copy of the letter of introduction for your review. I would

love to hear your own thoughts on this. If you would like to do a formal

university study on it, I believe we may be able to arrenge some financing.

Please let me know what you think it would cost to do such a study. I look

forward to hearing from you.

 

The Economics Of Love: Varna-Asrama Dharma

 

The following letter to Maharaja is an outline for a new social reform

movement based upon the principles of Varna-Asrama Dharma. It’s an

introduction to the latest 2 chapters on Mother*s Liberation that will follow

in the days to come. These chapters are in response to the great points

raised by Chris. These essays provide a better overview then the original

text that inspired her response. I’ve been off line for a few months while I

took my massage course here in Hawaii and completed these latest 2 chapters.

I hope this general discussion can lead to a new interest in such reforms and

provide an outline for better organizing our own ideas on them.

Raghu

 

Jai Maharaja,

 

Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

I’ve been working on a book called The Economics of Love. It’s a rather

simple model for instituting varna-asrama Dharma into a broad-based

contemporary political platform.

 

I think you will enjoy this work for several reason. For one, you may find

this a refreshing testament of Vrindavan, India's guru-kula’s training and a

unique confirmation to the soundness of Prabhupada’s Vedic principles for

social reform. You may also recognize it’s mass appeal and the new found

relevancy it brings to our movement.

 

This kind of treatise seemed especially suited to your own scholastic and

literary background, ambitious preaching vision and contacts of religious,

political and academic leaders throughout the world. I look forward to your

input as much for your scholarship and preaching expertise as for our

personal relationship from my childhood.

 

The first policy is called ROOPA: Responsibility Of One’s Products & Actions.

In short, it request people to take full responsibility for the economic cost

of their activities and products. Millions of legal precedents and thousands

of political reforms already use this system wherein the guilty pay for the

"monetary damages" of their actions. ROOPA streamlines this universal legal

practice into a formal system of economic policy and "justice for all."

 

Here’s where it gets interesting. Those things generally considered "bad" or

vice, just so happen to have expensive economic liabilities associated with

them. This is not so much a moral crusade as it is an economic observation.

In the book, I take the case of tobacco which has an undisputed medical cost

to this country of $100 billion a year. The government’s court settlement

only requires the tobacco industry to pay $10 billion of this expense. Paying

full price would make smoking prohibitively expensive, about $15 per pack of

cigarettes. A can of beer is 3 to 6 times this cost.

 

This is true of all the vices avoided by devotees: meat eating, intoxication,

gambling and prostitution. Combined, these four activities represent the

worlds single greatest ECONOMIC liabilities. Their cost runs into the

trillions. This means each person engaged in "sinful activities" is actually

costing millions in social harm.

 

These people fail to cover the full cost of their vices thereby forcing the

rest of us to subsidize them with ever higher insurance premiums, taxes and

reduced benefits. This is more then unfair. It’s an economic policy based

upon a zero sum game. The 45 million American’s priced-out of health

insurance is one of many examples. This all-time record high can only grow as

the burden of these subsidies grow. We will see increasing disparity in all

areas of social development.

 

Smokers repaying these tobacco subsidies would off-set these social

discrepancies. Having vice-subsidies repaid in full would cover all public

debt with change to spare for universal coverage of every social program ever

needed. Instead, our resources are consumed covering the cost of these vices.

This is all discussed in chapters 4 through 6.

 

This is only half of the ROOPA equation. The flip side is even more

revealing. The good deeds of virtue so happen to offer great economic

rewards. Greater the virtue, greater the economic benefits. Love is the

greatest virtue of all. Motherhood captures the essence of love. Mom also

provides more economic benefit then most any other activity.

 

According to studies, it would cost "$507,000 a year…at standard professional

rates" to replace the work mom does at home. We spend 40% of each year, May

15th, working just to pay our taxes. A two parent working house-hold means

one works just to pay the fed.s. In short, mom is sent off to work to pay

taxes so government can now care for our family. They charge us twice as much

for the same job mom use to do better.

 

The alternative is obvious: replacing government care with family care. The

family should be given the financial incentives the state takes for doing the

same job. 70% of all family care is still provided by mom. As such, 70% of

this credit belongs to her alone. We find the term Super-Mom quite fitting

and refer to the program as Mother*s Liberation. Here’s the "Super-Mom"

advantages: No bureaucracy, half the cost, twice the service. This is covered

in chapters 1 thru 3. These chapters will follow shortly.

 

Here is this ROOPA principle in a nut-shell, greater the love, greater the

economic returns. By this measure, "love of God" or bhakti, is the greatest

love of all.

 

Lover’s of God or bhakta’s, offer the greatest economic contributions. They

save society millions with each person they convert from vice to the ways of

virtue. Inspiring people to quit smoking, drinking and drugs, etc translates

into big savings for society at large.

 

Prabhupada’s work inspired hundreds of thousands of people representing

savings worth billions. This is true of all religions that provide their

communities with a new found sobriety, chastity and social participation.

This represents the most cost effective social climate. Such an economic

ideal is referred to as Bhakta ROOPA.

 

If this ROOPA model proves accurate, then morality can be judged by simply

measuring the economic out come of any given activity. Greater the vice,

greater the cost. Greater the virtue, greater the returns. I have tested this

model against hundreds of scenarios over these last 6 years. It’s proven

accurate every time.

 

Applying this ROOPA formula to agriculture and industry is even more

startling. Ox-powered, agrarian based, cottage industry proves far more cost

effective then the petroleum based modern industry faced with repairing ALL

its environmental damage. Eco-technologies like solar and wind power are

similarly more cost effective against their Eco-destructive counter-parts.

Manufacturing aside, the Eco-cost of gasoline runs into hundreds or even

thousands of dollars per gallon. This environmental damage is nothing short

of an ECO-nomic subsidy to modern industry and paid for by the billions now

living in the wake of its global desolation.

 

Here’s the punch line: if you followed this ROOPA system, you end up with a

society identical in life-style and social development to the Vedic system of

Varna-Asrama Dharma. The reason is evident, Varna-Asrama is the most cost

effective and equitable economic system. Today’s Western model is bogged down

in massive vice-subsidies while leaving billions destitute in the name of

progress. ROOPA clearly demonstrates the flaws of this global, modern economy

as well as providing a simple, effective alternative already practice in

courtrooms throughout the world.

 

ROOPA is the "Mother" of all reforms. ROOPA transformed morality from the

realm of subjective religious zealots to that of a measurable science. ROOPA

is the cure-all for corporate-government corruption, incompetence or

conspiracies. Their corresponding economic cost will now be paid in full by

all responsible public & private parties. Better still, it removes the need

for most other taxes, government regulations or economic policies. Taxes and

state regulations are a sloppy imitation of what ROOPA automatically

accomplishes. Best of all, this places God and morality center-stage after

being out-caste from all economic policy planning over the centuries.

 

ROOPA can provide the movement a new and timely preaching focus and offer as

much appeal to other religious denominations as it does a public hungry for

third party reforms. The devotees should find a great deal of interest from

both the Indian community and political parties in India as well as other

contacts throughout N&S America, Asia and South Africa.

 

All of this is more carefully discussed in the six chapters of The Economics

Of Love. It now needs to be independently verified by an academic institution

or social-economics professors. A prestigious institute at UCLA will do this

for about $20,000. I could raise this by selling 200 memberships of a legal

insurance family plan. It only cost $16 a month. This, however, could take

some time.

 

I wanted to know if you have any ideas in this regard. You may know of

professors, institutions, or members of the Indian community that may be

interested in researching or sponsoring such a project. I look forward to

hearing your thoughts on ROOPA in general and would be happy for any

suggestions on developing this project further.

 

ROOPA may not be the "magic bullet" for all our social, economic ills. Yet,

it provides a new and important frame work to re-evaluate these issues from a

Godly perspective missing from today’s public policy debates. For this reason

alone, it should be pursued vigorously.

 

I will send you a summary outline of two chapters. If you like them, I will

send the rest.

 

Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Your servant,

Raghunatha

Anudasa

 

If you like these ideas, contact me and send a copy to others.