Remembering Srila Prabhupada - Instructions on Money

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Srila Prabhupada NectarInstructions on Money

 

One time on a walk, Prabhupada was explaining how the

paper currency is a cheating process. He said that

the government encourages people to work hard in the

factories to develop the economy of the nation, and

yet they pay them only pieces of paper. When the

government doesn't have enough pieces of paper, they

print up more, and thus the whole economy is based on

cheating. Prabhupada said that the Vedic economy is

based on the bartering system. If the bartering

system is not possible, then at least the gold

standard should be used, because the gold has some

value and the quantity of gold is limited. After

hearing Prabhupada describe the ideal economy based on

the Vedic civilisation, one devotee asked, "But if all

transactions are done in gold, it would be very

difficult to make large deals, because to carry the

gold and exchange it would be very cumbersome."

"That's very good", replied Srila Prabhupada. "Why

should there be big transactions? Big transactions

means that people are accumulating more than they

require. We don't want big transactions. We want

each person to have what they require."

Prabhupada told a proverb about money. One man asked

another, "Are you intelligent?" The second man

started to look in his pockets. The first man asked,

"Why are you looking in your pocket?" The second man

said, "Well, if there is any money there, that means

I'm intelligent." Prabhupada explained, "Actually, in

our movement everything is going on by my intelligence

and your co-operation. So you are preaching very

intelligently, but if there is no money, then where is

the intelligence?'

Prabhupada instructed that fifty percent of income

should go to the Book Fund and fifty percent should go

to construction or other projects. He said that the

Krsna Consciousness Movement was, in one sense, just

like a business, and so it should be run in that way.

In other words, it was on the basis of his books that

the movement was getting its collections, whether by

life membership or book sales. Therefore, just as in

any business, the capital assets had to be invested

in. "You must therefore give fifty percent of your

money to the Book Fund."

"We should live on a paltry income, whatever we

receive by selling our magazines, but in dire

necessity when there is no other way, we may accept

some service temporarily. But on principle, we should

go on sankirtana, not work. So whatever Krsna gives

us, we should accept on that principle. You are a

senior member of the society; you should have known

all these things. Anyway, send them back on

sankirtana. All the Amsterdam devotees should be

engaged in sankirtana, not in a cigarette factory."

- From the Nectar by HH Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami

 

=Please Chant: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna

Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare

Hare And Be Happy

 

 

 

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