Reasoning in Varnashrama

[Guest guest]

Haribol Jaya Lalita Mataji

PAMHO

 

Thankyou very much for your comment in this regard. A very reasonable and

learned way of explaining basic understandings of Varnasrama economy and way

of life. I alowed myself to share it with others in our VAD conference.

Hope you don,t mind. I think more coments by you would be greatly welcome in

this conference.

 

Ys, Harsi das

 

Jaya Lalita dd. wrote:

"I think that you were responding to Hare Krsna's use of the phrase...not

capitalistm, not marxist, but subsistence. We have spent much of the last

10 years discussing this. I think she would not disapprove of my speaking

for her.

 

Her use of subsistence does not imply living like a caveman, rather that we

go about producing for our own needs. Extra can be sold or bartered; not

that we plan to produce and sell large quantities in the market and keep

some for our own use. Hare Krsna dasi's point is that we should not

deliberately develop the capitalist (or the marxist) mentality.

 

You are correct, some leakages will be there, but minimize them to spend

time on development of varnasrama, not material comforts. We should use our

time budget wisely and minimize the material entanglement required by

long-term time payments.A mortgage (or rent) and a car are the two biggest

expenses an individual will incur in his/her lifetime. Holding a mortgage

is in direct contrast to the concept of developing even the most basic

self-sufficient plan. It requires the time for working on moneymaking

projects. Time is a commodity, it has to be allotted like a budget. The

more you spend on one thing, the less is available for another.

 

It is true that under the circumstances, devotees will be unable to avoid

interacting with the outside economy. For this reason, it is important that

the levels of sustainability and self-sufficiency be carefully defined and

outlined. It is unreasonable at this point to ask devotees to falsely

renounce things like taking care of their health.

Recall Srila Prabhupada saying "what is minimum for you is maximum for me".

No one is expecting that we live only by breathing once each month. So some

form of exchange is indeed required. But minimize the need for it. There is

not a need for a purchasing a new car ever other year the way many people

do. There is not a need for a 14-room mansion with all the latest

technology and wall to wall carpeting. It means simply more tightening of

the hard knot in the heart.

 

Again, the point is, not to develop the hoarding mentality required by the

capitalist. If we have to sell more crops to pay a mortgage, we are

thinking of acquiring some market share. Acquisition of market share is

for the purpose of amassing profit and can not be an integral part of a

varnasrama system. In today's economy the ability to compete implies

mechanization, not using oxen for plowing. Not using the oxen means we will

find them burdensome. When we find them burdensome, they will be

eliminated. In this way, it can be seen that the market mentality is

contrary to the development of the varnasrama.

 

Many of us, at least in the western countries, have this "more is better"

greed concept deeply engrained in our mentality and are unaware of it. We

simply think it is the natural way of the world. My piece on land tenure is

a very simple analyis of how ownership of the land will stop one major

leakage out of our intended economy. Less involvement in outside economy

means more energy can be returned to development of developing Krsna

Consciousness in a varnasrama setting, instead of it being siphoned off for

other purposes.

 

YS

JayaLalita dd