Spiritual Economics

2012-01-16T07:36:00.001+02:00

Mitt Romney Shows His Psychopathic Nature
with Economics of Ignorance

What do you suppose this man would do for the country if elected president? Hard to imagine that he would do anything other than serve himself and his cronies at the expense of the people. Read below what he has done, and realize that this has been going on since the 90s with thousands of companies under the influence of tamo-guna, the "mode of ignorance." I explain the "modes of nature" or "consciousness determinants" in my book Spiritual Economics. Without understanding the worldview of the Bhagavad-gita, including the modes of nature and the demonic nature as described there one cannot fully understand what is taking place in the world today. For that and for understanding the spiritual dimensions of life please read the Bhagavad-gita.

Here's the story from Paul Drockton:

Newt Gingrich's "Super PAC" has just released its South Carolina surprise, and its a doozy. The documentary is called "When Mitt Romney Came to Town". It interviews real people accross the United States that lost their jobs and communities to Mitt Romney, corporate raider.

The film also demonstrates how Romney bankrupted 4 relatively large companies for fun and personal profit. It seems that he really does enjoy firing people. Romney is accused of running "pump and dump" schemes whereby:

1. Bain Capital takes over a company

2. Romney drastically cuts payroll (fires employees) to raise company profits and starves production.

3. Lehman rates the company as a "strong buy" and the stock surges.

4. Romney heavily leverages the company with debt to sell his and Bain's stock in the company at a ridiculous profit.

5. Once Romney and Bain milk the company for all its worth, the stock price collapses.

6. Since Romney ran a Hedge Fund, it is more than likely that he and Bain also made a fortune in Put Options on the company's declining stock.

In one example:

"KB Toys was purchased and taken private in 2000 by the leveraged buyout firm of Bain Capital for $305 million, Bain announced the purchase on Dec. 8th, 2000. Only $18 million of the purchase money was cash, the rest was borrowed against the assets of the company. Sixteen months after the buyout, Bain Capital paid itself $85 million in dividends in early 2002. Two years later, due to... its enormous debt, on January 14, 2004, K·B Toys filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed 365 stores.

K·B closed 156 stores on November 8, 2007. The Gordon Brothers Group handled the liquidation of these stores. On February 9, 2009, K·B closed the remaining stores following the second bankruptcy filing in four years. In addition, K·B Toys' website was closed down.

The K·B Toys brand and related intangible assets were sold by Streambank LLC to Toys R Us on September 4, 2009 for a reported $2.1 Million." (Source)

This is such a good example of predatory economics--take a healthy profitable company and suck all of the money out of it that you can with dividends, likely rape the retirement funds of the employees, stiff those who held the stock by shorting it when you know it is going to collapse, and with then stiff creditors with chapter 11 proceedings. This is demonic behavior, and if the country elects this morally bankrupt scoundrel they will see him loot the entire country in the same way.

2012-01-07T13:55:00.002+02:00

Acts of Kindness Observed After Japan's Earthquake

The spirit of giving of oneself is the mood of Spiritual Economics. Here are some stories of acts of kindness and giving in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake. This is received from Kindness Daily -- an email that delivers featured stories from HelpOthers.org.

Love and Inspiration from Japan
January 5, 2012 - Posted by Bluebell

Below are the some of the heart warming anecdotes that I've witnessed and heard from others during the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan last year...

In the supermarket, where items of all the shelves fell, people were picking up things so neatly together, and then quietly standing in line to buy food. Instead of creating panic and buying as much as needed, they bought as little as they needed. I was proud to be a Japanese.

When I was walking home, for 4 hours, there was a lady holding a sign that said, "Please use our toilet." They were opening their house for people to go to the restroom. It was hard not to tear up, when I saw the warmth of people.

At Disneyland, they were giving out candies. High school girls were taking so many so I was thinking, "What???" But then the next minute, they ran to the children in the evacuation place and handed it to them. That was a sweet gesture.

My co-worker wanted to help somehow, even if it was just to one person. So he wrote a sign: "If you're okay with motor cycle, I will drive you to your house." He stood in the cold with that sign. And then I saw him take one gentleman home, all the way to Tokorozawa! I was so moved. I felt like I wanted to help others too.

A high school boy was saved because he climbed up on top of the roof of a department store during the flood. The flood came so suddenly, that he just saw people below him, trying to frantically climb up the roof and being taken by the flood. To help others, he kept filming them so their loved ones could see. He still hasn't been able to reach his own parents but he says, "Its nobody's fault. There is no one to blame. We have to stay strong."

There is a lack of gas now and many gasoline stations are either closed or have very long lines. I got worried, since I was behind 15 cars. Finally, when it was my turn, the man smiled and said, "Because of this situation, we are only giving $30 worth gas per each person. Is that alright?" "Of course its alright. I'm just glad that we are all able to share," I said. His smile gave me so much relief.

I saw a little boy thanking a public transit employee, saying, "Thank you so much for trying hard to run the train last night." It brought tears to the employee's eyes, and mine.

A foreign friend told me that she was shocked to see a long queue form so neatly behind one public phone. Everyone waited patiently to use the phone even though they must have been so eager to call their families.

The traffic was horrible!! Only one car could move forward at a green light. But everyone was driving so calmly. During the 10 hour drive (which would only take 30 minutes normally) the only horns I heard was a horn of thank you. It was a fearful time -- but then again a time of warmth and it made me love Japan more.

Last night when I was walking home (since all traffic had stopped), I saw an old lady at a bakery shop giving out free bread. Even at times like this, people were trying to find what they can do and it made my heart warm.

When I was waiting at the platform, so tired and exhausted, a homeless person came to us and gave us a cardboard to sit on. Even though we usually ignore them in our daily life, they were ready to serve us.

Suntory (a juice company) is giving out free drinks, phone companies are creating more wi-fi spots, 1,000,000 noodles were given by a food company, and everyone is trying to help the best way they can. We, too, have to stand up and do our best.

In one area, when the electricity returned, peopel rejoiced. And then someone yelled: "We got electricity because someone else probably conserved theirs! Thank you so much to EVERYONE who saved electricity for us. Thank you everyone!"

An old man at the evacuation shelter said, "What's going to happen now?" And then a young high school boy sitting next to him said, "Don’t worry! When we grow up, we will promise to fix it back!" While saying this, he was rubbing the old man's back.

Through all of this, I felt hope. There is a bright future, on the other side of this crisis.

Catherine Fitts' Approach Adds Sattva to the Economy

2012-01-03T09:00:00.000+02:00

One of my favorite economic writers is Catherine Austin Fitts. She is a person who has both a very good grasp on how the economic system works, plus, a modicum of sattva-guna. The result is that she wants the economic system to work for the people. And it can. The problem is that those who presently control the economic system (as well as governments, the media, the military, universities, etc.) are not only mired in tamo-guna but are totally demonic—raksasas in the language of the Vedas, psychopaths in modern language. They care only for themselves at the expense of everyone else, which is becoming totally apparent to everyone these days, and this is the most fundamental problem the world faces today.

An excellent interview with Ms. Fitts by the Daily Bell was posted on their website the other day. In it she explains how the current system can be made to work better as well as how a shift to a gold currency, or gold-backed currency (which is touted by many these days) rather than being the panacea can actually create havoc since the available gold is held by very few people.

Below I have included some salient excerpts from the interview. If you are interested in how the economics of the world is working you will do well to read the entire interview found here. In it she repeatedly states that the necessary elements to make the system work are responsible, law-abiding people at the top. This underscores that what is needed to solve the economic problems and heal the world is sattva-guna, since the qualities she calls for are those brought by the influence of sattva-guna. The best (and only) way to increase the influence of sattva is the chanting of the Hare Krishna mahamantra: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. As more and more people take up the chanting of the holy names of God we will see His influence in this world and the desirable changes will be able to manifest. Remember: there will be No Solution Without a Spiritual Revolution!

...

Catherine Fitts: “I have had the opportunity to operate at high levels in Washington and Wall Street and have never met a person who did not function as if they were a prisoner of the system. Often, that ‘system’ did not permit them to function on a lawful basis [indicative of tamo-guna]. This implies highly centralized governance if this many people are functioning in an insecure, limited or unlawful way.

“The people who manage our financial system are also operating with significant double binds. This is what I try to describe with my red button story: In the summer of 2000, I asked a group of 100 people at a conference of spiritually committed people who would push a red button if it would immediately stop all narcotics trafficking in their neighborhood, city, state and country. Out of 100 people, 99 said they would not push such red button. [these are spiritually-committed people???] When surveyed, they said they did not want their mutual funds to go down if the U.S. financial system suddenly stopped attracting an estimated $500 billion - $1 trillion a year in global money laundering. They did not want their government checks jeopardized or their taxes raised because of resulting problems financing the federal government deficit. [Selfishness at the expense of others is due to the influence of tamo-guna.]

“So it is not appropriate to assume that the corruption is just at the top. Indeed, most citizens in the first world have been the economic beneficiary of what James Turk calls ‘the central banking-warfare model.’”

...

“When I look at a company, the first thing I look at is the quality, experience and networks of the people who govern, manage and own it. It is the same with the global financial system. Without high quality people who are free to govern in the best interests of all concerned or as stated by law, charter and contract [sattva-guna], there are no solutions. Put excellent people in charge throughout society and I assure you they can run things remarkably well, even if forced to struggle with lousy currency systems.”

...

“We need to look at all these ideas through the prism of economic warfare. An eco-village can be a wonderful idea if the people who participate choose to create it and grow it well. However, that idea in the hands of the wrong people can be a design for labor camps...So be careful with monetary ideas....Otherwise interesting ideas can turn into weapons in the hands of those who do not have our best interests at heart. Again, one man's eco-village is another man's labor camp. One man's gold standard is another man's plan to reduce a population to a feudal state to his advantage.”

...

Daily Bell: Would markets be better off if they were MORE free and private watchdogs were allowed to take over from public ones?

Catherine Austin Fitts: Not necessarily. Again, we need to address the question, ‘Who is the breakaway civilization, what are their weaponry and surveillance systems and what systems will work successfully to shift their behavior in a positive manner?’ This, of course, leads to additional questions, such as, ‘What do they know that we do not know and how would we behave if we had that knowledge?’

Setting private watchdogs to regulate these guys is a bit like landing on Normandy Beach with a water pistol.

This enforcement question is one of the reasons I focus on the power of transparency combined with individual intention and action to bring positive change.

...

Daily Bell: What would be the result of more global centralization?

Catherine Austin Fitts: It would be more of the same – including increases in poverty, slavery and depopulation. Aaron Russo knew what he was talking about when he said warned us that these folks want spy chips in everyone and everything. [Aaron Russo’s revealing statements (for which he met an early death) are on YouTube, here.]

...

Daily Bell: What are some of the most important issues pertaining to free markets, in your opinion?

Catherine Austin Fitts: The most important issue is transparency. The second is integrity of contracts and agreements. [these both are the symptoms of sattva-guna. They cannot be had without sufficient sattva-guna in those who control the economic system.]

...

Daily Bell: What are the fundamental obstacles to recovery?

Catherine Austin Fitts: We are experiencing an ongoing financial coup d'état that is centralizing power. Symptoms include an absence of transparency, deteriorating integrity of contracts and agreements, environmental deterioration, a "breakaway civilization" that appears "out of control." I would add to this the use of financial markets for warfare as opposed to facilitating the allocation of capital and trade. [all symptomatic of tamo-guna]

The ultimate codification of things like transparency and integrity of transactions is not the law; it is the culture [requiring sattva throughout the culture]. A variety of forces are systematically breaking down our physical health and our culture. That cultural corruption is the greatest obstacle. [indicative of the tamo-guna that pervades today’s culture]

Daily Bell: Is there a power elite that is trying to create one-world government? If so, is it succeeding?

Catherine Austin Fitts: Yes, there is a concerted effort to create a one-world government and evolve to a one-world currency. It has been succeeding. As the "financial coup d'état" becomes more obvious, centralization is entering a critical stage as more and more people globally react negatively to the effort and related tactics.

And finally, One reader’s comment: “Very interesting article. When one sees what has been happening and is happening today, one can only ask: Is a monstrous evil running amok in the world?”

An astute conclusion. Why yes, there is.

My comments here will be more easily understood by reading my book “Lessons in Spiritual Economics from the Bhagavad-gita - Part 1 - Understanding and Solving the Economic Problem” available from the link on the front page of my website.

New Year and a New Normal (Not)

2012-01-01T07:13:00.004+02:00

Happy New Year! It’s 2012. I brought in the new year, as has been my long-standing habit, in bed asleep, or attempting to be so. This year in the holy city of Sri Rangam in South India. Very interestingly, Sri Rangam is the first city ever in which I have not been awakened by the loud reports of fireworks and other kinds of drunken revelry. Perhaps that is because Sri Rangam is a holy city in which many of the inhabitants wake between three and four in the morning to begin their daily worship. Or perhaps it is because I am getting into a very deep sleep!). It could be that there was no carrying-on or ka-booms because there is not much to celebrate. From my way of viewing things, 2012 is a year that will go down in infamy or be celebrated as the year that the world changed direction. Whatever it turns out to be will depend upon us and what we are going to do this year.

Given the nature of the current world situation it is a time when we will all do well not to remain in the illusion that everything is just fine, and whatever troubles there are just a temporary blip on the radar screen, and things will go back to “normal” in just a short time. The fact is that there is no normal anymore, or rather, we are going to have a new “normal,” and that is what we are going to write about this year. These are eventful times and we must recognize them and deal with them accordingly. The signs of a rising consciousness demonstrated by various manifestations of the gift economy certainly give us hope of a brighter tomorrow, and no doubt they will continue to manifest in a variety of ways. But there is a darker side to the picture that must be addressed if the future is not to be altogether most grim. This is not the time to be Pollyannas. It is my unpleasant task to call your attention to this reality and rally you to be part of the solution. I do hope that after a sentence like that you will keep reading. We have an important job to do. We have to save this world.

After the market crash and economic debacle of 2008 I made an analysis of the whys and wherefores of those events, which you can find here. If you haven’t read it let me encourage you to do so. There I report that the economic crash, far from being an unwanted play of uncontrollable market forces, was deliberately set up and the plug was very deliberately pulled. The next question I address there is why someone(s) would do such a thing and the purpose that they want to achieve by such actions. That was written now three years ago, and I am not happy to report that I was spon-on in my projections. Moreover, the agenda is being accelerated and there is no time to be wasted in dealing with this reality. When there is fire you ACT!

It is traditional to make predictions at the end of one year and beginning of the next. Very well, let us do so based on recent headlines:

Bill for basket of essentials soars 43 per cent in ten years
Enshrining the lies of the 1%—what chance does truth have, if Americans cannot cast off lies that directly steal money from their own pockets?
Now migrants flood OUT of Europe in search of jobs
Half of America In Poverty? The Facts Say It's True
Risks Cloud Outlook for Economy in 2012
'Too late' to contain research into deadly bird flu strain
IMF warns that world risks sliding into a 1930s-style slump
Obama Gives the Thumbs-Up on Detention of Domestic Terror Suspect
Defense Bill Assures ‘descent into totalitarianism’

My predictions?

We will see a “united” Europe in the aftermath of the economic crisis (that’s what the crisis is for after all)
We will see Americans disenfranchised from what they thought their future was going to be (less medicare, social security, education...less everything)
We may well see the BIG economic crunch in America, but that is unlikely in an election year where they want the incumbent to return. Look for it just after the election.
We will see increasing job losses in America and Europe and decreasing standards of living
We will see decreasing health for Americans due to efforts of the health agencies
We will see increasing totalitarianism in America and American hegemony throughout the Middle East and the Pacific
Syria will be brought to tow and Assad overthrown, with continued harassment of Iran, possible war
As things continue to get worse people will take up the “love revolution” and make it a bigger and bigger Movement

Ok, the headlines are always dramatic to provoke us to read the newspaper, right? And perhaps I am just focusing on the more grim aspects of the news and there are certainly other things we can focus on, so why dwell on the negative? Because this is only the tip of the iceberg, and once we understand what is actually going on we will realize that there is a very sinister agenda afoot that we cannot afford to ignore. The fact is that there is a war going on, a war against the people of the world being waged by demonic forces. Star Wars is here, now. There are good guys and bad guys, and the bad guys are literally trying to destroy the good and innocent. They are doing it in broad daylight in such a way that most people are totally oblivious to the fact and they just continue on their merry way as if everything were normal. But there is a fight to be fought if the future is to be at all hopeful—a different kind of fight that will be one of violence, but of love. It will be a revolution, "Revolution" as Ron Paul’s people write it -- a spiritual revolution.

The fact is that there will be NO solution WITHOUT a Spiritual Revolution, one that we hope to ignite. We hope that you will join us and bring your friends to the fun. Every person is needed. Every person is wanted. Let's make the new year end on a happier note than it is starting by igniting the fire of Love.

The Gift Economy in acts of kindness

2011-12-20T17:04:00.000+02:00

The song is "One Day" by Matisyahu. Here are the lyrics:

sometimes I lay
under the moon
and thank God I'm breathing
then I pray
don't take me soon
cause I am here for a reason
sometimes in my tears I drown
but I never let it get me down
so when negativity surrounds
I know some day it'll all turn around
because
all my life I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
for the people to say
that we don't wanna fight no more
they'll be no more wars
and our children will play
one day x6
it's not about
win or lose cause
we all lose
when they feed on the souls of the innocent
blood drenched pavement
keep on moving though the waters stay raging
in this maze you can lose your way (your way)
it might drive you crazy but don't let it faze you no way (no way)
sometimes in my tears I drown
but I never let it get me down
so when negativity surrounds
I know some day it'll all turn around
because
all my life I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
for the people to say
that we don't wanna fight no more
they'll be no more wars
and our children will play
one day x6
one day this all will change
treat people the same
stop with the violence
down with the hate
one day we'll all be free
and proud to be
under the same sun
singing songs of freedom like
one day x4
all my life I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
for the people to say
that we don't wanna fight no more
they'll be no more wars
and our children will play
one day x6

2011-03-20T21:12:00.000+02:00

The Mayan Calendar and Doomsday!

My friend Sri Nandanandana, aka Stephen Knapp, was attending a religious conference in India last year. Also present was a Mayan Shaman, and Sri Nandan thought that this is the opportunity to get the real scoop on the Mayan calendar and the looming, forbodeing date of 2012.

When queried the Shaman rolled his eyes saying: We wish you white men would have asked us these things before all the hoopla began. Let me set you straight on the Mayan calendar:

1. Why does it stop at 2012? Simply because that is where they stopped. The fact that it stops in 2012 means absolutely NOTHING.

2. In the second place we do not know exactly how our calendar aligns with the Gregorian calendar. Therefore 2012 on the Mayan calendar could be 2001 or 2030 for the Gregorian calendar.

Good luck trying to figure out what to do and when...better to save time and prepare for the ultimate crisis--the time of death-- which is guaranteed to arrive!

2011-03-10T09:48:00.004+02:00

Spiritual Economics in Action

At our annual Varnashrama Festival this past weekend I again met Andrey Volodimyrovich, a devotee in Kramatorsk, Ukraine who is taking Spiritual Economics seriously.

At our last meeting I suggested to him to begin offering his Aikido martial arts training on the reciprocal basis of gifting as taught by Spiritual Economics. He has taken that suggestion seriously and this weekend he told me that formerly students would come and go and the number of students remained about the same. Since he has gone to a donation basis the number of students continues to increase, and the donations increase as well. The word got out and the local newspaper wrote the following story about his unusual club.

How free is the free of charge sport’s section?

The only way to get into the lowermost corner gym at “sports” flank of PCaT NKMP* is to pass through the long serpentine corridors, where you may even get lost for the first time. And this is where the members of Aikido sports section take their classes. But so what’s that surprising? Are there not enough of sport clubs and sections in the fine city of Kramatorsk?

Well, that’s not the thing amazing about it. The point is that this young (opened on the 1st of September) sports club for martial arts “The Energy of Water” claims to be the only FREE-OF-CHARGE club in the whole city.

Aikido, spiritual economy and donations.

The founder and the senior trainer of the club, Andrey Yeskov (on photo), on his spiritual-religious commitment is Krishna’s devotee.

I have been practicing Aikido for many years’ says Andrey in his interview to TECHNOPOLIS. ‘I studied both in Kramatorsk and in Kyiv, where I’ve been an apprentice of Aleksey Kudryavcev (who now has the fourth dan rank in Aikido). Under his guidance I started to teach Aikido to other people there, in Kyiv. And I’ve been teaching Aikido for seven years already. After returning back to my hometown, I felt concerned with searching for the meaning of life and the true faith. Having met the Krishna’s devotees I realized I’ve found my spiritual avocation. After I got to know the Vedic culture, in the process of spiritual communication, there arose an idea for free sports section. We visited a festival, where I met my spiritual Teacher. His name is Dhanesvara Das , he came to Ukraine from the USA. He had acquainted me with the concept of spiritual economy. This is a method for rebuilding our society in a new way. In order to do this, we don’t have to become attached to the results of our activity. Nowadays we generally live only for making money, live for ourselves. The only thing that people are concerned with is how to get more and more for themselves. On the contrary, in the heart of the spiritual economy there lies a concept of giving. To feel happy you need to be engaged with your labor of love, and you need to do it for free, giving its products to other people. The main principle of spiritual economy claims: “There is no higher goal then serving for others”. And this is what I actually do. My Teacher has recommended me to open a free club for the town. For us payment is not something obligatory, but completely voluntary and ingenuous donation. Everyone pays as much as he can, and if he can’t – then he may just help with something.

-Then what is the reason for donation, if the club is free-of –charge?

To gain an insight into any knowledge, one should sacrifice something, or else this knowledge would not be entirely conceived. If you do sacrifice some money or your work - only then you will have the Teacher’s approval, only then you will get further in your Knowledge. We don’t have any tough conditions. You may give some adequate help to the club – to paste up notices or to make a slight repair in the gym, for example... Or to talk to people, so that they will learn about our existence. Thus we set up a task to develop mellowness in people, which might be of service to them in future. The abundance will come into our society not earlier then we stop trying to get all the best for ourselves, but start sharing it with the others.

- We’re living through the tough times. So what will happen if to your club comes a man who cannot make any payments or, speaking your language, any donation?

If a person doesn’t have any money to pay – I won’t require any money payments from him. There are other manners of payment and my task as a Teacher to explain it to him.

- And where are these donations put into?

In our club there are several trainers which, like me, do not have fixed salary for their work, but do it voluntary. With the exception for the single person – a man is now in a difficult situation, and that’s why some part of the donations is given to him. The rest of the money we take to cover the rent for the gym, which is quite essential – 2300UAH per month for one gym, and we have two of that. Besides, with this money we managed to buy 14 kimonoes for our students. It would be great if we find a man of means, perhaps a businessman, who would be willing to help us. Then we wouldn’t have to take money donations from our students at all. For the moment we don’t have any means even for bying a new tatami for the second gym. Quite recently my acquaintance businessman has donated us 2500 UAH, for he wants to register his son into our club so that the boy would have some occupation and won’t get into a bad company. Such amount of money is a handsome geasture, but we would appreciate if people donated to the club as much as they can, even one or two gryvnas.

"I never impose Krishnaism to others."

Our training starts with a short ritual for expression of homage to Aikido Art and to the Teacher’ says Andrey. ‘An hour and a half training ends with conversation on spiritual matters. My task is not so much to train people to defend themselves physically, as to teach them living in a way when they won’t need to defend. To live without hindering others, without getting into conflicts, to overcome bad habbits like smoking and drinking. To clean out the body one should refuse from meat. This is the idea I wish to bring to our youth. The modern society tries to rassle against adolescent drunkenness and drug addiction. But the problem is that everyone fights with the consequences, not with the cause. And the cause consists in a fact that it is not enough just to explain how bad these things are. Children have to be engaged into something and sport is the best variant.

- Let’s assume that this article has been published in TECHNOPOLIS and dozens of people wish to train in your club. The gyms are overcrowded. What actions will you take?

We’ll just rent another gym and invite more trainers, for there are many Aikido specialists in the town.

- A lot of children take trainings in your club. Is there a chance that these spiritual conversations might be perceived (from point of view of the law) as a propaganda for Krishnaism and implication of juvenile into some kind of a sect?

All of my students are aware of my devotion to Krishnaism. But I do not put pressure upon anybody. I discuss with them topics of general philosophical and moral meaning and do not make any attemps to impose the Vedic religion upon anyone. We should take into account that these very children in ten of fifteen years might become officials and directors. And if we take a moment now to explain them how people should live, I think in future order and prosperity will come to our town.

-What will you recommend to people who might want to train in your club?
Just get your sporting form, sneakers and come. We work from 7 p.m. everyday.

What do members of the martial arts club say:

Vyacheslav, 13 years old: I wish to learn to defend myself in the street. Sometimes I pay 50, or 100 gryvnas – it depends.

Alexander Kusmin, 29 years old: I’ve been training for month and a half. I am now in the process of conceiving the basis of Aikido technics and philosophy. Does it give anything for my spiritual world? I haven’t realised yet.

Victoria Zavgorodnaya: I come here for physical and spiritual aims. After three months of trainings I’ve felt that I’m developing successfully in both spheres. I like the philosophy of our sensei Andrey Volodimyrovich. And frankly speaking, to study the martial arts – is my dearest dream since childhood.

Andrey Beloborodov,
photo taken by author.

The story is from the facebook page of Andrey Volodimyrovich which you can find here.

2011-02-18T21:55:00.001+02:00

WOW! Lots of New Finds About People Who Do Not Use Money!

(See, I am not crazy : p Just in a small minority (so far) Ha!)

First, there is the Website run by Mark Boyle, here. What a great site, and what a great guy! On his blog Mark introduces three people (with more on the way) who gave up using money. What is most amazing from the Hare Krishna point-of-view is that we have here three phenomena -- people who are becoming free from the "mine" aspect of false ego. Not only do these people stop using money, they stop being consumers. In other words, they are living very consciously: conscious of how things impact their own lives, conscious of how their behavior in relationship to things affect the planet and others, and conscious of the needs of their fellow human beings.

One of them, Heidemarie Schwermer, is a a 68 year old German woman who has been living free from the chains of money for the past 15 years, and is featured in an upcoming movie "Living Without Money." Here is the trailer below. For the entire month of April, 2011, Living Without Money will be available to screen publicly for free! Click here if you’re interested in sharing the film and debating the issues. And see more about this endeavor here.

And more people are taking notice. It seems Mark is going to give a TED talk sometime soon. Sorry I lost the details of that in all of my rambling over these pages. So Please check these people out. There is a shift happening in this world, one which is very unexpected, in which very ordinary people are challenging the status quo of get and spend.

And, they are not even Hare Krishnas! Ok, no surprise there since most Hare Krishnas are totally behind the curve on this one despite the fact that I have shown them, in their own philosophy, that that is how Krishna tells them to live. Yawn. That's the reaction I get from most. Well, I am excited to be finding people of my own ilk who realize that money is not needed to live, and that one can live much better without the stuff than with it. Get the story directly from these people who have lived it, and then think again about how you are living. Maybe you want to dig deep into the annals of this blog and find one of the original posts where I explain the spiritual side of money-less living, also known as, the gift economy. Keep digging, it's down there somewhere.

Tomorrow we are off to visit one of our Gitagrad communities -- New Indraprastha -- about 150 km east of Lugansk, Ukraine. The residents of that community are walking the talk, and becoming wealthy on less than $2 a day. I'll write more from there...

2011-01-11T08:03:00.002+02:00

The Role of the People in Determining the Future

One of the conclusions of my Spiritual Economics book is that the people have an important role to play in determining how the economic system works. That is they get a good economy or bad depending on their own character and activities. This is called karma. It is foolish to think that the various parts of life are disconnected, separate spheres of activity. What we do in one area of life affects all areas. We cannot engage in all manners of depraved and sinful activity and expect either a good economy, or good government, for that matter. Since we now realize that the government is getting worse along with the economy, we might consider our responsibility in the matter.

One of

America's

founding fathers, James Madison, recognized this fact and succinctly explained the necessary requirement of the people in order that they have a decent government:

"Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks -- no form of government -- can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea..."

I'm no fan of Michael Jackson, but he had one good song that we should all consider. You want the world to be a better place? Begin with the man in the mirror.

2010-12-09T10:22:00.001+02:00

Paying It Forward Is an Important Concept in Creating a Gifting Mentality

In the mid-90s my thinking of, and realizations about, Spiritual Economics led me inescapably to the gift economy and I began to think about how to get it going. I came up with an idea that I called “Free-for-All” that would use a website to connect people who had needs with others who wanted to give. What ever came of that? Well, for several reasons, which I won’t go into here, that never manifest. But the idea of the gift economy must have been in the ether because there were many others who were thinking similar thoughts and were beginning to manifest their ideas successfully. One of them was Catherine Ryan Hyde’s ‘Pay It Forward’ that first came out as a book, then as a movie in 2000, which subsequently has given rise to a movement with this unexpected gifting idea. There was also Nipun Mehta who came up with a group called Charity Focus in 1999, which later generated the Karma Kitchen as an experiment in spawning the gift economy.

The other day I spent some time looking again at the website of Karma Kitchen, viewing some of the videos, and visiting the links on the site of other people/groups who had started feeding others in the spirit of the gift economy. I noticed a glaring omission: there was no mention of, or link to, the Hare Krishna Food-for-Life program, or the Sunday Love Feasts held in more than 400 temples around the world each Sunday. So I wrote to Nipun Mehta, the founder of Charity Focus and the Karma Kitchen to suggest that the Hare Krishnas be added.

Before getting to his reply let me tell you a bit about him. This is one amazing fellow who has many great ideas for practicing and promoting the gift economy. Actually, let me have him introduce himself. Here is a bit of his story from his blog:

Manifesting Gift Economy

To know about the projects of CharityFocus is to first understand the values underneath it. To that end, Tao of CharityFocus is a published essay from 2007, this impromptu talk at Stanford in 2008 shares stories in video, and Generosity 2.0 is a published article from Winter 2009.

In April 1999, CharityFocus formally started with the idea of gifting our time. We built websites for nonprofits. Couple years later, we took on a for-profit dot-com (PledgePage) and a non-profit in India (ProPoor) and realized that we actually had institutional capacity. Soon, as websites matured, we stretched our capacity to include vertical portals -- like HelpOthers.orgthat spreads kindness. We also started gifting Smile Cards, our first entry into tangible goods. As our ecosystem evolved, in 2008, we adopted a magazine that profiled conversations with social artists -- works & conversations. Later that year, we also started running a restaurant (for Sunday lunches) called Karma Kitchen. As CharityFocus became an incubator for "gift economy" projects, it became clear that this wasn't the work of an organization, but rather an ecosystem with many interconnected parts. Today, with 300 thousand members, the CharityFocus ecosystem sends out 50 million newsletters every year and attracts millions of users worldwide.

Wow! Nipun, and the people he leads, are building a wonderful future. What I like about them is that they are doing things to make others think about giving forward. Not giving because somebody has given to you, as in giving back, or paying back, which is somewhat a normal part of our culture. However giving forward shifts the focus to make us think about doing something nice for someone else as a gift. After all, that is the idea of a gift economy: what would you like to do for others? What can you give to others without being asked? Everyone has something to give. Hah, we have many things to give, and many ways in which we can give of ourselves. (Hence there is no such thing as poverty in a gift economy). If enough people in the same place simply focusing on giving their talents and abilities an entire economy erupts without even trying.

This was the way of the Kwakiutl, and other natives of Vancouver Island, and the Pacific Northwest. They celebrated the tradition of the Potlatch, which was a competition in giving. For months the members of the group would work to create and accumulate wealth, all for the purpose of giving it away—and not on a quid pro quo basis. There was no consideration of paying back, but only paying forward. Those who gave the most were held in the highest esteem. Not only were goods given, but sacred ceremonies, song, dance and other activities of cultural wealth were offered as well. The status of families was raised not by who has the most resources but by those who give the most resources. Wouldn’t you know it but the Potlatch was made illegal in Canada in 1885 and the United States in the late nineteenth century, largely at the urging of missionaries and government agents who considered it “a worse than useless custom” that was seen as wasteful, unproductive, and contrary to “civilized” values. It’s so sad to see how the European’s, so infected with the qualities of rajas and tamas (the modes of passion and ignorance) imposed their inferior ideas of cultural superiority on the natives. Fortunately the laws were untenable, although they remained on the books until 1951. Currently these indigenous people are working to restore their original culture and the traditions of the Potlatch.

Back to our email, Nipun replied:

Dear Dhanesvara Das,

Thanks for your wonderful, and thoughtful note.
I am indeed aware of the awe-inspiring work of feeding people that Hare Krishnas have done, around the globe. Please accept my heartfelt gratitude and a bow for your selfless offerings.
Karma Kitchen isn't exactly in the same category of free kitchen, in the sense that there is an expectation for people to pay forward for the person after them. But in doing away with the “me-and-mine” transactional orientation, the hope is that people will deepen in sensitivity and shift to “we-and-our” orientation. Then, over time, such context can become the foundation for a society where people can give freely.

With smiles, :)
Nipun

Nipun’s reply is helping me to realize that the transition to a gift economy needs to be built step-by-step. It’s a lesson that I have learned in my own setting, with the Hare Krishna devotees in E. Europe over the past 5 years. One of the objections I hear about my efforts to build Gitagrad communities is that “Dhanesvara wants to build communities of pure devotees.” Well, yes that is true. Gitagrad is actually a place for those who are freed from the consciousness of “I and mine” and who desire to perform every action for the pleasure and satisfaction of the Supreme Lord. Gitagrad is also for those who want to go in that direction, recognizing that as the highest goal of human life, and qualification for entering into the highest realms of the transcendental world, Goloka Vrindavana. And I believe that the devotees can come to that wonderful standard if we create the proper environment for it. It is not too difficult for those who live in the temple ashramas, and many of us have done that. The idea of Gitagrad is to expand the ashrama to include all of the ashramas, especially the grihasta and vanaprastha ashramas. In doing so we free our members from having to live a life of fruitive work which is repeatedly condemned in the Bhagavad-gita. Without having an alternative economic system, such as is available from the earth, it is impossible to give up the ways of the dominant culture and the fruitive work and mentality that is part and parcel of it.

Nipun is also right in his evaluation of our Food-for-Life and Sunday feasts as being “free kitchens.” Although donations are welcomed there is no effort to make the guests feel that they ought to give, or are obliged to give. Or if there is a consciousness of that, it is in the spirit of reciprocation, of giving back, not forward. And in that change of words, from back to forward, lies a significant shift of consciousness. It is that shift in consciousness that is needed to create a gift economy and a culture. I thank Nipun for making me aware of the subtle difference, and the methods that can be employed to give birth to the gift culture.

Please visit the links from his blog to learn more about the activities of CharityFocus.

2010-11-22T10:21:00.000+02:00

Quantitative Easing Explained

So much grist for the mill and I haven't been able to get online for the past week. Sigh. Everybody and their brother is saying that QE2 will go the same way as QE1 -- destroying the world's economy. Well, the story doesn't change, only more chapters are added taking us to the conclusion we all know is coming. But I have already told you that. Didn't I? (I'll look in the previous posts and if I don't find it there I will post it again).

The following video explains in simple terms exactly what the Bernanke Fed is up to (and it ain't good)(but we already knew that, right?) Have a good laugh, and then maybe a good cry. After the emotions have passed and you want to figure out what to do, read my book "Spiritual Economics." It explains the source of our economic problems and their solution. No kidding!

In Memoriam

2010-10-29T15:39:00.000+03:00

Joan Veon

May 17, 1949 -- October 18, 2010

Joan Veon was a rare and wonderful person who worked hard to bring truth and the reality of this world to others. We are sorry to see her pass on at such a young age, and we will surely miss her and her work.

As a reporter Joan covered major international meetings for more than 15 years. Straight from the horses mouth she learned about the efforts to create a global government and regularly explained, as no other economic writer has, the road map that the world was following to get there. Her articles appeared on News With Views, Jeff Rense's website, and others. Google her, and read her. You will learn a great deal.

Just to give you a taste of her insights and understanding I have copied below an article she wrote describing clearly where the global economic policies are meant to take us. Joan had some sense of spiritual economics because she repeatedly wrote that in order to solve the challenges of this world we must pray!

Moving The World Toward A Global Tax And Currency By Joan M. Veon, CFP
8-20-5

This economic newsletter is going to be perhaps, a bit different from the others that I have written. It will be personal, economic, and political. Many of you know that I have been covering high level global meetings for eleven years (September 3). You may or may not know the story behind this activity, which has been all consuming. I would like to share it with you, as an introduction to this newsletter and to the activities and agenda of the last two global meetings that I covered: the 75th Anniversary of the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland and the Group of Eight meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland. MY STORY

While everyone has a story, this is mine. When I was growing up, I was told to make a list of what I wanted to do and accomplish in life, which would provide direction for me, as I worked towards those goals. I never made a list. When I ended up in business, I was told to make a list of my 12 month and five year goals. I never did. Instead, I relied on God to lead and direct me. While my life has had a number of twists and turns, many of which I never planned or looked for, I believe I am where I am supposed to be.

When I was sixteen, I read a book which told about a time in which there would be a world governmental on the earth. I was fascinated with the idea that I could be living in a time in which a world governmental system, like the Roman Empire, would come into being. From that point on, I started to pay attention to world events that could lead to such a system. About fifteen years ago, I purchased the business book Euroquake by Author Daniel Burstein, which gave "Over 100 specific predictions for economic and political change in the 90s." I was fascinated by Burstein's four pages of acknowledgements in which he talked to almost everyone in the world from world leaders, to CEO's, to people throughout the UN infrastructure, leading economists and experts from the world's leading think tanks. As I read Burstein's book, I was fascinated by the concepts he put forth. There would be a new global order, where corporate power would rule, while governments set the agenda. Three types of capitalism would compete: the Anglo-American brand with its roots in English speaking countries and the Industrial Revolution; the Japanese/Asian model with its cultural roots in Confucianism; and the German/European model with its "social market" philosophy. America would be the "odd man" out. Additionally, there was his key thesis: the rise of Europe and European power, which would trump America.

Now that his book is fifteen years old, I think he was really off on a number of his predictions, but right on many others. Of his predictions, the one that hit home was #95, "A new global currency agreement will be hammered out between 1995 and 1997 [in which there] will be a massive devaluation of American assets roughly analogous to fixing today's exchange rates at Yen = 105 = $1.00 and DM1.2 = $1.00" (p.347). As I read this, I was shocked by the amazing fact that he was describing a global currency. My goodness, you do not have a global currency unless you have a world governmental system. This understanding took me back to the book I had read when I was sixteen. Since I did not know what kind of form a world governmental structure would have and did not think there was any kind of structure like that in 1990, I began asking God to reveal to me if there was such a system anywhere on the planet.

In 1994, I was challenged by a good friend of mine to go to Cairo to attend a United Nations conference on reducing the population of the world. I bulked at the idea, but, then I found that the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund were going to be there. Since I wrote this economic newsletter which covered the value of the dollar, I went to Cairo to look and see what was happening on the international level. The only thing I knew about the United Nations was the name "UNICEF", since I had collected for the poor children of the world when I was a Brownie (The children are still poor and now the reason for global tax). What was the United Nations? What was the purpose of these global meetings and what did it mean to me? The only way you could get into a UN meeting was to go as a reporter. So, for the first time ever, I became a reporter. When I arrived in Cairo, I was shocked and amazed at the people, the organization, the structure, the agenda, and the politics involved. In the press briefings that the United Nations held, I had a problem. While they were using the English language, their words and the meaning of their words appeared to have a different meaning than how you and I would use them. At the end of the day, I would go back to the hotel room and transcribe the meetings, so as to get a closer understanding of what was really happening.

It was about 3:00 a.m. on the third morning that it all came together. It finally dawned on me that what I was seeing on the international level was world government! I was shocked. Here it was right under my nose. While there is much I that could tell you about that meeting, I came home angry"where were the conservatives to hold back world government, since it was a democratic administration that was supporting it? I also brought home a suitcase full of material"magazines, documents, speeches, and pamphlets that I had picked up. My goal was to find out how big, how vast, and how far advanced this agenda of world government was.

For the six week following my return from Cairo, I was like a mad woman, pouring over all the documents to determine the agenda and what it meant for me and my clients. I only found one article that told me the United Nations was going to present the idea of a global tax at another conference in six months. My goodness, that was it--you don't have a global tax unless you have a global government. Shades of Daniel Burstein! In addition, I saw from the newspaper reports, when I returned home, that there was hardly anything of a serious nature that really described what went on at that meeting and what it meant for you and me. It was then that I made a commitment to cover as many meetings as I could in order to report to the American people about an agenda that would weaken our nation's sovereignty and change how we lived socially, politically, financially, and personally. I went to the follow-up meeting in Copenhagen, where I confronted the United Nations with the idea of global taxation and the amount of money they wanted to raise from their suggested global taxation schemes. Since then I have covered 70 global meetings around the world as an independent and free-lance reporter.

Those meetings include: trade, economic, peacekeeping, UN mega-conferences on the environment, social issues, food, and zoning, General Assembly meetings, the International Criminal Court, and many others. I have interviewed presidents and prime ministers, key officials throughout the United Nations system, CEO's, economists and leaders of think tanks.

Throughout the last 11 years, I have reported on the structure of the world government that has been put in place above the nation-state. I have written about it a number times in this newsletter and, now again, in this issue, where we will track the evolution of a world governmental structure, a global tax and a global currency. In the past, when I spoke of these things, people would look at me as if I were from Mars. Well, I am not from Mars and these things need to be discussed and understood in order for you and me to make the best decisions that we can for our future. This is not the time to stick your head in the sand but to confront a growing reality about the changing value of the world's monetary system!

THE ECONOMIC

In June and July, I covered the 75th Anniversary of the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland and the Group of Eight heads of state meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland. In order to set the background for these very important issues, we will start with President Nixon's decision to take America's currency off the gold standard.

Off the Gold Standard

It took two major moves for America's dollar to be separated from the gold standard. The first step was taken in 1933 by newly elected President Franklin Roosevelt, whose first act as president was to close the banks after a number of runs had occurred. Americans, concerned about our financial system, ran to the banks where, under law, they could withdraw their savings in gold because our currency was convertible at any time. Then, one dollar had 0.77 troy ounces of silver or 0.048 troy ounces of gold backing it. Today, only the "full faith of people" backs our paper monetary system. Because of the bank run, Roosevelt ordered the government to confiscate all personally-owned gold with the exception of rare coins. Today, you can still find people who remember the government knocking on the doors of their parent's home to collect the gold they withdrew.

For a specimen of the U.S. $10 gold certificate, Series, 1922, please send $15.00 payable to Veon Financial Services. If you would like a wonderful hardback book on the history of MONEY by James Ewalt, please send $55.00, also payable to Veon Financial Services, Inc. This book has been purchased worldwide by key monetary authorities. In order to understand the level of power that you and I have as individuals, we need to understand the power of money. As many of you know, because of our trade and federal deficits, the value of the U.S. dollar has been dropping against other currencies for the last two years. What this means is that the purchasing power of the dollar is diminishing, and it takes more to live than it did before.

While the value of the dollar has been declining since 1973, as a result of the birth of the euro, it now has another currency for people and governments to purchase as an alternative to the dollar. In the September newsletter we will discuss the new moves of the Chinese with regard to the failed Unocal bid and the new "Cold War" that is brewing between the U.S. and Russia, as Russia is going to back their ruble with gold and challenge the dollar. Today, with the rising price in oil, the sale of oil is only transacted in dollars. Now, between a gold-backed ruble and other countries switching to the euro, our economic hegemony is being seriously challenged.

When the euro was birthed on January 1, 1999, it had a value of 1.16 euros to the U.S. dollar. Shortly after its birth, it fell to a low of .80 euros, which meant the dollar could buy 30% more in goods from Europe. Today, however, instead of getting 1.3 euros for one dollar, American's are only receiving .75 euros to the dollar. What this means is that we cannot purchase what we used to in Europe, but must pay 55% more for those same goods. What are we describing? A floating currency is a currency that is not supported by a tangible asset. It is a currency that can be changed in value at a whim by those with great financial assets, like the Rockefellers, Rothschilds, Kuhns, Loebs, Schiffs, and Buffets. Before Nixon's actions in 1971, our dollar had a supporting tangible that gave it not only value on the day you wanted to cash in the gold but a STORE OF VALUE"meaning its purchasing power stayed the same over time. America could only import goods according to the amount of gold we had. For every trade deficit, a corresponding amount of gold was transferred between the countries involved, and there was no such thing as a trade deficit!! Furthermore, the value of currencies held their value with the dollar being the strongest currency in the world. On August 15, 1971, President Nixon took the second step in closing forever any link the dollar had to the gold system when he refused to convert requests by foreign countries, which were holding gold backed dollars in their vaults, to exchange U.S. gold-backed dollars for gold. For the first time in the entire history of money, the system of money was de-linked from a tangible. In the past, early Middle Eastern traders used gold and silver, jewels, expensive clothing, and animals as forms of currency. Today, the world monetary system uses a SYSTEM IN WHICH THE VALUE OF THE RESPECTIVE CURRENCY CHANGES, ACCORDING TO SUPPLY AND DEMAND, POLITICAL ACTIONS AND OTHER WHIMS. In other words, you can never be certain as to the amount of money it will take to live or to purchase a specific item or commodity. Uncertainty has now become the rule of the day as our financial sovereignty is gone.

In order to create "currency harmony", the dollar has been devalued to bring it in line with the currencies of other countries. Through concerted efforts by the Group of Seven finance ministers, the dollar had an "orderly reversal" in 1985, when they met in New York City at the Plaza Hotel. There, they agreed that the United States should deliberately weaken the dollar relative to other currencies. Their reason for doing so was that the dollar was the strongest currency in the world and they said they wanted to make our products more affordable to foreign countries in order to reduce our trade surplus (Sound familiar? Their economics is off because they are saying the same thing today, except that, this time, the need to devalue the dollar is because we have a huge trade deficit.) In other words, we the people have a declining purchasing power because of these kinds of actions. As a result of the above referenced Plaza Accord, between 1985 and September 1986, the dollar dropped 40% against the yen and Deutsche mark. To understand the change in the purchasing power of the dollar, one dollar was worth 3.65 Deutsche marks and 3.55 Japanese yen in 1975. Today, the dollar will only buy .75 euros (the Deutsche mark was replaced by the euro) and 1.11 yen! Talk about an orderly reversal! This is a 70% loss in the purchasing power of the dollar. Does anyone want to have a tea party? At the most recent Bank for International Settlements meeting, they called for (another) "orderly reversal." Also in 1985, America became the world's largest debtor nation for the first time in its history since it is that year that we started to import oil.

Because our currency is no longer backed by gold, our government can print all the money it wants to support its spending habits without worrying about being accountable. For example, in 1995, there was $380B in U.S. currency in circulation. As of April, 2004, there is $700B in circulation! The classic definition of inflation is "too much money chasing too few goods." It appears that the inflationary spiral is not in the process of being squelched but really is only just beginning. In the last five years in many major cities across the U.S. the cost of home ownership has doubled! Compare this to 1970 when a three bedroom 1,500 square foot brick home in the Washington, D. C. area sold for $32,000. Today, my former home which I am using as an example, is selling for over $500,000. This is an increase of $468,000 over 35 years or an increase of 7.89% PER YEAR. When, in the last ten years have you heard that the inflation level was over 7%? You have not. The government has changed how they measure inflation to confuse the minds of men. The core inflation rate today measures the cost of renting versus home ownership! Currently, across the country the median price of existing home is $219,000 which is 14.7% higher than a year ago. While Western states posted a 17.4% increase in existing home prices, the Northeast saw 13.6% gains, while the Midwest saw 12.7%. However in San Francisco, the median price is $750,000. There, 61% of the buyers had to resort to interest-only loans, while only 18% were able to use a conventional 30 year fixed rate loan (Washington Post-WP, 8/14/05, Parade section).

The Federal Reserve Bank

Many people know that our banking system is run by a private corporation called the Federal Reserve. This private corporation was birthed by an inner circle of senators, who stayed on after those who were opposed went home for Christmas. The Federal Reserve Act was passed in 1913 at 11:45 p.m. on December 24. The U.S. joined a host of other countries such as England, Japan, Italy, France, Germany, and Switzerland that already had private corporations, also known as central banks. You and I would be a bit naïve, if we thought that all these central banks had different owners. As such, the Federal Reserve does not publish Annual Reports and their meetings are kept secret for several months. When Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan goes to Capital Hill to testify, it is Greenspan who has the real power and not the congressmen and senators. Mr. Greenspan and other central bank managers meet on a bi-monthly basis at the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, where they basically determine the fate of every country economically.

The Bank for International Settlements was set up in 1930 and was part of a plan by an American, Owen Young. The Statutes of the BIS state that its purpose is to "promote the cooperation of central banks." The founders of the BIS "wanted to provide an increasingly close and valuable link in the cooperation of central banking institutions"a cooperation essential to the continuing stability of the world's credit structure'" (Central Bank Cooperation at the Bank for International Settlements, 1930-1973 by Gianni Toniolo, 1). As reported in many previous economic newsletters, Dr. Carroll Quigley who was Bill Clinton's mentor at Georgetown University wrote in his 1,340 page tome, Tragedy and Hope: [T]he powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at frequent private meetings and conferences.

The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world. The B.I.S. is generally regarded as the apex of the structure of financial capitalism whose remote origins go back to the creation of the Bank of England in 1694 and the Bank of France in 1803 (p. 324).

The Bank for International Settlements I have had the privilege of covering eight Bank for International Settlements annual meetings, since 1997, with the exception of 2004. During that time, I have interviewed on an annual basis the head economist. I have had numerous interviews with the managing director of the Financial Stability Forum and an exclusive interview with the new BIS Managing Director, Dr. Malcolm Knight, in 2003. I find it interesting that the theme of this year's annual report was on "disturbing patterns of uneven growth worldwide." While the BIS cites household debt at historic highs and low savings rates in America, as opposed to other countries of the world, the report concentrated on the "disturbing patterns of uneven growth." The BIS cited three cycles of highs and lows. The first began in the 1970's, when the dollar was taken off the gold standard. Head economist, Mr. Bill White told me that the change in the gold standard was very important in world affairs. The second cycle began in the mid-1980's, ending in a property bust; and the current cycle began in the mid-1990s. All Americans should be concerned about this report, as the world's bankers are signaling the end of the third cycle, which can only mean higher interest rates, as they withdraw money from the banking system. This comes at a time of higher oil prices which only enforces the inflationary spiral. It is the BIS that has created the uneven cycles of growth. With a floating currency system of PAPER, you can do whatever you want. If you have a great deal of money you can create the highs and lows of any countries currency just by buying or selling it. Heaven help all of us!

Furthermore, household savings is not evident in the U.S. to the same extent that it is in the Asian countries. World national savings rose to 25% of Gross Domestic Product or about 1% point more than the annual average rate for the decade. This was due to the higher savings habits in the developed world, and in particular, China where savings rose 48%. High debt-to-income ratios and low savings in the U.S. do not bode well for Americans. Furthermore, the U.S. and China accounted for half of the world's growth, the euro area and Japan have much slower growth, and they stated that the prospect of reducing America's fiscal deficit is not encouraging. Citing concerns over disinflation, the BIS stressed the need for interest rates to rise in order to slow consumer spending. Mr. White explained, "The time has come for a measured withdrawal of the stimulus that has been put into the [economic] system." What he is saying is that it is time for the Fed to withdraw some of the huge amounts of money that it injected into the banking system that created 45 year low interest rates.

Now the U.S. is in the process of another "orderly reversal." The Federal Reserve has increased interest rates TEN TIMES in 4 months to 3.5%. Currently prime rate is 6.5% which is the highest in four years. By the end of the year, prime is expected to be at 7.25% which means three more point increases. With this increase, the fed funds rate is now back to the level prevailing before September 11, 2001. The Fed cut the rate to 1 percent by mid-2003 and started tightening in June 2004.

Lastly, the Annual Report stated that the "underlying issue seems to be that we no longer have a system that somehow forces countries to alter their domestic absorption and associated exchange rates, so as to reduce external imbalances in an orderly way." It should be noted that with a floating exchange rate there are no ways for any kind of adjustment, as there was under the gold standard. Global or Regional Currency

The BIS recommended what several academics have suggested by way of establishing a single international currency or, perhaps. moving to regional currency blocks, such as the dollar, euro, and renimbi/yen. (This is the first time I have seen renimbi and yen tied together. What it indicates is the growing power of the renimbi over the yen. )

History of Global or Regional Currency Amazing! Why is the Bank for International Settlements talking a global or regional currency, but ABC, NBC, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times are not? Since I subscribe to The Financial Times, I was surprised that the only thing it reported was Bill White's comment about "an orderly reversal."

As mentioned earlier, the first time I had any kind of understanding of a global currency was by reading Euroquake in 1990. Furthermore, Burstein talked about the "Triad" the three spheres the world was going to be divided into, which mirror the types of capitalism: North America, Japan/East Asia, and Europe. As such, Burstein is the one who helped me to understand that the world was already divided up into three major currencies: the dollar, the Deutsche mark"now replaced by the euro, and the yen, now, described as the renimbi/yen.

I remember being at an international financial meeting in Boston in 1996 in which the head of IBM-Asia discussed the fact that we already had a global currency, and went on to give the values of those currencies which were at the time within 10% of being equal. It was not until June 30, 2003 that I realized there was a concerted effort to move the world into a global currency, when The Wall Street Journal published an article entitled, "World Money at the Palazzo Mundell" by Robert L. Bartley. In the article Bartley described the 10th Santa Colomba Conference convened by Nobel Prize economist, Robert Mundell. The first conference was held in 1971, three weeks after Nixon severed the link between the dollar and gold. The theme of this conference was, "Does the Global Economy Need a Global Currency?" Those contemplating this question included former Israeli central bank minister Jacob Frenkel, former Argentine Finance Minister Domingo Cavallo, economist Steve Hanke, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. The logic is "If the euro can replace the franc, mark and lira, why can't a new world currency merge the dollar, euro and yen? Since the three top central banks in the world are the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of Japan, that means a major reform of central banks into a supra-national central bank would also emerge. Furthermore, they suggested that it could be called the "dey" for dollar-euro-yen.

On September 30, 2004 I interviewed former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker who told me that a "globalized world needed an international currency." When I asked him if he meant the Special Drawing Right-SDR, which is a basket of currencies comprised of the dollar (0.577), Euro (0.426), Japanese yen (21) and British pound (0.0984) (amounts found on page 193 of the BIS 2005 Annual Report), the dear boy turned his back on me. Please realize what this meant. He is almost to seven feet tall while I am five feet tall! In an interview with BIS head economist, Bill White, in August, 2004, I asked him why the BIS was changing to the Special Drawing Right which is the currency used by the International Monetary Fund, instead of using the gold franc. He replied,

When the SDR was brought in, the hope was that the IMF would be able to generate more of these drawing rights and create a global money. This has not happened. The SDR has not gone anywhere in its own right. What happened at the BIS is a bit bizarre, but from a pure accounting issue, our accounts were presented in terms of gold francs, and this is the way they were described in the 1930s and this was the gold exchange standard in any event. When you define the gold franc it was really US$1.96. [The switch to the SDR is] purely an accounting convention"it in no way implies that the BIS is going to be creating SDRs and contributing to increases in global liquidity. Mr. White went on to describe the global markets:

One important aspect of globalization is the new "international reach of global banks." More business in emerging market countries is being done by global banks. As you get more and more of this global banking and integrated global markets, shocks in one part of the world now have impacts in other parts of the world that they did not have in the old days. It has become an "integrated global financial system" with the bank playing a very large role in it

At the BIS 2005 press briefing, I was the only reporter to ask about a global or regional currency. When I asked if the regional currency would be a stepping stone to a global currency, as suggested by Messrs. Mundell, Frankel and Volcker, BIS Managing Director Dr. Malcolm Knight told me:

The question you ask is not an easy one about r regional currencies. Global imbalances are a result of very high savings levels relative to investment levels in a number of emerging market countries and is what is allowing the very large current account deficit of the U.S. to be financed rather smoothly most of the time. What this means is that the policies and the changes in behavior that are needed to adjust these imbalances are real. We need a rise in savings in certain countries which have low savings. That can come partly from policies such as tax incentives to saving. I think that movements to regional currencies are a long run consideration.

Dr. Knight did not really address my question, but, he did lay the foundation for a change in the U.S. tax system, which would change the behavior of Americans with regard to savings. Personally, a value-added tax system would be the nail in the coffin for Americans, as it would return us to a feudalistic system of living. Furthermore, the government passed a major law in 1980 which basically allowed banks to pay the going rate of interest. Today this means they can pay 1-2% for savings and charge 21-25% for credit cards. Throughout the 1990s, a lot of money left the banking system and went into the stock market because people would rather take a risk on a higher return than leave their money invested at 1-2%.

What do we have here? Basically, the framework has been set in place for a global currency. The world has been divided up into three major trading spheres. The Americas, which encompasses the 34 countries in our hemisphere from Canada to the Tierra del Fuego in Chile. Most people are not aware of it, but America and our other 33 neighbors are about to be put into a trading zone like the European Union in which the dollar will be the prevailing currency used throughout this hemisphere. Furthermore, like the EU which has a European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, our "parliament" would be at the Organization of American States. Currently, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and I believe Costa Rica are vying for where the parliament would be located.

Within our hemisphere, how do you merge the dollar with the peso of Brazil, Honduras, Chile, etc.? How do you integrate 34 countries so that they are one? Our lawmakers for all 34 countries have been meeting throughout the last 11 years to merge this hemisphere into a new trading sphere. Already two smaller trading spheres have been approved by Congress: the North American Free Trade Zone-NAFTA, passed in 1994 and, the recently passed Central American Free Trade Areas-CAFTA. Let it be known these governing bodies do not and will not have ELECTED officials but APPOINTED officials, which is a great change from our Constitution of representative government. These changes and the continuing integration will have great implications for our financial future and the value and stability of our currency. Inflation steals the purchasing power of our hard-earned dollars. Living will become very, very expensive--much more than it is today. If the Special Drawing Right is the pattern for a global currency, which I believe it is, the transfer of all currencies to this basket will wreak havoc on all of us, in particular, the poorer people and countries. Add to a global currency, a global tax or a number of global taxes.

GLOBAL TAXATION

It was not until I covered the UN conference in Egypt in 1994, that I became aware of a plan to bring the world into a system of global taxation. I found that the United Nations had been working on ideas for global taxation for about ten years. In the 1994 Human Development Report, published by the United Nations Development Programme, it called for A New World Social Charter where the world will redistribute wealth as it cannot survive one- quarter rich and three-quarters poor, and where the United Nations must become the principal custodian of global human security and help with basic education, healthcare, immunization, and family planning.

To meet these goals, they put forth the concept of global taxation. Their suggestions included: a tax on the sales of arms weapons; a Global Demilitarization Fund funded by the savings countries would experience if they reduced military spending by 3% over a ten-year period; a global tax of $1 per barrel on oil consumption, a tax on speculative international currency transactions that has been dubbed the "Tobin Tax"; and a world income tax of 0.1% on the richest nations with per capita GNP of $10,000. When I totaled up the projected income from all of these taxes, it totaled anywhere from $350B to $1T a year. I asked key officials at that meeting why the world should give the UN this kind of money when their budget was only $10B? They had no real tangible answer. Now they do"the poor of Africa.

In 1990 the United Nations held a Millennium Summit at their New York headquarters. There the kings, princes, presidents and prime ministers agreed to the "Millennium Development Goals-MDGs". These goals include cutting in half the number of people living in extreme poverty, those who are hungry, and those who lack access to safe drinking water, providing and achieving universal primary education, reducing by 75% the decline in maternal mortality and 66% the number children dying before they reach five years of age, halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing special assistance to AIDS orphans, and improving the lives of 100 million slum-dwellers by 2015. The estimated cost to meet these goals is $66B by 2006 and $126B by 2015. You can understand that if the rich countries are going to pay for these goals, that it will add another layer of burden on the backs of taxpayers. This is known in socialism as a "transfer of wealth."

Over the years, the concept of global taxation has made its rounds. In 2002, it even had its own conference in Monterrey, Mexico. Global taxation then surfaced at the Spring 2004 IMF-World Bank meeting but they were not prepared to give details. Then at the 2004 Group of Eight meeting in Sea Island, Georgia, French President Jacques Chirac put the concept of global tax on the table. He said he would study it and return with specific recommendations. He did just that.

In Gleneagles, Mr. Chirac presented the leaders of the industrial world plus Russia with a solid proposal. The global tax scheme is called the "International Solidarity Levy (ISL)." It proposes a tax of $1-$10 tax on airline tickets. Since 3 billion airline tickets are sold yearly, the math would be pretty attractive. Countries in favor include Brazil, China, and Germany. This type of tax would be easy to set up versus the above referenced U.N. tax schemes as there are no international treaties which prohibit the creation of a flat tax on airline tickets since a number of airlines already have various types of taxes on airline tickets for airport renovation and the like. The rate would be personalized according to the level of a country's willingness with airlines collecting the revenues and passing them on to the respective government to supplement their foreign aid funds. In the final press briefing given by President Chirac, I asked him if there would be more global tax schemes like the tax on airline tickets if it works well and he replied that they had many other kinds of international tax schemes planned.

SUMMARY

Two major concerns of mine when I started covering international meetings were global taxation and global currency. As you can see, we have come from the idea stage to the acceptance stage and soon, to the implementation of both. Furthermore, the G8 leaders last year gave their blessing to an international peacekeeping force for Africa which, when I questioned them, told me that these troops could be sent anywhere in the world. For those who still doubt the idea of a world government, I would ask why we need a global tax, global currency and global army?

Furthermore I would direct them to the UN website (www.un.org.) to spend some time researching all of its agencies, commissions, and organs. They will see that the United Nations is more than just a place where world leaders go to discuss their differences. It has become the center of an international framework of governance. You don't have a tax unless you have government. You don't have a global currency unless you are harmonizing currencies.

We have yet to feel the burden of both a global tax and a global currency. First there will be a regional currency in our hemisphere. The free trade zone for our hemisphere is called the Free Trade Areas of the Americas and it will open all the 34 borders between countries. The dollar will become the lead currency of choice. In time the people of this hemisphere will have representatives for their area at the forthcoming parliament of the Organization of American States. Once all the regions have a regional currency, then they can be merged into a global currency.

To understand the burden that we currently have, let us consider the findings of Kevin Philips, author of Wealth and Democracy who wrote about the affects of Reagan's tax cuts in the early 1980s. Mr. Reagan passed major tax laws in 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, and 1986. The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981-ERTA reduced the maximum individual tax rate from 70% to 50% and the top tax rate on long term capital gains from 28% to 20%. While lower tax rates made the U.S. attractive for foreign investors as capital flowed into the U.S. from all over the world, it eroded the after-tax income of lower bracketed taxpayers. Phillips documents that as a result of Reagan's tax cuts, the tax rate of the median family rose from 5.30% in 1948 to 24.44% in 1985 while the millionaire level or top 12% dropped from 76.9% in 1948 to 24.9% in 1985. Basically, the burden was shifted to the median family.

Compound this picture with a value-added tax which Bush has proposed and is in the process of trying to get implemented, step by step. Now add continual inflation which is the printing of additional dollars to cover our growing deficit and the cost of war and energy. Am I being a "fear monger" or am I being realistic in what I see? It is incumbent for us to maximize our savings and our investments, whether they are in art, antiques, gold, silver, stocks or real estate. The September newsletter will concentrate on current structural shifts and the concept of maintaining purchasing power.

On a personal note, how do I cope with these concerns? I have to go to God to get His Wisdom. I don't believe He left us here to be at the mercy of powerful overlords when we can have peace in the midst of storm.

2010-10-22T14:41:00.000+03:00

Bob Prechter is Losing It! (and you can't blame him)

To underscore how ridiculous the entire the entire economic situation has become Robert Prechter, one financial analyst who actually understands what is going on and tells it like it is, appears to go loopy. In his column on The Market Oracle, on October 15, Prechter lambastes Michael Woodford, of Columbia University, who wrote what Prechter says is an "execrable and totally idiotic piece is titled 'Bernanke Needs Inflation for QE2 to Sail.'" Prechter goes on to say “he writes, unbelievably, ‘The Fed should allow a one-time only inflation increase, with a plan to control it when the economy recovers.’ Hahahaha!”

In excoriating him Prechter goes off the deep end with this:

Instead, he says, apparently anxious to show he has no idea what he is talking about and is ignorant of economics in general and the Austrian school of economics in particular, that instead of more stimulus, the Fed should "offer a credible, long term program to prevent the next inflation." Hahaha! Another plan!

Hahaha! A "credible program!" Hahaha! It makes you want to scream out, "And just what in the hell would be a credible program to get out of a monstrous monetary inflation that has been raging exponentially for almost 50 years, which produced the economic disaster of constant, simmering inflation and the suicidal growth of a giant, bloated, twisted and disgusting government-centric economy supporting half the population and a bizarre economy based on the continual financing of grubby, childish, insatiable final consumption, so that all debt in the USA now totals somewhere around $60 trillion (with the federal government having accrued liabilities of at least five times as much), and where the entire freaking GDP is only $13.5 trillion? Exactly what in the hell is a 'credible program' to reverse that kind of horrible, end-stage metastasized cancer? Hahahaha!"

In case you were wondering, as apparently Bigshot Economic Blowhards (BEB) wonder, the only "credible program" in an economy that relies exclusively on creating more and more money out of more and more debt, with which people buy more and more things and the government gives more and more money to more and more people, is different after these kinds of things have gone on too long (two weeks max), like this one that has gone on for Fifty Freaking Years (FFY)!

And caps it all by quite correctly explaining exactly what is going on:

So, if you see this Meltzer guy, you tell him that the Fab Fab Fabulous Mogambo (FFFM) says that "the most important restriction on investment spending" today is that all the customers are up to their freaking eyeballs in debt, staggering under the crushing weight of debt from two insane decades of the loathsome Alan Greenspan at the demonic Federal Reserve constantly creating more and more money to finance bubble economies in raw, naked consumption, insane speculative bubbles in stocks, bonds, houses, derivatives and the cancer-like growth of a treacherous, corrupt system of governments, from local to state to federal, as trillions and trillions of dollars were deficit-spent to add to the orgiastic deluge of tax revenues already pouring in, and then going right back out again as new spending, from the aforementioned bubble economies in stocks, bonds, houses and derivatives spawned by, at the root, the Federal Reserve creating the money necessary!

I got quite a laugh out of it, but if it wasn't so funny we would cry.

It all signals the end of an era, and it is quite easy to see what's coming. As you can understand by reading the above, the entire system is functioning on tamo-guna to the Nth degree. And the result of tamo-guna is what? Destruction. Dissolution.

It's the destruction of the world's economic system (and likely social system) and it's going on before our very eyes. And the really incredible part is that most people are oblivious. What can be done? Even if they are shown in no uncertain terms what is coming there is nothing that the average person can do. So the result is cognitive dissonance. WHAT problem? Oh, the French? Well, that's how the French are! Why can't they work till 62? After all, the Americans go at it (if they are lucky enough to have a job) till 65! Oh, the Irish have a problem, or the Greeks have a problem. Well, hey what can be done? As long as it's not my problem.

Come to the Dark Side Luke

In any case The End is Near. Not a problem as long as we know that the end spells a new beginning. The real question is therefore, the beginning of what exactly?

I had explained that in a post here about a year ago, but then later took it down so that on this blog I could focus on the spiritual side of economics instead of the Dark Side. Well, the spiritual side doesn't actually fore go the dark side. It's all there in the Bhagavad-gita -- chapter 16 -- The Divine and Demonic Natures. In any case reality is too frightening for some so we have moved all of the Dark Side of our economic analysis to another blog exclusively earmarked for such topics, and it is appropriately named (guess) "The Dark Side of Economics." You can get there easily by going to my profile with the link on the right side of this page next to my photo.

I'll likely make some references here to what is going on over there, but maybe not. So have a look over there if you can handle the truth.

2010-10-17T10:24:00.000+03:00

Apocalypse Now?

It is said in the Vedas that the people of this world live in illusion. Moreover, they create that illusion themselves by their own desires. Such an amazing place, this world. We all walk around with our unique understanding of reality playing in our minds, as if it were the absolute truth. So strong is that desire to stay in illusion that when we are confronted with the truth we resist it. “Don’t bother me with the facts, my mind is made up!” This was of course the theme powerfully portrayed in the film “The Matrix.” Here is my favorite quote from that movie:

“The Matrix is a system. When you are inside it, you look around and what do you see? Businessmen, Teachers, Lawyers, Carpenters. The very kinds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are part of that system. You have to understand that most of these people are not ready to be ‘unplugged.’ And many are so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to defend it.”

Although those words were spoken in a fictional movie they really are true—most people are so dependent on the system that they will fight to defend it (including devotees!).

My interest in Sri Krishna’s instructions about economics in the Bhagavad-gita have led me to study and understand the realities of the economics of this world. The fact is that that truth is very different from what most people think. Let’s just say that economics has a very dark side, and it sometimes happens if I speak about economic realities that people become upset. I was told that after my presentation earlier this year at the Lithuanian Summer Festival that several listeners found themselves devastated, as if there were nothing left to live for. Hearing what I said seemed to destroy their entire world! As you might guess, after brining such a reaction I have not been invited back to the next festival. As the Matrix quote tells it, many people are not ready to be ‘unplugged.’ They want to keep to their own understanding (illusion). Wow! Is that the result that I wanted to create? Well, yes, actually.

The destruction of our illusion is so disturbing that we resist it. We fight those who would wake us up to reality, because reality in the material world is often very ugly. We are living our lives thinking that the world is such a nice place, and we make plans for how we are going to enjoy here. I’ll get my education, then I’ll get my job, then I’ll get my spouse, and then we will get children, and we will gradually accumulate wealth and live happy lives while we learn about Krishna consciousness, and it will all be wonderful, and at the end we will (hopefully) go back to Godhead.

Pop! Goes the bubble of illusion!

“Hey! Who is that guy who destroyed my illusion? What does he think he’s doing? What do I have left to live for now? I’m crushed. Devastated. Lost.”

You see, the first result of realizing the truths of this world is devastation. We are crushed but it takes some time to realize why. But why should we be so disturbed? Because we have been taking shelter of those things that we now realize give no shelter. I can remember when I had those same realizations more than twenty-five years ago, upon learning the inside knowledge of how economics actually works. I was devastated too! It took some time to overcome that feeling, and in the process I had many powerful realizations. Me: “Wow! These things that I thought were my security, the things that I was taking shelter of, are not actually going to protect me. In fact, these people I was taking shelter of are even trying to exploit me! And I was so taken in by it that I was trying to find security there. But...but, if there is no security there, then where does one go for shelter?”

The things of this world that we go to for shelter are what the Srimad-Bhagavatam calls fallible soldiers (2.1.4):

Persons devoid of atma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction.

Srila Prabhupada Comments:

This material world is called the world of death. Every living being, beginning from Brahma, whose duration of life is some thousands of millions of years, down to the germs who live for a few seconds only, is struggling for existence. Therefore, this life is a sort of fight with material nature, which imposes death upon all. In the human form of life, a living being is competent enough to come to an understanding of this great struggle for existence, but being too attached to family members, society, country, etc., he wants to win over the invincible material nature by the aid of bodily strength, children, wife, relatives, etc. Although he is sufficiently experienced in the matter by dint of past experience and previous examples of his deceased predecessors, he does not see that the so-called fighting soldiers like the children, relatives, society members and countrymen are all fallible in the great struggle... This poor fund of knowledge exhibited by human society is certainly misleading, and it is all due to ignoring the constitution of the living soul. This material world exists only as a dream, due to our attachment to it. Otherwise, the living soul is always different from the material nature. The great ocean of material nature is tossing with the waves of time, and the so-called living conditions are something like foaming bubbles, which appear before us as bodily self, wife, children, society, countrymen, etc. Due to a lack of knowledge of self, we become victimized by the force of ignorance and thus spoil the valuable energy of human life in a vain search after permanent living conditions, which are impossible in this material world.

Our friends, relatives and so-called wives and children are not only fallible, but also bewildered by the outward glamour of material existence. As such, they cannot save us. Still we think that we are safe within the orbit of family, society or country.

The whole materialistic advancement of human civilization is like the decoration of a dead body. Everyone is a dead body flapping only for a few days, and yet all the energy of human life is being wasted in the decoration of this dead body. Shukadeva Goswami is pointing out the duty of the human being after showing the actual position of bewildered human activities. Persons who are devoid of the knowledge of atma-tattva are misguided, but those who are devotees of the Lord and have perfect realization of transcendental knowledge are not bewildered.

We must recognize that these fallible soldiers are more than just spouse, children, home, etc. They include all of the things of this world in which we find “security.” These also include our society, our nation and its military strength, and our political leaders; but especially our money and our ability to earn money. Why? Because money appears to be the source of our sustenance. We do take shelter of it. And if someone comes along and tells me that the entire money system is a scam from beginning to end, that the value of the money I have worked hard and saved, and depend on to maintain me in hard times and old age, can become worthless overnight, then it challenges my illusions. It challenges my notion that I am secure in this world depending on “the system.” And if I can actually understand that, due to this speaker’s statements, then my shelter is lost. Those things, those soldiers, that I have been depending on to save me from the cruel vagaries of life are indeed fallible, so then how will I live? For what will I live? I am vulnerable, and I don’t know how to protect myself. Therefore I am devastated.

It seems like the greatest tragedy! A calamity of immense proportions! Actually, it’s the exact opposite. Such a realization puts one on the threshold of living in reality, of finding real shelter. So, if my money can not be depended on to save me, if my government is not going to save me, if my family cannot actually save me, then where do I go for shelter?

The Bhagavatam answers that question in the very next sloka:

“O descendant of King Bharata, one who desires to be free from all miseries must hear about, glorify and always remember the Personality of Godhead, who is the Supersoul, the controller and the savior from all miseries.”

2010-09-29T17:15:00.001+03:00

Money and Varnashrama Culture

Money, that ubiquitous substance that everyone the world over pursues to fulfill their desires, is rather young in the history of the world—a mere 2,500 years or so old. Prior to that there was no such thing as we now understand it anywhere on this planet. The earliest form of money found in India was that of the Greeks, and is estimated to have arrived there not before the fifth century BCE.[1] Prior to that time all trade was done by barter exchange. There was no notion of “the economy”, and such a thing was certainly not the focus of everyone as it is today.

Often when I make this point someone will cite the fact that Balarama wagered gold coins in His chess gambling match with Rukmi, and that this is therefore “proof” that money was in India at that time. While coins may well have been crafted as a convenient way to handle gold, those coins did not serve as a medium of exchange as money does today. Indeed, in the KRSNA Book (Chapter 11) Srila Prabhupada explains that in those days trade was done by exchange: “Upon hearing the vendor call, ‘If anyone wants fruits, please come and take them from me!’ child Krishna immediately took some grains in His palms and went to get fruits in exchange. In those days exchange was by barter; therefore Krishna might have seen His parents acquire fruits and other things by bartering grain, and so He imitated.”

Understanding this point is essential for our correct understanding of how the varnashrama culture operated, because we often hear devotees assuming it to be the case that money was a feature of Vedic society. It was not, and there are important reasons for that. We will come back to money and varnashrama culture below, but let’s first look at how varnashrama culture functioned.

Varnashrama culture functioned by the cooperative effort of all segments of society. From the Bhagavad-gita we learn that people are divided into categories known as varnas, and that each group would work according to their guna and karma, or their own nature. Many people have experience of the great satisfaction achieved by doing work that they genuinely like to do, which is another way of saying that it is according to their guna and karma. Each varna had their “duties,” which are explained in the dharma shastras. In the varnashrama culture members would voluntarily do this duty understanding that doing so would lead them to a heavenly reward and a higher birth in their next incarnation. Further, the ksatriya was tasked with seeing that everyone had proper engagement. This protected both the individual as well as the group. Their duties were typically performed in cooperation with others, each person reciprocating the service of others with his own service.

We can get some insights into the social dynamics of the varnashrama culture from Bhakti Vikasa Maharaja’s description of Bangladeshi culture in his book Glimpses of Traditional Indian Village Life. There he writes:

“Bangladeshi culture does not promote individual dynamism, competitiveness, or the type of efficiency required for technological advancement. Rather, although not uninterested in economic development, a Bangladeshi is more concerned to preserve the indigenous group culture that fosters the sharing and cooperativeness necessary for a traditional labor-intensive agrarian society... Necessity also dictates maintaining good relationships with neighbors. Most people aren’t well situated economically, so those who have more are expected to help those with less. It’s a culture of sharing and responsibility toward others... Bangladeshis emphasize dependence on others and a sense of group identity. They usually say “our house” and “our country” rather than “my house” or “my country.”... The group lends support when a member is in difficulty, whether moral, social, or economic. Reciprocally, members have obligation to the group, one of which is conformity. In fact, the pressure to maintain fellowship with the group is extremely strong. In this way the group regulates the behavior of its members, keeping them within the bounds of acceptable conduct.”

I want to underscore that efforts that were made to maintain the group dependency, because individual members falling away from the group would threaten the survival of the entire group. Although I do not know that varnashrama culture is intact amongst these Bangladeshis it is not unreasonable to extrapolate their experience to varnashrama culture, since it must also have been a labor-intensive culture that depended on the support of the group. Varnashrama culture also functions on the basis of such mutual dependence. The varnashrama culture is often compared to a social machine, and if important parts are removed from the machine it cannot function. We learn from the Bhagavatam how the varnashrama culture began to disintegrate with the fall of the brahminical class, then later the ksatriya class, and now it is the vaisya class that is wreaking havoc all over the world.

Adding Money to Varnashrama Culture

What would happen if money is added to a mutually-dependent group such as the Bangladeshis or varnashrama culture? Let’s consider the influence of money. Typically money makes us feel independent of others because money allows us to purchase our necessities in the market. This gives us a sense of freedom which we have come to value in modern society. The result is that when a person has money, they don’t need others and don’t have to conform to the group standard. They are free to act independently. If I have money I don’t need you. And if you have money you don’t need me.[2] It should not be too difficult to see that the effect of money is to destroy the group solidarity of the mutually-dependent cultures, which in turn destroys the culture itself. We have a recent example of this from the formerly isolated area of Ladakh.

Anthropologist Helena Norberg-Hodge, was the first foreigner accepted to make her home in Ladakh (Kashmir). She had the privilege of living there over the course of three decades, coming to know life in the traditional villages before the intrusion of Western culture. She documented what it was like both before and after the influx of the West, and how the Ladakhi culture was destroyed. She writes:

“A Western tourist can spend more [money] in a day than what a Ladakhi family might in one year. Seeing this, Ladakhis suddenly felt poor. The new comparison created a gap that never existed before because in traditional Ladakh, people didn’t need money in order to lead rich and fulfilling lives. Ladakhi society was based on mutual aid and cooperation; no one needed money for labor, food, clothing, or shelter...In the traditional economy, Ladakhis knew that they had to depend on other people, and that others in turn depend on them. In the new economic system, local interdependence disintegrates along with traditional levels of tolerance. In place of cooperative systems meeting needs, competition and scarcity become determinants for survival.” [3]

Another important aspect is place: in mutually-dependent societies everyone has a place from which to relate to others. they may wish to have a higher status, but in any case they have some status. Having a place gives a person a sense of belonging and a sense of security. With the introduction of money we can be free, but our place can only be had when we have a job. Without a job we have no place in society and thereby become alienated. This increases the sense of voidism and impersonalism that has so alienated the masses of people in the modern day.

What we learn from these cultural lessons is that we cannot successfully mix these two cultures: the modern culture with its artifacts such as money, and the traditional of mutually-dependent relationships. Indeed if we want to have a close and supportive community we have to combine our interests, and particularly our economic interests. This will do much to bring us closer together and give us a real sense of security.

Unfortunately in our efforts to understand and establish rural communities we have not understood the necessity of village economics, and thus we have not been able to achieve the successful results that we so desired. In our future efforts to establish the varnashrama culture we must be careful to understand the proper functioning of the varnas, the positive results of mutual-dependency, and what is necessary to protect the budding culture from undesirable cultural influences.

[1] Studies in Indian Coins, D. C. Sircar, Moltilal Banarsidass Pub., Delhi, 2008, pgs. 4, 8, 349

[2] Of course this is illusory since without the help of many others our money is useless.

[3] Helena Norberg-Hodge, The Pressure to Modernize and Globalize, from Case

Against the Global Economy, Jerry Mander, and Edward Goldsmith, editors, Sierra Club Books, 1997

2010-09-29T16:18:00.000+03:00

Revolt of the Elites

Christopher Lasch, a well-known American social and cultural critic, argued in his last book that democracy was withering in the hands of professional and managerial elites who lack a sense of social and civic values. By 1994, Lasch had come to believe that the economic and cultural elite, who historically have insured the continuity of a culture, had lost faith in the traditional values, and had become detached from the concerns of the common man. Modern elites, he wrote, are not anymore connected with their geographical and social background and roots, and do not accept any constraints and limits in the pursuance of their egotistical interests, which are basically money oriented. Money is what counts. Only money. Only “my money.”

Moreover, the elites have lost interest in the plight or the needs of the common man, and have become alienated from them, and “the professional classes in particular, regard the masses with mingled scorn and apprehension.” Lasch called it a Revolt of the Elites, also the title of his book. Sensing this disconnect, the working class has responded with a sense of apathy and become alienated from the intellectual class of “symbolic analysts.” This is a breakdown of the social order. Lasch was increasingly concerned about the future of the world and questioned whether democracy can survive. His last question of his last book (before passing on) demonstrates his concern for the future: can a society survive when a significant portion of its elite have forsaken its founding principles?

We can answer that question from the Vedic perspective of history: No. When the brahmanas began to fail in their duty, the entire varnashrama culture began to fail. Next the ksatriyas failed, and now, the vaisyas are having their turn at neglecting their duties to the detriment of the entire world. As the world cascades down the slippery slope of tamo-guna the orientation of the entire society is: every person for themselves.

I Got Mine

Those three short words sum up the attitude of many people in the world today. It’s actually an abbreviated form of “I got mine, and that’s all I care about. You didn’t get yours? That’s your problem, not mine.” Although the phrase “I got mine” is perhaps the most recent expression of the attitude it is not new. Students of the Bhagavad-gita can recognize attachment, envy, selfishness, and a lack of empathy in these statements. These qualities are characteristic of the modes of passion and ignorance. This consciousness shows up in all sorts of ways. Some think that it is an expression the “conservatives.” Indeed, I recall years ago hearing a conservative radio-show host ranting against having to pay anything for the less able, who must simply be lazy ner’ do wells, and freeloaders, who suck the energy of those who are willing to work. Their idea is that everybody has an equal chance in this world and they have gotten what they have by their ability and hard work, and all others have likewise. If you don’t have as much as me that is the result of your own lack of initiative and effort.

This is the consciousness of “every man for himself.” It is a consciousness that has more or less pervaded all of Western culture, in part because there is no longer a “social contract” within Western culture. The generally understood idea of a social contract is that free men establish a political community through a social contract in which each gain civil rights in return for subjecting himself to civil law and political authority. This is not the kind of social contract that I refer to. Instead, I mean the inherent social contract based on the natural abilities of men that is established in Vedic culture. By combining their interests and committing their efforts to mutual advantage everybody’s interests are served. Each contributing what they have to offer: the brahmana his vision and spiritual guidance, the ksatriya his strength, protection, and facility, the vaisya his organizational and wealth-creating abilities, and the sudra his labor. Formerly it was the case that all varnas committed to doing their duty according to the dharma shastra, working together for the common good. This is the Vedic social contract, which extended even into the Middle Ages in the form of the feudal culture. But with the increase of tamo-guna that system was purposely destroyed.

A succinct explanation of how the social contract formerly worked and how it was destroyed is given by social psychologist Eric Fromm in his book The Sane Society:

“The breakdown of the traditional principle of human solidarity led to new forms of exploitation. In feudal society the lord was supposed to have the divine right to demand services and things from those subject to his domination, but at the same time he was bound by custom and was obligated to be responsible for his subjects, to protect them, and to provide them with at least the minimum—the traditional standard of living. Feudal exploitation took place in a system of mutual human obligations, and thus was governed by certain restrictions. Exploitation as it developed [under the money economy] was essentially different. The worker, or rather his labor, was a commodity to be bought by the owner of capital, not essentially different from any other commodity on the market, and it was used to its fullest capacity by the buyer. Since it had been bought for its proper price on the labor market, there was no sense of reciprocity, or of any obligation on the part of the owner of capital, beyond that of paying the wages. If hundreds of thousands of workers were without work and on the point of starvation, that was their bad luck, the result of their inferior talents, or simply a social and natural law, which could not be changed. Exploitation was not personal any more, but it had become anonymous, as it were. It was the law of the market that condemned a man to work for starvation wages, rather than the intention or greed of any one individual. Nobody was responsible or guilty, nobody could change conditions either. One was dealing with the iron laws of society, or so it seemed.” [1]

As we moved into the 20^th and 21^st centuries the concepts of the “free man,” the “rugged individual,” and the idea that “everyone is equal,” has been indelibly drilled into the consciousness of the people through repeated propaganda. These three ideas have been used to separate people and to destroy their mutual dependence. Indeed, following the principle of “divide and conquer” the government also sought to destroy any mutual dependence. Nineteenth century social critic Peter Kropotkin explains how the formerly strong bonds between the people were long ago broken in order to force them to depend on an impersonal and authoritative state:

For three centuries the States [governments], both on the Continent and in these islands, [British Isles] systematically weeded out all institutions in which the mutual-aid tendency had formerly found its expression. The village communities were bereft of their folkmotes[1], their courts and independent administration; their lands were confiscated. The guilds were deprived of their possessions and liberties, and placed under the control, the fancy, and the bribery of the State’s official. The cities were divested of their sovereignty, and the very springs of their inner life—the folkmote, the elected justices and administration, the sovereign parish and the sovereign guild—were annihilated; the State’s functionary took possession of every link of what formerly was an organic whole. Under that fatal policy and the wars it engendered, whole regions, once populous and wealthy, were laid bare; rich cities became insignificant boroughs; the very roads which connected them with other cities became impracticable. Industry, art, and knowledge fell into decay. Political education, science, and law were rendered subservient to the idea of State centralization. It was taught in the Universities and from the pulpit that the institutions in which men formerly used to embody their needs of mutual support could not be tolerated in a properly organized State; that the State alone could represent the bonds of union between its subjects; and the State was the only proper initiator of further development. By the end of the last century the kings on the Continent, the Parliament in these isles, and the revolutionary Convention in France, although they were at war with each other, agreed in asserting that no separate unions between citizens must exist within the State; that hard labour and death were the only suitable punishments to workers who dared to enter into “coalitions.” “No state within the State!” The State alone, and the State’s Church, must take care of matters of general interest, while the subjects must represent loose aggregations of individuals, connected by no particular bonds, bound to appeal to the Government each time that they feel a common need. Up to the middle of the [19^th] century this was the theory and practice in Europe.[2] (emphasis mine)

Not only are we now free and equal, and depending on ourselves alone, we are divided. Having the state in between the people has isolated them. Even worse, having been acculturated to this idea we think of independence as good and the proper way to live, and distrust or even fear having to depend on others, thinking it a source of shame. Having lost the culture of mutual dependence, and having nobody to depend on but ourselves, many people have lost a sense of responsibility, and have indeed become untrustworthy. When we are not called on to be responsible we do not behave responsibly. Parents and teachers know that what we become depends a great deal on what is expected of us.

The evolution of this social decay has worked its way so deep into society that many people are no longer concerned about others. “I got mine. That’s all I care about.” The real tragedy lies in the fact that we are not equal, and we need the help of each other. However, when this consciousness continues for an extended period of time it has a severe impact on the social structure, resulting in a two-tier society—the have’s and have-nots. Currently less than 1% of the people own more than 40% of all wealth, while 50% of the people own 1%.[3] It is clear that the elite, rather than protecting and guiding the lower classes, now either exploit them, or neglect them. Famed maverick economist E. F. Schumacher, author of the classic text on caring economics, Small is Beautiful, observed the results of this mentality in India during the several years that he lived there. He noted that the educated classes felt no obligation to serve their less endowed countrymen. Indeed, they used their education as a ticket to escape the plight of the poor—“I got mine. That’s all I care about.” Schumacher asked how the general welfare of the people could possibly improve if those with ability and know-how did not apply it to the general welfare. His answer: it cannot. Despite not being trained in India’s spiritual wisdom, he chided the elite of India that it was their duty to look after, and even lift up, the lives of the less capable. Although the lessons were already present in their own scriptures, their duty had to be shown to them by an outsider (to little avail even to this day, however).

Varnas and Duty

What Schumacher was saying without realizing it, was that the different orders of society, the varnas, have an obligation to each other. When they follow their duty properly the varnashrama social system functions to everyone’s benefit. If they do not, as in modern society, we have what Srila Prabhupada called “asuric varnashrama.”

The Srimad-Bhagavatam recounts how, with the increase of rajo-guna and tamo-guna, the elite began to fail in their duty. As everyone focuses on their narrow interests, parts of the social machine cease to function. Eventually the breaking point is passed and the entire society fails. We have witnessed the decline and failure of several Western cultures on these grounds.

The social system of varna is established by Sri Krishna Himself. As He states in the Bhagavad-gita (4.13, 15): “According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me. And although I am the creator of this system, you should know that I am yet the non-doer, being unchangeable...All the liberated souls in ancient times acted with this understanding and so attained liberation. Therefore, as the ancients, you should perform your duty in this divine consciousness.”

Note that Sri Krishna admonishes us to follow in the footsteps of the liberated souls and perform our duty in the varna system. In ISKCON we take it as a given that we are taking up the Vedic culture, and we have added a part of the culture of Krishna Consciousness to our lives. But the fact of the matter is that in many ways we mirror the dominant, materialistic culture, including its asuric varnashrama. After all, most of us spend most of our time immersed in it, and we are subtly, but very powerfully, affected by it. Just as Lasch observes that the elite have focused on their own narrow interests we can observe the same in our Society. It’s the way the world works, and unconscious of it we follow its ways. And that part, that speaks to us so subtly as the expression of the values that underlie our existence, has yet to change.

The fact is that we live mostly unconsciously without thinking of how society works. This is because we are raised up in a culture from the time of being infants and that culture is instilled in us. We no longer see it, and it acts invisibly to us. As we attempt to become Krishna Conscious it is imperative that we begin to live consciously and see the connection between our actions and the consciousness that they reinforce. Actions affect consciousness. This is why in spiritual training we learn how to offer obeisances by bowing down, touching our heads to the floor, how to respect seniors by standing up or bowing down, to offer obeisances before taking prasadam, and so on.

Still there are an entire host of issues that we conveniently overlook because, to date, we have not developed within our society acceptable alternatives that are in keeping with our philosophy. Among these are: the concept of private ownership, the concept that everyone is equal, money as a means of maintenance, the lack of a social contract, and the concept of marital divorce. In all of these areas we follow the ways of the dominant culture despite the fact that they are diametrically opposed to the philosophy of Krishna Consciousness. Why? Because they are a part of the culture that we live in, and in order to survive in that culture we must live according to their values. If we did not it would be very difficult to remain in the social network of the dominant culture. All of which underscores the need for us to establish a cultural alternative that includes the social orders of varna, and an economic foundation that allows us to fully live our spiritual culture with its attendant values.

Revolt of the Elites in ISKCON?

By referring to the elites of ISKCON I am referring to men of ability, specifically those of a ksatriya and vaisya nature. Now we may ask, what is their duty in the present day? Well, it is no different than in previous times. The higher orders of society have a duty to create the circumstances in which the culture functions. Because, by themselves, the majority of the population, those of a sudra nature, cannot do that. Not even with the help of the brahmanas. Those of a sudra nature have a difficult time to look beyond the immediate future, or their immediate self-interest. The brahmanas lack the passion to make it happen. Men with different abilities are required. Men who have ability to see the long-range in terms of time, who understand the effort required to create a specific result, and who can direct the labor of others toward that purposeful end.

And as Lasch is attempting to point out, when they do not, the society cannot function. At the beginning of Kali yuga it was the brahmanas that failed to execute their duties properly, and rule passed to the ksatriyas. Then as the ksatriyas failed, control passed to the vaisyas. Now we are witnessing the failure of the vaisyas in terms of global economic disaster, extreme disparity, billions of helpless and hopeless people, etc., and rule will pass to the sudras. Srila Prabhupada explains it thus:

“At present, human society is specifically cultivating the mode of ignorance (tamo-guna), although there may also be some symptoms of passion (rajo-guna). Full of kama and lobha, lust and greed, the entire population of the world consists mostly of sudras and a few vaisyas, and gradually it is coming about that there are sudras only. Communism is a movement of sudras, and capitalism is meant for vaisyas. In the fighting between these two factions, the sudras and vaisyas, gradually, due to the abominable condition of society, the communists will emerge triumphant, and as soon as this takes place, whatever is left of society will be ruined. The only possible remedy that can counteract the tendency toward communism is the Krishna consciousness movement, which can give even communists the real idea of communist society.” Cc Adi 8.20 purport

Although communism has ostensibly faded into the annals of history the general idea still holds—everything will collapse under the influence of tamo-guna, regardless of what you call it. We are witnessing the manifestation of the same tamo-guna under capitalism in the form of predatory economics, disaster capitalism, vulture capitalism, casino capitalism, etc., various pejoratives that have certainly been earned. Unless this Krishna Consciousness Movement demonstrates how the upper classes of society, the elite, can, under the influence of sattva-guna and suddha-sattva, transcendental goodness, guide and protect the lower classes, whatever is left of society will be ruined. The selfishness of looking after only one’s immediate interests are the symptoms of tamo-guna, and this must bring the result of tamo-guna—collapse and destruction.

Now the question arises: will they? Will the upper classes of our Krishna Consciousness Movement rise to the occasion and demonstrate how to guide society to a higher purposeful end? Unfortunately, that is in doubt. The problem is that within our society we have not adopted the social relationships of the varnas. Instead, our devotees live according to the ways of the dominant culture. This is to say that the men of ability, those who can lead and guide society seem to content themselves with living the modern lifestyle and doing their duty to the Society by making financial contributions. While this financial help is certainly necessary, I dare say that it is not enough.

Let me make this point more clear by stating that in my observation of our efforts to establish the varnashrama culture, it is mostly devotees of a sudra nature that participate (that is not to be taken as a criticism. These are good and honorable men, and far superior than the vast majority, especially considering that they are devotees of Lord Krishna). The men of greater ability, those of a vaisya or ksatriya nature, however, are noticeable by their absence. I am aware that there are exceptions to this rule and that the situation is different in different parts of the world. Still, the observation generally holds.

When are the men of ability going to take up their duty and begin to participate in establishing the varnashrama and daiva-varnashrama culture? Will they give up their lucrative careers and businesses, and comfortable lifestyles to live simply and help build an alternative spiritual culture based on self-sufficiency? Without them the varnashrama culture cannot be established, and this Krishna Consciousness Movement cannot offer any possible remedy to the debilitating influences of the age. Is it that the men of our society have also developed the idea “I got mine?” Is it that they are also in revolt, to leave those of less ability to function as best as they can without their guidance and assistance? Is it that they have not been trained to understand their duty to the other orders of society and how to apply it? Or is it because their leaders have not understood the imperative of the daiva-varnashrama culture? Whatever the reason, it is time that we all understand the urgent need for the varna culture and begin to seriously move in that direction. If not, the only remedy that Srila Prabhupada spoke of to save this world will not exist, and society will indeed be finished.

[1] folk·moot (fōk'mōōt') n. A general assembly of the people of a town, district, or shire in medieval England.

[1] Eric Fromm, The Sane Society, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, 1955, p. 92

[2] Peter Alexeyevich Kropotkin, Mutual Aid—A Factor of Evolution, Chapter 7,1902. From The Project Gutenberg, online.

The above quotes are borrowed from and expanded upon in my Spiritual Economics—Understanding and Solving the Economic Problem. Please see www.spiritual-econ.com; http://spiritual-econ.blogspot.com; http://gitagrad.blogspot.com.

[3] The Guardian, 6 Dec 06. http://www.guardian.co.uk/

Spiritual Economics - Part 1 - Now Available in Print!

2010-06-21T13:55:00.007+03:00

Understanding and Solving the Economic Problem

by Dhanesvara Das

Here is it, the first book to explain economic activity as a function of consciousness, based on the philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita. "Spiritual Economics" is a cross-disciplinary study combining psychology, economics and the spiritual science of the Vedas to explain why there is vulture capitalism, cut-throat competition, unending economic hardship, exploitation, inequity, and struggle in this world. "Spiritual Economics" explains the origin and solution of our ecological problems. "Spiritual Economics" explains why the present economic methods can do nothing to solve these problems, reveals the actual source of our economic problems, and explains the only factual solution that can create an economy that serves everyone. "Spiritual Economics" explains the actual source of our economic problems and how to solve them, once and for all. "Spiritual Economics" reveals and explains the link between economic activity and human consciousness.

Economics is not a physical science like electromagnetism that works according to natural laws. It is a set of ideas entirely created by human beings. The most important side of the economic equation therefore, is the human side-but this side is totally neglected in all discussions of economics. Since economics is a man-made creation, if we want to understand the economic problem and its solution we must understand how and why human beings act in this world. That will give us the insight needed to properly adjust all of the parameters of the economic calculus to get the desired result. Only "Spiritual Economics" explains the whys and wherefores of human behavior in relationship to their economic activity.

In North America you can order "Spiritual Economics" from here.

India Only orders are available from here.

The Gift Economy is HUGE

2009-08-12T10:02:00.011+03:00

Preparing for a lecture in Lithuania I googled the phrase "spiritual economics". I was shocked to see that more than 170,000 hits were returned!! Ten years ago when I googled the phrase there were no where near that many - several thousand at best. I haven't yet had time to investigate very many of those hits, but I will soon and let you know what I find. But we want to know: What happened? How has the idea of the gift economy become so huge?
Well, on the negative side in those ten years we had the Bush administration with all of its ill-effects, and 911. On the other hand we had a number of extremely well-researched, well-written and shocking books such as Michel Chossudovsky's "The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order" and Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine". These books certainly have set people to wondering what the positive alternative could be. Catherine Ryan Hyde's book "Pay It Forward" came out in 2000, followed by a movie based on the book, and then entire movement of people who think it is a great idea to help others without being invited have followed. Check out the stories on that last link if you want to find some inspiration for positive living that changes lives. We also had the collosal economic crisis of 2008 - the Economic Chernobyl. Apparently all of this has set a lot of people thinking about how the economic problem could be solved.
My son, who was studying in Paris several years ago told me that a number of French philosophers were writing about the gift economy as the solution to all of the funny-money business. Ain't that true. NO money, and no money problem.
But besides the philosophers a lot of ordinary people can understand that the gift economy has many, many advantages with very little of the downside that the money economy has. This has shown up in many ways. One of those is the "Really Really Free Market" explained in the video below. The RRFM is going on in at least four cities in America, and we will be doing our best to establish on them in E. Europe.
One gift at a time can lead to an entire economy based on the concept of gifting. Although this may sound utopian to some, its a very practical way to live for others. And it is a much more wonderful way to live. After we get it going and the naysayers see how wonderful it is they will want to join us. Then more will join us, and more, and more. And one day teh entire world "will live as one" to quote one of my favorite singers. Check out this Really Really Free Market. Maybe you will want to start one in your town.

The Gift of Love

2009-07-25T13:58:00.008+03:00

The gift economy is a wonderful solution to the many problems of the world. It is not a Utopia, nor something that only "pure devotees" can do. It is a culture, and everybody can learn to live that culture as the most natural thing in the world, just like we unconsciously have learned to live the culture of selfishness.
A friend recently sent me the link to the following video about "Dama", the gift economy in Mali - one of the poorest countries of the world. If these people, who have next to nothing, can gift to others, then what is preventing us, who have so much? Only our culture. And that can be changed.
It must be changed if we are to save the world. I will be posting much, much more about the gift economy and Spiritual Economics in the coming weeks.
Spiritual Economics promotes a gift economy based on the principles of the eternal religion. Everyone can take part, and everyone will benefit.

Spiritual Economics - The Gift Economy Based on the Bhagavad-gita

2009-07-19T21:57:00.011+03:00

by Dhanesvara Das

Preface

Because of the nature of wealth and what it represents to people, and perhaps because of the confusion surrounding the subject, economics is a subject matter which very few people address either fully or directly, or attempt to understand beyond their own checkbook. In that regard those who are devotees of Lord Krishna are not much different from the population in general. Some relate well to and have the ability to acquire money in large or at least sufficient sums, others get by, and others struggle with it throughout their lives. For many devotees of Krishna attempting to live a pure life there is a dichotomy surrounding money as well. While they may prefer to engage in devotional service, in these times that won't pay the rent. Thus they are pulled in two seemingly irreconcilable directions. For those with family responsibilities the rent generally prevails, causing the man or woman to associate with people he would rather not be with, doing things he or she would rather not do. This is one problem which stems from our lack of understanding Spiritual Economics.

There are of course thousands of books with advice on the subject of money and economics and everyone has their own angle on how to get ahead of the game. Money is the focus for most people's lives because it represents the ability to satisfy one's desires. Although the title contains the word "economics" this paper is not about money, or how to raise money either directly or through others. Spiritual Economics instead refers to an economic system based upon the Bhagavad-gita and as such offers an economic system for a society established in transcendence.

It is certainly not for everyone. But it certainly will have its time and will be practiced by those who are the living examples of the Bhagavad-gita. It is for those persons who have achieved the full understanding that Lord Krishna is the Supreme Proprietor or owner of everything, that He is the Supreme Enjoyer of everything, that He is our most dear friend, and that the satisfaction we seek can come only from serving Him without motivation or interruption.

In the Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna speaks more than thirty verses about economics. How many you may have recognized as such is more a matter of consciousness about economics than anything else, but they are nonetheless applicable to our economic activity—if we are to take the Lord's statements to be explicit in their meaning. Generally if some idea is repeated three times we understand that we should take it as very important. How important then can this message of the Lord be when he says that same thing more than thirty times? The emphasis behooves us to understand it.

It is important to understand that Spiritual Economics refers to more than an economic system, it is a state of consciousness. That state of consciousness is the consciousness of an individual who is living the full tenants of the Bhagavad-gita, and the individual's practice of Spiritual Economics is the visible hallmark of such.

Material economics promotes a consciousness of “lack” and the need to get. Spiritual Economics promotes a consciousness of completeness (om purnam idam purnam idam) and the joy of giving. Spiritual Economics also delineates the basis of Varnashrama Dharma, and establishes the place of genuinely brahminical men in society.

Part I - The Principles of Spiritual Economics

In speaking about Spiritual Economics my purpose is to distinguish it in character and application from traditional or material economics. Spiritual Economics is understood in light of spiritual knowledge, particularly the definitions and understandings of spiritual knowledge as found in Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of India, and based principally upon the Bhagavad-gita As It Is and the Srimad Bhagavatam translated by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Spiritual and material economics are to be distinguished by the same differences which characterize the qualities of matter and spirit. To wit: the spiritual element is personal, eternal, fully cognizant and blissful, complete in every respect without lack of any kind, and is eternally connected with the Supreme Fountainhead of all that be. The material element is impersonal, temporary, existing in a state of ignorance and is without happiness or bliss. It is perceived to be incomplete in itself, due to it's being separated from the Efficient or Supreme Cause.

All living beings are spiritual in nature and are complete with all spiritual qualities. However, when they are born into the material realm and identify with the material coverings of the material body and mind, that very identification causes them to assume the qualities of the material energy as described above. The material economic system presently used is so arranged as to aid those in material conscious¬ness in their development of the material conception of life.

Economics deals primarily with the production and distribution of goods and services which are required or desired by people in their daily course, and those who are under the spell of material consciousness participate in and act according to the machinations of material economics. In its extreme the grossly materialistic conscious¬ness is stated in the Bhagavad-gita: (16.11-15)

"They believe that to gratify the senses unto the end of life is the prime necessity of human civilization. Thus there is no end to their anxiety. Being bound by hundreds and thousands of desires, by lust and anger, they secure money by illegal means for sense gratification. The demoniac person thinks: 'So much wealth do I have today, and I will gain more and more according to my schemes. So much is mine now, and it will increase in the future, more and more. He is my enemy and I have killed him, and my other enemy will also be killed. I am the lord of everything, I am the enjoyer, I am perfect, powerful and happy. I am the richest man, surrounded by aristocratic relatives. There is none so powerful and happy as I am. I shall perform sacrifices, I shall give some charity, and thus I shall rejoice.' In this way, such persons are deluded by ignorance."

However, when one gets the opportunity to understand his true spiritual nature, and begins to act according the principles of devotional service, he is then acting within the realm of Spiritual Economics. The newfound difference in how a person then lives their life has vast implications as we shall later see. It is important to demonstrate the contrast between material economics and Spiritual Economics, so I will begin with a brief description of material economics as understood through the Srimad Bhagavatam.

The Beginning of Material Economics

In understanding how our present economic situation has come about we turn to the pages of the Srimad Bhagavatam, which explains that the material creation takes place for two reasons: to give the living entities the opportunity to purify their consciousness and return home back to Godhead, and to give those who choose, the opportunity to live an illusion of their own making, enjoying different types of bodies and different varieties of sense enjoyment. In the matter of creation, Lord Brahma, creator of the material universe, had to provide the necessary environment for both of these situations.

"Brahma first created the nescient engagements like self-deception, the sense of death, anger after frustration, the sense of false ownership, and the illusory bodily conception, or forget¬fulness of one's real identity." SB 3.12.2

Srila Prabhupada's comments are particularly meaningful to our discussion:

“Unless a living entity forgets his real identity, it is impossible for him to live in the material conditions of life. Therefore the first condition of material existence is forgetfulness of one's real identity. And by forgetting one's real identity, one is sure to be afraid of death, although a pure living soul is deathless and birthless. This false identification with material nature is the cause of false ownership of things which are offered by the arrangement of superior control. All material resources are offered to the living entity for his peaceful living and for the discharge of the duties of self-realization in conditioned life. But due to false identi¬fication, the conditioned soul becomes entrapped by the sense of false ownership of the property of the Supreme Lord.”

Those living entities who come to this world with the purpose of enjoying falsely take the material body as "I" and everything in connection with the body as "mine." In attempts to enjoy, history has shown that there is no limit, even to the point of conquering the heavens, as did the demon Hiranyakasipu, declaring himself to be God. Hiranyakasipu is a more notable example of this vain attempt to become the Lord, but beings everywhere in this world engage in similar attempts according to their own power and capacity. Thus there are enjoyers on every level within this world, who perceive themselves to be possessors and controllers—of countries, armies or multinational corporations, or simply their children, pets, or machines. Yet from the highest to the lowest, though the scale may be different, the endeavor is the same—identification with the body and it's possessions. This is the consciousness of “I and mine.”

Srila Prabhupada comments about the conception of “I and Mine:”

“The two misconceptions of life, namely “I” and “mine,” are verily manifested in two classes of men. In the lower state the conception of “mine” is very prominent, and in the higher state the misconception of “I” is prominent. In the animal state of life the misconception of “mine” is perceivable even in the category of cats and dogs, who fight with one another with the same misconception of “mine.” In the lower stage of human life the same misconception is also prominent in the shape of “It is my body,” “It is my house,” “It is my family,” “It is my caste,” “It is my nation,” “It is my country,” and so on. And in the higher stage of speculative knowledge, the same misconception of “mine” is transformed into “I am,” or “It is all I am,” etc. There are many classes of men comprehending the same misconception of “I” and “mine,” in different colors.”

The conception of ownership is the basis of the “mine” aspect of false ego, and ownership is a word that means different things to different people stemming mainly from differences in culture. As we have quoted Srila Prabhupada above: "there are many classes of men comprehending the same misconception of “I” and “mine,” in different colors.”

Our modern Western conceptions of ownership come to us from Roman thought which held that everything must to have an owner. The Romans didn't recognize the ownership of God. They thought that everything should have a human owner, and a very select human owner at that. Roman law eventually came to decree that it was possible for a “free” man to own and possess unlimited quantities of anything which he found the means to acquire, including animals, land and other people. These concepts gradually spread around Europe and as the spread of western civiliza¬tion gradually encompassed the globe, it has carried with it these same concep¬tions of ownership. As such, it would appear that the whole of the world commonly shares the same ideology of private ownership. While today that may be true, it was not that long ago that things were quite differ¬ent, and history affords us many examples of cultures which have held a very different concept of ownership.

Cultural Examples of “I and Mine”

Consider the kinsmen of the African tribe, the Nuer. Their culture held that they must assist one another, “and if one has a surplus of a good thing he must share it with his neighbors. Consequently, no Nuer has a surplus. No Nuer is expected to part with his cattle or household property, but were a man to possess several spears or hoes or other such objects he would inevitably lose the surplus.”

Similarly the ancient Samoans would extend communal sharing to relatives even if not to more distant individuals. From a relative one could demand food, clothing and shelter, and assistance in a feud. Refusal of such a demand brands one as stingy and lacking in human kindness, the virtue most esteemed by the Samoans.

There are many other examples although they are beyond the scope of this paper. For now I simply wish to point out that indigenous cultures around the world, more often than not, held the possession of property in common rather than individually. In their conception the holding of wealth was not so much “mine,” but “ours.” It was not localized, or isolated to a specific individual, but would include a wide range of people, be they blood relatives or not. Their conceptions of ownership were a social arrangement which went beyond individual self interest to provide a sort of social security for every individual. The general agreement to share resources, which obviously would at times result on infringement of the wealth in one's possession, also acted to insure that no individual would be without what they truly needed, especially the basic necessities of life.

In contrast, the conception of private ownership prevalent in the West also has significant implications on the social functioning of our society, but rather than insuring social security it instead promotes impersonalism and isolation (voidism). Private ownership implies a single individual who is the owner. What he earns is his, and his alone, to do with as he so chooses. In times of plenty and the individual has much to share, the isolation inherent in this social arrangement may not seem so apparent to him. Since they can provide for others people with wealth are not generally lacking for friends, and generally use their wealth in providing for those close to them. However, when times are hard and there isn't anything to share he may find himself suddenly abandoned. That it is not unusual to see marriages splitting up over the sudden loss of income or change of fortune, or the huge increase in the number of homeless people who are left to fend for themselves is sufficient proof of this.

Because under the conception of private ownership what is yours is not mine, each person is automatically set against every other to compete for limited commodities and resources. While our government has made some arrangements to give most citizens an equal footing by providing for education, job training, etc., for the most part, every individual is left to his own devices to improve his lot in life. Obviously, more capable people, or those with more education, better connections, or greater resources are going to fare better than those less well endowed.

Significantly, and unfortunately, there is no prevailing ethic within our culture which obligates anyone to help his brother. Rather, the prevailing ethic is that the government should take care of the needy, and people are further encouraged to help those less fortu¬nate by some charitable means. Now, as we approach the end of the millenium, the Clinton administration has altered the welfare laws which eliminate so-called “entitlements” for the less fortunate or able. After a maximum of two years on the dole, the government stops providing, and if the individual or family is unable to care for themselves they can then depend only upon private charity, which may not have enough to go around. Thus our “advanced” culture provides less social security for its people than the so-called primitive cultures of yore.

The Characteristics of Material Economics

The model of material economics under which our country presently operates defines each family as an economic unit who functions both as producer and consumer, and the economic success of the country as a whole is achieved when both of those functions are maximized for each individual citizen. This model uses as currency both cash and credit, commodities which are distinct from the economic unit itself. Further, it is assumed that people will be most happy or satisfied when they are able to maximize their level of consumption (which means achieving the utmost limit of sense gratification), that is natural for them to do so, and that they as individ¬uals and the society as a collective whole will both achieve maximum benefit by orienting the workings of the economy to fulfill this assumption. Those who propound this scheme consider people to be nothing more than producing/consuming machines, whose best utility is found in the same, without ascribing any type of personal or spiritual qualities to them which go beyond these functions.

Another of the fundamental assumptions of material economics is the conception that each and every individual can possess and own unlimited amounts of material goods, including the natural resources of the earth, and as proprietor may use or dispose of these resources as they alone deem proper. No consideration is made as to the source of, or responsibility to replace those same resources or to bear the costs of restoration. Indeed, every attempt is made to “externalize” these costs to others who have no interest or gain from the consumption of the resources.

The Implications of Material Economics

The implications of this economic model are several fold. First each individual must necessarily seek something which is outside of the self to find the gratification they naturally desire. This creates an orientation of “getting” within the consciousness of the individual and a conception of “lack.” Due to this conditioning people believe that they can fulfill this lack by “getting,” that getting should be the object of one's activity, and that its successful accomplishment will bring the satisfaction they seek. Thus we see the American public preoccupied with getting, racing to and from the workplace at break-neck speeds and erecting glittering tabernacles for spending which inflame their desires and artificially increase the demands of the body. Parents now spend more time shopping than they do in interaction with their children.

Because money, in the form of cash or credit, is the currency by which the objects of desire are generally obtained, and because it is inherently different from both the self, and the sense objects it promises, people in general are conditioned, indeed, hostage to, the act of getting money. And it by this very means that a small percentage of the population controls and exploits the vast majority without even their slightest understanding of the fact.

It is widely recognized that within the context of material economics a large number of people will be competing for a finite quantity of goods, and that intense competition will drive many people to crime and corruption in an attempt to attain their desire. This paradigm further leads to the exploitation not only the earth, but to people as well, as both are seen only as a means to an altogether different, and pressingly immediate, end. Further, this conception of private ownership further acts to isolate and separate us from each other as we pursue our “own” self-interest. Against this bleak background people live their lives, and it has brought us to the deplorable state the world is in today. Incredibly, it is within this same context that people are searching for solutions to the problems which this system itself creates.

Contrast this conception to that of the Samoans mentioned above. The Samoans will rarely even feel abandoned and uncared for, let alone actually becoming so. If they are hungry they have the assurance that their neighbor will provide for them. Because at least some of their wealth is shared wealth rather than private wealth (and wealth of the most basic kind at that, i.e., food, shelter and emotional support) it is clear that a member of the ancient Samoan culture would always feel sheltered and protected within his community.

How can we reconcile the nature of the economic system we are functioning under in the West with the values of Vedic culture which Srila Prabhupada has taught? It appears that the Vedic system was somewhat more like that of the Samoans than the United States in 1992, or even 1952. We learn that the householder would go to his door and call out to anyone who was hungry to come and eat before the householder would have his meal. This is Vedic culture. Are the Western Vaishnava's doing this? Few. How can we institute Vedic culture if we don't (or can't) practice it as we understand it? In my opinion we can not practice it easily in the economic context of Western culture, because the two cultures contain concepts of ownership which are diametrically opposed!

But perhaps we can practice it in a different economic context. That would mean redefining some of our basic concepts and social values. It requires that we abandon the economic system which isolates us from each other, and begin to understand and expand the economic system which Srila Prabhupada introduced to us. It requires that we redefine our relationship with the material things of this world. It requires that we seriously practice Krishna consciousness and come to the point of being able to live the Bhagavad-gita. That is what we call Spiritual Economics—an economic system for a spiritually advanced culture. Are we ready for it? Let's take a look at what that might be.

The Economics of Bhagavad-gita

Given that the nature of this material world places all of us, at least to some extent, in the context of “I and mine,” we need to understand how to correct this consciousness. In the purport to Srimad Bhagavatam 2.9.3, Srila Prabhupada points the way to resolving the false conception of “I and mine:”

“So one must also give up this misconception of “I” by practicing the way of devotional service or firmly being situated in the transcendental loving service of the Lord.....Shrimad Bhagavatam and, primarily, the Bhagavad gita are both meant for delivering a person from the misconception of “I” and “mine,” and Srila Vyasadeva transcribed them for the deliverance of the fallen souls. The living entity has to be situated in the transcendental position where there is no more influence of time nor of the material energy. ....The perfect process is to accept Lord Vasudeva as the Supreme in everything, and the best perfection in culturing knowledge is to surrender unto Him because He is the source of everything. Only in that conception can one get rid of the misconception of I and mine.”

Srila Prabhupada created his International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) for the purpose of training those interested in the way of devotional service. The centers of ISKCON are places for people to get help in making such a change of consciousness, and Srila Prabhupada arranged everything in his temples perfectly to this end. We learn from the spiritual master that Lord Krishna is the Supreme Proprietor, the Supreme Enjoyer and our most dear friend and that our real interest and happiness is to be found by engaging in His devotional service.
The spiritual master comes to this world to reclaim the fallen conditioned souls. Thus this training by the spiritual master is meant to qualify us for entry into the Vaikuntha kingdom, which is a realm available only to perfected beings. These qualifications, demonstrated by the character of the denizens of Vaikuntha, are described in the Bhagavatam:

“In the Vaikuntha planets all the residents are similar in form to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They all engage in devo¬tional service to the Lord without desires for sense gratification.” SB 3.15.14.

Srila Prabhupada comments:

“In Vaikunthaloka there is no occupation but the service of the Lord, and this service is not rendered with a purpose. Although every service has a particular result, the devotees never aspire for the fulfillment of their own desires; their desires are fulfilled by rendering transcendental loving service to the Lord.”

Our individual endeavor in going back home, back to Godhead, thus requires that we sooner or later come to this consciousness of unmotivated and uninterrupted service. Our community with devotees should be an aid for us in this regard, and can be when we join together with this purpose in mind.

We learn from Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita how to engage in activities in such a way that they will bring us liberation instead of bondage. There, He tells us how to work (production), what kind of consciousness the work should be performed in, and what to do with the results of our work (distribution). This is in essence economics, Spiritual Economics.

The Lord states [please pay particular attention to the emphasis which I have added]:
"You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty. Be steadfast in yoga, O Arjuna. Perform your duty and abandon all attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga. Dhananjaya, rid yourself of all fruitive activities by devotional service, and surrender fully to that consciousness. Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers. A man engaged in devotional service rids himself of both good and bad actions even in this life. Therefore, strive for yoga O Arjuna, which is the art of all work. The wise engaged in devotional service, take refuge in the Lord, and free themselves from the cycle of birth and death by renouncing the fruits of action in the material world. In this way they can attain that state beyond all miseries." 2:47-51

"Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction. A man cannot even maintain his physical body without work. Work done as a sacrifice for Vishnu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage." 3:8-9

"One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every act is devoid of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker whose fruitive action is burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge. Abandoning all attachment to the results of his activities, ever satisfied and independent, he performs no fruitive action, although engaged in all kinds of undertakings. Such a man of understanding acts with mind and intelligence perfectly controlled, gives up all sense of proprietorship over his possessions and acts only for the bare necessities of life. Thus working, he is not affected by sinful reactions." 4:19-21

"The steadily devoted soul attains unadulterated peace because he offers the result of all activities to Me; whereas a person who is not in union with the Divine, who is greedy for the fruits of his labor, becomes entangled." 5:12

"One who is beyond duality and doubt, whose mind is engaged within, who is always busy working for the welfare of all sentient beings, and who is free from all sins, achieves liberation in the Supreme." 5:25

There are many, many more similar references which may be included, but these serve our present purpose of developing an understanding of Spiritual Economics. In summary, Lord Krishna is instructing us to perform our work, whatever it may be, according to our own nature, and without being attached to the fruits, or results to offer them to the Supreme. Such work is without reaction due to the consciousness behind it which transforms it into devotional service, pure devotional activity which has no reaction. Srila Prabhupada cautions us in the preface of his Bhagavad-gita to accept it as it is; by it's literal meaning.

By taking the Lord's words in their literal meaning, an economic system jumps out of the pages of Bhagavad-gita. Let's take a close look at those instructions and the economic activity they refer to.

A Description of Spiritual Economics

Considering the verses above we note the following:

1. A person must always be engaged in some activity.
[never be attached to not doing your duty, (2.47); Perform your pre¬scribed duty, (3.8); always busy working for the welfare of all sentient beings, (5.25)]. These are instruc¬tions for production.

2. The results of our activity do not belong to us.
[you are not entitled to the fruits of action, (2.47); Those who want to enjoy the fruits of their work are misers, (2:49); The wise engaged in devotional service,... free themselves from the cycle of birth and death by renouncing the fruits of action in the material world, (2.51); Abandoning all attachment to the results of his activities, (4:20); gives up all sense of proprietorship over his possessions, (4.21)].
If we take this literally, it means that we give up all claim to the fruits of action as our possessions - even for the purpose of selling or trading them. Where do they go then?

3. The fruits of our actions are to be given freely to others.
[One who is beyond duality and doubt...is always busy working for the welfare of all sentient beings, (5.25)] These are instructions for distribution. Just as in Iskcon's temples we offer our services without consideration as to who receives the benefit, so it is within Spiritual Economics but in a different setting. This is a gift economy.

4. Our activities should be performed in the spirit of devotional service, for by working in such consciousness we will be satisfied.

[Work done as a sacrifice for Vishnu has to be performed,...perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, (3.9); The steadily devoted soul attains unadulterated peace because he offers the result of all activities to Me, (5.12)]. These are the instructions for the consciousness of our activity.

5. We should act only for the bare necessities of life.
[Such a man of understanding acts with mind and intelligence perfectly controlled,... acts only for the bare necessities of life. (4.21)]. These instructions regulate the consumption of a society in which life’s necessities are easily had.

All of these verses taken together describe an entire economic system which can lead to our perfection and qualify us to enter into Vaikuntha as described above. Beyond that, the characteristics of Spiritual Economics would have a wide influence over the quality of life on this planet. Let's see what that might be.

The Characteristics of Spiritual Economics

Just as material economics are based upon the material conceptions of life, Spiritual Economics is based upon spiritual conceptions of life. One of the wonderful qualities of spiritual activities is that there can be no material impediment to them, therefore, they are always available. As such in Spiritual Economics the conception of abundance replaces the concept of scarcity so there will never be problems of lack and scarcity which are so prevalent in the world today.

Under Spiritual Economics the economic unit is not a producing/consuming machine, but an individual spiritually conscious living being whose satisfaction is not derived from material sense gratification but from devotional service to the Lord. As such, consumption of earthly resources is minimized because more than the minimum is simply not desired or required by the humble Krishna conscious person as it is to fill the inflated ego and greed of the spiritually-starved materialist. Reducing the environmental impact of the human species upon the earth is thereby automatically achieved without any sense of deprivation or complex legislation or policing.

In Spiritual Economics the main feature is that everything is achieved by giving and not by getting. First of all there can be no "getting," as we understand that Krishna is the supreme proprietor. Without His consent what is our power of getting? However, every living being has something to give, which is their energy in devotional service. Giving finds its perfection in devotional service , which is reciprocated in loving relationships.

This is demonstrated by the fact that Lord Krishna first of all gives to us all that is required for our sustenance—this earth and its elements, the air, sunshine, rain, even our ability, intelligence, and so on. In devotional service we reciprocate with the Lord by giving back to Him those same things transformed, as in food, clothing for the Deity, temples for his worship, and other things created in the spirit of devotional service. This reciprocal service culminates in the highest treasure of all—pure love of God. As this unalloyed devotional service matures, Lord Krishna gives Himself to His devotee and the devotee gives himself to the Lord. This loving exchange is the eternal activity of the spiritually perfected souls who reside in the spiritual world.
Under Spiritual Economics this reciprocation goes on between the participants as well, each engaged in the service of their choice, but giving the results to others freely and accepting in return those things which they require for living.

Life's real pleasure is giving and not getting, but our present economic structure has made this natural pleasure so difficult to perform that we see ourselves developing into selfish people. So if we consciously reform the economic system in such a way to produce an environment which promotes the pleasure of giving, naturally this will awaken the spiritual values in the heart of men, ultimately finding fulfillment in giving to Krishna, and to all around us.

Just as material economics has a currency, so does Spiritual Economics. But the currency in Spiritual Economics is of a spiritual character. The currency is devotional service. It is not something separate from the economic unit, therefore there is no anxiety in acquiring it. Nor is it at all limited in supply. Quite the contrary it is unlimited. In fact, the more one uses spiritual currency, the more one will have, as demonstrated by Lord Chaitanya and His associates:

“Although the members of the Pancha-tattva plundered the storehouse of love of Godhead and ate and distributed its contents, there was no scarcity, for this wonderful storehouse is so complete that as the love is distributed, the supply increases hundreds of times.” Cc, Adi 7.24

The individual economic units are most happy and satisfied when they are able to maximize their level of devotional service. Free from the influence of the deluding potency, maya, it is natural to do so, and they as individuals and society as a collective whole will both achieve maximum benefit by orienting the economy toward this understanding. People can be peaceful and secure when they know that they will be taken care of, and can then focus on giving their service.

Further, since Krishna is the Supreme Proprietor of everything, in Spiritual Economics the participants do not claim proprietorship over anything. Therefore, intense competition to become the biggest enjoyer, artificially increasing lust and envy is eliminated, and all persons who participate in such an economic system can live in cooperation, free from envy, strife, class struggle and political upheaval.

Considering that the main feature of all families who live under one roof is that there is no buying and selling between them, but sharing according to the need of each, then in showing the way of devotional service which includes Spiritual Economics, Srila Prabhupada has made us all one family that can dwell peacefully in one house—a house in which the whole world can live.
In the next section we shall discuss some of the practical aspects of implementing and practicing Spiritual Economics. In conclusion of this section we present a summary of the main features and results of material and Spiritual Economics in the table below. As you look at the two columns consider on which side you want to live your life. You can help to create a functioning Spiritual Economy by giving up envy and greed, and engaging your labor in the service of others in the spirit of devotional service.

A Comparison of Material and Spiritual Economics

Material Economics

Self, currency, and objects of desire are always separate, creating consciousness of scarcity
Focus is on self
People are forced to “get”
Competition, greed, avarice, graft, crime, and corruption become desirable means for success
Irresponsibility towards oneself, others and the earth results
Maximum consumption is encouraged
False sense of proprietorship develops; exploitation of the earth's resources
Encourages exploitation and slavery of others; the strong and wealthy exploit the weak and unable
Loss of self-respect due to irresponsible and sinful acts involved in getting or keeping money
Creates unlimited toil and struggle in an effort to accumulate wealth
Gives the notion that money can solve all problems; also that problems exist outside of the self
Isolates and alienates people from each other
Everyone can manipulate the economic system to their advantage at the expense of others; Low class men inappropriately become the false leaders of society
Impersonal currency

Spiritual Economics

Self, currency and objects of desire are never separated, creates feeling of wholeness
Focus is on others
People are free to give
Requires and promotes cooperation with others; eliminates motive for greed, crime, avarice, etc.
Encourages responsibility to self and others
Minimum consumption is encouraged
Provides no impetus for exploitation of people; Creates a strong social security system for all
Fosters understanding of custodian/caretaker of nature; no impetus for exploitation
Promotes self-respect through giving of self
Work and struggle minimized to what is appropriate
Helps to understand that problems are opportunities for spiritual growth and development
Establishes community—creates a house in which the whole world can live
Wealth is distributed by the desire to serve others
Personal currency

Spiritual Economics - The Karma-Free Gift Economy!

2009-07-12T17:20:00.008+03:00

Spiritual Economics teaches a gift economy based on the teachings of the Bhagavad-gita. Work done for the satisfaction of God is a purely spiritual activity that is free from all karmic reaction. The results of such work are offered to the Lord for His pleasure and then distributed as a gift to others with no consideration of compensation. The work itself is its own reward, and because it is completely spiritual it gives the performer genuine happiness and satisfaction that cannot be gained in any type of material activity or sense gratification.

The Vedic literature teaches us that God has created this world in such a way that we can take care of the economic problem with very little effort. If we use the world according to His design it will function with full harmony and abundance for everyone. The simple fact is the more we deviate from the Lord's arrangement the more problems we introduce. This is why the modern world is such a mess. The easy solution to all the problems of life is to abide by the order of the Lord. In doing so we will not only be prosperous, but we will be happy as well. Learn more about Spiritual Economics and the gift economy from my website and books. Om Shanti

Review of Spiritual Economics- An Economic Eyeopener, A Spiritual Masterpiece

2009-06-12T12:06:00.007+03:00

A review of HG Dhanesvara Das’s “Lessons in Spiritual Economics from the Bhagavad-gita – Part 1 – Understanding and Solving the Economic Problem” by Chaitanya Charan Das.

Srila Prabhupada once told Satsvarupa Maharaja to write a book showing how all the problems of the world can be solved only by Krishna consciousness. Satsvarupa Maharaj eventually wrote an illuminating small book, The Daily News: All Things Fail Without Krishna, in which he analyzed various news stories to show how the problems therein arise from a lack of Krishna consciousness. In the foreword of that book, Maharaj stated how this instruction of Srila Prabhupada is a huge mandate, which will require enormous research and effort to fulfill.

Dhanesvara’s Spiritual Economics book fulfills Srila Prabhupada's instruction in the somewhat unlikely (from the perspective of what is ordinarily thought of as spiritual) field of economics through its comprehensive research, penetrating analysis, scriptural and unambiguously devotional call to action.

Spiritual Economics marks a historic leap forward in the scholarly preaching of Krishna consciousness. In what is probably the first time in modern world history, the concept of the three modes is applied to analyze various economic systems throughout human history as being either in goodness, passion or ignorance. This analysis, presented in chapters three, four and five, of the book, constitutes the heart of the book - and gives us an endearing glimpse into the dedicated heart of Dhanesvara.

Spiritual Economics is simultaneously enlivening and disturbing. It is immensely enlivening to see the principles of Krishna consciousness, which we are all dedicated to practicing and preaching, presented so expertly, comprehensively and cogently in a field that has not been done, or even attempted (to my knowledge), by any devotee till date. For the intellectual rigor and spiritual vigor that Dhanesvara Prabhu brings to work in this book, he deserves a place among the likes of Sadaputa Prabhu, Drutakarma Prabhu, Satyaraja Prabhu, Garuda Prabhu and Devamrita Swami, who have all brought laurels for Srila Prabhupada by their scholarly writings.

At the same time, Spiritual Economics is profoundly disturbing; it documents in scary and gory detail the extent to which the exploitative and destructive mentality, characteristic of the mode of ignorance, has gripped the whole world - especially including the economic big shots. This contemporary research powerfully demonstrates Srila Prabhupada's statement that the world is being ruled by the demonic and drives home the crying necessity to vigorously preach Krishna consciousness. Spiritual Economics concludes that the solution to the prevailing global economic (and social) mess is to raise our consciousness individually and collectively through chanting the mahamantra and building a God-centered economy.

To fully solve the economic problem we must understand Krishna’s instructions for a spiritual culture. This focuses on the unfinished second-half of Srila Prabhupada's mission -- establishing working models of varnashrama dharma, with economics in the mode of goodness. This will be elaborately explained in Part II of the work.

Being myself an author of several books, I am impressed, even astounded, by the exhaustiveness of the research that has gone into making this book. Dhanesvara has toiled for more than two decades, pouring over hundreds of books, to gift all of us - and the whole world at large – this ripe fruit of his devotional intellect. In the true spirit of the gifting economy that he advocates, he has made his book freely available to all in electronic form from here. The book should soon be available in print from www.lulu.com.

Dhanesvara deserves great credit for painstaking scrupulousness in study and unflinching faithfulness in preaching. By applying the principles of Krishna consciousness that Srila Prabhupada brought to the world and that Dhanesvara powerfully presents in this book, we can all do our respective parts, small or great, in assisting Srila Prabhupada's mission to save the world from its present suicidal course.

Spiritual Economics Book Available Online

2009-06-12T10:54:00.010+03:00

Spiritual Economics is Available Online

The first volume of my book on Spiritual Economics -- "Lessons in Spiritual Economics from the Bhagavad-gita - Part I - Understanding and Solving the Economic Problem" is finished and available as a pdf ebook from here.

The book is written for those who are fed up with predator capitalism (or predator communism, or predator anything for that matter), who are tired of being robbed by their very own governments, have had it with the IMF, the World Bank, and all their hucksterism, and who are sick and tired of the way the modern world works and want to find a permanent solution. It explains what makes economic man tick, and with that insight explains THE solution to all economic problems. Beware: this is not an answer that most people want to hear! They think that they can have the kingdom of God without God, but sorry folks, that’s not gonna happen.

Spiritual Economics explains the varieties of man’s economic behavior according the gunas, or modes of material nature. Why does modern man engage in predator economics and vulture capitalism? Because his consciousness has become crippled by the mode of ignorance. Why does modern society encourage lust, envy and greed as though these were desirable qualities? Because of the influence of the mode of ignorance. Why does 1% of the population own 40% of the wealth in the world while 50% of the people own 2% of the wealth? Same reason.

The consciousness of modern man has become crippled by killing, intoxication, illicit sex and cheating (gambling), and the effects of these activities spill over into his economic affairs. Here’s a heads-up: LIFE IS INTEGRATED. WHAT WE DO IN ONE SPHERE OF ACTIVITY WILL AFFECT ALL OTHER SPHERES.

That being the case there is NO solution to our modern economic problems unless we clean up our consciousness. In the last chapter of the book I explain scientifically how this can be done.

Actually the book was finished almost a year ago -- last August -- then the economic crisis hit and I thought that I would add something about that. That was a bad decision. As you may recall, the crisis dragged on for months. During that time there was lots to read and muse on.

Finally in January I had written another entire chapter, more than 35 pages, but there was a problem. I couldn't use it. The conclusions were sinister and would bring a mood to the book that I didn't want. But in the process I had the opportunity to massage the the last chapter further and am much happier about it.

In the book I list this livejournal account as my blog, but there are some things that I don't like about Livejournal so I have got this blog going also. There are almost innumerable things to comment on in relationship to the ideas under the heading of Spiritual Economics, and many of these could be book length, so maybe they are not too appropriate for a blog. In that case I will get them loaded onto my website, which is www.spiritual-econ.info (soon to be spiritual-econ.com too). BTW, that is where you can look for that chapter that didn't make it. The title is "Economic Chernobyl - The Economic Crisis of 2008".