Srila prabhupada & banking

[vijay]

Does anyone know if Srila prabhupada wanted an ISKCON bank and how he would of wanted it run?

 

Any references much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

no.. he did'nt

 

iskcon is a spiritual organization

[Kulapavana]

I know SP spoke many times about the fallacy of paper money and the need to base the system of exchange on silver and gold standard.

 

Maharishi people experimented with their own currency and banking in europe, but I'm not sure how far it all went.

 

you have to be cautious with things like that, or it will end in a big scandal, like with the Bengali Kartabhajas /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[vijay]

Im aware of how prabhupada regarded banking as false economy, money will get eaten up by banks via inflation etc so gold is better.

 

He also said vaisyas can do banking, and used banks himself aswell as preaching the ideal of agricultural communities.

 

would it be pleasing to prabhupada if there was a bank where:

Devotees could use a bank for projects like building temples, bbt and other projects etc to keep there money and borrowing from a bank which will give good terms to devotees.

 

Profits from bank given to other KC businesses.

 

Essentially getting rid of the middle man that exists now.

[Kulapavana]

"would it be pleasing to prabhupada if there was a bank where:

Devotees could use a bank for projects like building temples, bbt and other projects etc to keep there money and borrowing from a bank which will give good terms to devotees."

 

I'm sure it would be pleasing to SP. After all it is a part of varnasrama dharma development. It would provide good service and much needed employment for devotees. When I see devotees forced to work for karmis I'm saddened that as a movement we never created viable economic structures to employ our members... /images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

A very good luck to you in this project! /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Guest guest]

if a devotee like arjuna can do bhakti killing thousand of millions people, of course it is possible to live a devotee life opening a bank..

 

the question is if iskcon, as gaudya matha, religious organization, has to have an army and make wars for the new "arjunas" and if iskcon has to open banks for devotees with that karma-guna

 

in dwaraka were also prostitutes..... anche they were devotees because they were living in the krsna's capital city..

 

has iskcon to create ...... ehem........ a department...... :-)

[Kulapavana]

two things:

 

1.SP wanted his movement to be A LOT MORE than a collection of mathas. It is clear that he intended to form a functioning society of devotees.

 

2.In this case it is apparently an effort of an idividual.

 

 

and as to prostitution - Vedic society was far more practical than an average Iskcon member can stomach, so let us leave it at that... /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Guest guest]

society of devotees.. or devotees who trasform the society guided by iskcon and many other gaudya maths is one thing... and the role of the religious association named "iskcon" is another

 

separation between varnas is essential..

 

iskcon is a brahminic structure..

 

if some prostitute want to chant hare krsna i have not objection and i offer my prostrated obeisances...... but their "initiative", together with banking, has to be done outside the temple........ :-)

[Gauracandra]

Credit Unions are similar to banks but are "owned" by their members who have some common characteristic. It is entirely possible to create a Catholic Credit Union, or a Company Credit Union, or any other defined group Credit Union.

 

The benefit is that the interest that accumulates on any loans etc... gets fed right back into the community. This is viable except we are missing one element. There needs to be some level of concentration among Iskcon members. If we had 5000 people all living in an area then something like a Credit Union could be feasible. I think once density is created so many of these "varnashram" questions will naturally fall into place.

[Guest guest]

Bank with the eternal Bank Of Bhakti.... Best interest by far, investment guaranteed. Absolutely secure, great manager, friendly tellers, one paisa deposited returns ten thousand.

[theist]

that if the propriator really favors you he will seize your whole account and make you his total dependent. Employ caution.

[vijay]

The idea is to have this org seperate from iskcon, eventually have a system similar to the mormons in utah (may not see it in my lifetime). Having all the other varnas will mean people will have a place in kc full time ie.not have to work for karmis where they are likely to become influenced and drift away, and have a feeling of belonging to a real community.

 

I guess what srila prabhupada meant by varnashrama is a hotly debated issue, but any insights opinons on the banking idea is much appreciated.

 

[suchandra]

According this article, modern banking is through and through a corrupt thing what causes world wide suffocation of many nations: harimedia.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=248#248

 

[vijay]

We cant do anything about currency until we have our own government (-:

[Guest guest]

The money goes out the window, and the Banker claims the one He bankrupted. Use extreme Caution. I read ya loud and clear, theist.

[Guest guest]

"The idea is to have this org seperate from iskcon"

 

you are too complicate... let'us give a good example being us good devotees, many will become devotees, everyone with his job.. so you'll have devotional banking, devotional farming, devotional enginering, devotional business, commerce, entertainment, tourism and so on..

 

arjuna in the gita does not change his job to go working in some structure created by brahmanas (iskcon,,,) or someone else .. he simply, remembering krsna 24/24 turns his whole life in devotional service.. leaving externally it as it was previously..

 

that's varnashrama.....

[Guest guest]

that if the propriator really favors you he will seize your whole account and make you his total dependent. Employ caution.

 

Oh no! not my independance, how will I exist?

He won't get much out of my miserly account anyway, I hear He only takes from a bountiful heart, so I got no worries.

 

Prabhupad said the fifth reg was to hoard wealth (Gold=money) so his disciples should just give it all to him and he would utilize it properly.

[suchandra]

Never heard something as below from the Vedas, someone has the link?

 

Israel Shamir: "..The Church banned fixed interest, until John Calvin’s fateful folly. The Jewish Law forbade Jews to charge interest for their "brothers" (other Jews), but required to charge ‘strangers’ (non-Jews). St. Ambrose understood the implications of this approach, when he wrote: “From him demand usury, whom you desire to harm. From him exact usury, whom it would not be a crime to kill. Where there is a right of war, there also is a right of usury”. In the old days, the ‘anti-Semitic’ Church condemned usury as the exclusively Jewish occupation, but now it is free for all."

________________________________

 

"When money is lent on a contract to receive not only the principal sum again, but also an increse by way of compensation for the use, the increase is called interest by those who think it lawful, and usury by those who do not" (Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, p. 1336)

 

Quotes from the Old Testament:

"If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury "(Exodus 22:25).

 

"Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase" (Lev. 25:37).

 

"Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury "(Deut. 23:19).

 

"He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved" (PS. 15:5).

 

....This war went on for centuries until they were finally destroyed at the time of King David (1,000 B.C.). These nations were the strangers that Moses permitted the Israelites to exact usury. Usury was economic warfare to pauperize and destroy their economy so that they could not afford to wage war against the Israelites:

 

"Who were these "foreigners", and why was Israel permitted to exact usury from them if usury was unlawful? It was understood from ancient times that this permission related specifically to the conquest of the promised land. Usury was part of the violence that Israel inflicted upon the wicked people whom God was driving out before them. God had told Israel that the conquest would encompass a length of time. Exodus 23:29-30, "I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate, and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. I will drive them out before you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land." The oppression of usury was an effective means of keeping the Canaanites under check until they had been totally conquered. In this case, usury was an instrument of God's judgment upon a wicked people "(Mooney, Usury: Destroyer of Nations).