Unbridled Capitalism and Consumerism

The run-away capitalism and consumerism, the twin evils of modern age, are like two loose cannons hitting at the vitals of humanity, and stealthily destroying the whole fabric of modern civilization. They treat human beings as objects to be parted, packaged, and bartered for money in the market economy. In this economy needs are not respected and met; wants are generated and catered to. And wants before long become needs. 

In capitalism the sole motive is profit. The cut-throat competitions and hostile take-over of companies thrive. Wealth and its creation are not guided by social and spiritual dimensions. The multi-national corporations become powerful economic empires and monopolies, and almost create parallel governments by their sheer wealth. They extend their clutching tentacles to smother competitions and establish convenient, alluring,  24-hour, one-stop super-markets where many go for purchasing fashion products as well as window-shopping to check out on new gadgets. Their popular, ever- enticing chain stores and franchises snuff out mom-and-pop neighborhood stores where a great deal of socialization and camaraderie also take place. The representatives of powerful drug companies visited the offices of psychiatrists where I worked as a doctor clinical psychologist in the US, and provided delicious lunches almost daily besides gifting pens and other materials. They provided free expensive vacation packages to physicians and their spouses to popular destinations. Two American studies (reported by TNN July 6, 2014) have high-lighted the medical malaise in the US. The Journal of Arthritis and Rheumatology found that about a third of total knee replacements in the US might have been unnecessary. The US National Cancer Institute questioned the efficacy of expensive Digital Mammography over conventional mammography to detect breast cancer in women. We can all understand that very expensive machines in hospitals cannot be maintained without a minimum number of tests. Add to that the ever-willing, litigious lawyers ready to breathe down the neck of physicians not prescribing every available test there is. But do we need unnecessary expensive tests to keep these machines? The national and international corporations with unlimited wealth and power “buy” politicians and influence law-makers through their powerful lobbies at seats of governments. They hire powerful team of attorneys to plead their cases even in government law-suits, and often emerge from them scot-free. They even attempt to influence and corrupt judges through sweetheart deals. Needless to say a few judges have succumbed to the difficult-to-refuse inducements. Handlers from consumerist culture package even the so-called God-men and God-women who peddle God-connections. I cited a few examples to show how the capitalist, consumerist culture infiltrate daily into every sphere of life to effect corruption, and to diminish human dignity and freedom.

Now the question is: What kind of a society, that safeguards our fundamental human rights, dignity, and freedom, do we need to have? To begin with, how about a living wage for all? How about a cap on the maximum wage/salary, bonus, and perks of executives? Consumerism goes hand in hand with sexualized advertisements and commercials to peddle its wares and ever-increasing wants. A sensible and rational approach to sex education may take away much of the curiosity related to glamor women and actresses who feel the need to reveal their sexual endowments/body parts and sexual exploits for notoriety and money. I do not want to leave out glamor men who dictate their fees. A conscientized society does not need celebrities to sell products. Finally, everything comes down to conscientization, instilling of basic values, fine impulse control, and, above all, a purposeful spirit-life. We need to keep tight reins on capitalism and consumerism.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti 

Positivity Begins at Home

I met this friend of mine, recently. He was a Gujarati person, but was struggling to make his fortunes in the city of dreams, Mumbai. While narrating his story of struggle, he narrated to me two stories which helped him give positive thoughts. 

The first one is about the famous Marathi saint Sant Tukaram. When Tukaram could not earn money to feed his family, his wife attempted to beat him. She used the sugarcane as a stick. The sugarcane stick broke into two parts. Tukaram used this opportunity to flatter his wife and said, “I know Jija! You were trying to break this sugarcane, so that we both can eat together”. Surely this is one aspect of positivity. Let us hear another one that was told to me by the same gentleman. 

This one is about Socrates, the great Greek philosopher. One day he was taking his class at his residence. Socrates’ wife wanted him to come for dinner. She called him many times. When Socrates didn’t respond, she threw water on him. Socrates converted this episode as a lesson for his pupil. Look! here is a proof that “Clouds sound first and rain later”. You will agree that this one is another proof of positivity that was beautifully used by great people. 

I asked my friend, about how come such a positivity practice always got related with wives of these great men. My friend smiled. He said, “The way charity begins at home, positivity too follows the same rule”. With this narration, I could immediately understand the secret behind the struggle to success of my friend. 

I request my readers to take these stories just as a humorous cue to remember the message, “Positivity Begins at Home”. 

Dr. Sunil Ji Garg

Yes, Ubuntu

The story goes on saying that an anthropologist proposed a game to some children of an African tribe. He put a basket of fruits near a tree and told the kids that the first one to reach the fruit would win them all. When he told them to run, they all took each other’s hands and ran together. When asked, they said, “Ubuntu, how can one of us be happy if all the others are sad?” Ubuntu is a philosophy of African tribes; this should have been the philosophy of all primitive tribes. According to them, things are created to be shared and people are there to be loved. The texture of the present world but says that things are to be loved and people are to be used. 

India always upheld the principles of Dharma. Dharma speaks of co-existence in every relationship. Dharma is about a specific cosmic law and order, though it is just a path towards righteousness for the Sikhs. Dharma is in the heart of Indian culture. It says, everything is to be loved. If wants and needs were once defined to essential and non essential, the Dharma of the day is on accumulating the maximum. Skill and efficiency have become the deciding factors; might have become right. The result is competition and conflict. It is said that the tragedy of life is not death but what we let die inside. Deep inside, we sacrifice values. Is there an appropriate technology that reverses the process?  Yes, Ubuntu.

Joseph Mattappally

Krishna on Bondage 12

Last few weeks I was writing a lot about Buddha, Mahavira & Jesus in the topic Krishna on bondage. It was not out of context. To understand a concept or philosophy, there is a need for comparative study. Now I am getting back to Krishna to go for a crescendo finish. Krishna’s anasakti. Non-attachment, in its turn has some similarity with Mahavira’s transcendence, Buddha’s indifference and Jesus’s neutrality. But it has some basic differences too. I would not be wrong if I say that Krishna’s anasakti is transcendence, indifference and neutrality rolled into one, plus something more. 

Krishna’s non attachment is different from Buddha’s upeksha or indifference. Krishna says indifference is a kind of attachment. If I meet you in the passing and if I don’t look at you, it will be indifference on my part. But if looking at you is attachment then not looking is equally attachment- attachment in reverse gear. And furthermore, Krishna asks, “How can anyone be indifferent? Indifferent to what? If the whole world is manifestation of God, then one is indifferent to God himself.”  And the Krishna asks another question: “How can anyone who is indifferent be free of ego? To be attached or to be indifferent one needs ego. If I am attached to God and indifferent to the world, it is my ego operating in both cases.” So Krishna does not use a condemnatory term like indifference. 

Krishna does not accept the concept of transcendence of attachment or aversion. He says if attachment and aversion are wrong then there is no reason for them to exist, but they do exist. 

Similarly Krishna is against neutrality. How can be neutral about anything when god is not neutral? He is utterly involved in everything that there is. Neutrality in life is unnatural and impossible, as per Krishna. We are in the midst of life. We are life. It is life and nothing but life all over. Then how can we keep ourselves aloof from life? The Sanskrit word for neutrality is tatasthata, which means to leave the mainstream and stand on the bank. But so far as life is concerned, it is main stream all over without any banks. And how can we stand on the non-existent bank of life? So Krishna says it is impossible to be neutral or indifferent in life. 

Wishing you good health & happiness,

Dr. Dwarakanath, Director, Mitran foundation- the stress management people 

What We Feel Inside

Once a friend of mine came to me with a disturbed state of mind. He was a senior bank officer working as the chairman of a regional bank. He was a good man and had tried his best to improve the performance of the bank. He was quite successful in doing so, yet it caused a lot of stress to him. So much so that towards the end of his deputation, there was unrest in his office and he feared that his career might be adversely affected in the process. He was due for promotion as General Manager in his parent bank and was apprehensive of its acceptance in case things went wrong at that stage. 

It was at this point of time that he came to me to share his agony. He had the apprehension that his staff was conspiring against him despite his goodwill for them. He was hurt by their actions which had created a lot of bitterness in him towards them. The problem seemed to be compounding as time passed, though outwardly he was trying his best to appear normal to them. It was not working at all. 

Having listened to his story, I asked him to frankly tell me his inner feelings towards his employees. To this he admitted that he was angry and was not entertaining goodwill for them. In fact, his own feelings were the real cause of his agony. I, therefore, suggested him to transform his feelings and instead of entertaining thoughts of repulsion, hatred or anger, he should develop compassion for them. It was all the more necessary to do so because he was doing his job with all sincerity and goodwill. Though it was not easy to act on the advice, he assured me that he would try his best and report to me after a week. 

My friend acted on this advice with all the sincerity at his command and things started improving. After a week or so, he rang me up to say that his office was normal again and that the environment had become quite harmonious. I was very happy to know all this and congratulated him. According to me, it was only an outcome of inner feelings. After about two months, he informed me about his promotion to the post of General Manager in his parent bank and soon after he joined his new assignment.

Rakesh Mittal IAS

Respect Women

Women have held a high place in our society since ancient times. According to a famous Sanskrit saying Gods reside in places where women are worshipped.

However, during the medieval period there was a phase when women were suppressed and ill-treated and had to stay behind a veil. Gradually they started condemning these atrocities and with education came awareness. Now they can compete with men on equal grounds in all the fields of life. Today’s women are well-equipped to face any ordeal but still in many places they are looked down upon by their male counterparts. Some ruthless people kill a girl at birth while the birth of a boy is celebrated with great zeal.

A woman who makes so many sacrifices as a mother, sister, wife and daughter is often exploited and insulted. It is an irony of fate that a woman who gives birth to man is ill treated by him. Everyday there are instances of horrifying rapes. The culprits should be punished severely and women should feel safe.

We should always respect women. Husbands should make their wives feel secure by taking good care of them. Many men criticize their wives publicly and make fun of her for being overweight or not being a good cook. They stare at women with tight clothes and try to flirt with them. Such uncivilized behaviour should be checked. You should always consult your wife before taking any decision.

Keep your cool at all times and do not vent your anger just because you are bigger and louder than her. Never abuse or hurt her physically even jokingly. Make her feel loved and needed by talking to her often.

Teach your son to respect women as equals and make sure that your son contributes equally in the household chores as your daughter. Be a good role model for your child as a father. Respect your wife and respect her opinions. Do not use your wife as a personal slave. Ask for her help, but offer plenty of help in return. If you want your woman to change her attitude about you, then treat her with love and respect and see and feel the drastic change in her.

Dr(Mrs) Archana Bharat

Christ, the True Communist

After returning to India in 2006 after a long stay in the US, I was visited in my ashram by three communist leaders who solicited funds for a lavish party office in our district. I told them that I was beyond party politics, and that I in principle do not contribute to any parties as I do my own works of charity.  One of the leaders before leaving said that this was his first experience in all years of not receiving any contribution. Before leaving I also told them that Christ was the greatest true communist ever whose teaching I was trying hard to follow. What could be more communist than the practices of Christ’s disciples, the early Christians, described in the Acts of the Apostles?! The disciples “were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common… There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of land or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need” (Acts, 4: 32-35; also refer 2: 44-46). 

The only spiritual master (Sadguru) who made the real distinction between the world that he lived in and the Kingdom of God he preached is Christ. And the world of his time was not any different from the world we live in. He said: ”If the world hates you, know that it has hated me  before it  hated you”. He was rejected because the Jewish community of the time, the so-called chosen people, that he grew up in could not stomach his teachings. The High Priest at the time wanted him dead for the sake of the nation. Christ declared  his mission very early on: “The Spirit of the Lord anointed me to preach the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to bring new sight to the blind, and to set the downtrodden free, and to announce a year of Lord’s favor” (Luke, 4: 18-19). Christ had a preferential option for the poor. In his famous sermon on the mount he said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew, 4: 3). To a rich man who asked as to what he should do to inherit eternal life, Christ told him to observe the commandments. When he told that he observed all the commandments from his youth on, Christ said to him: “’One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ But when he heard this he became sad, for he was very rich. Christ looking at him said: ‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God’” (Luke 18: 18-25).

I have criticized unbridled capitalism on occasions in this journal. I am heartened to hear that recently Pope Francis was labelled a Marxist on account of his criticisms of unbridled capitalism. He commented that If he is branded as a communist when he preached Gospel values, then communists ‘stole’ Christian ideals. There is no doubt that the Communist Manifesto on class struggle between capital and labor published in 1848 paved the way for many urgently needed labor reforms and movements. The Manifesto considered  also papacy among others to be an  enemy of labor. Rerum Novarum (Of Revolutionary Change) or Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor, the famous encyclical of Pope Leo XIII, came in 1891, 43 years later than the Manifesto. The communists took over the championing of the causes of the downtrodden by Christ. Over the years the oppressive, authoritarian communism with murder politics miserably failed.  Sadly the official Church over the years, opportunistically for small worldly favors, sabotaged the powerful mission of Christ to the downtrodden by siding with the mighty and the powerful (immoral monarchs, dictators, colonialists, slave-traders, exploiters of labor). While Christ always spoke for the poor and the downtrodden, the same cannot be said about the Church that represents him on earth. In an immoral world where the names of the richest persons in the world are constantly flaunted before us and celebrated  in the media at the expense of the hungry millions, things have to drastically change certainly non-violently before violent revolutions that guillotined oppressive and powerful monarchs in prior centuries. Civilization oppressed by rampant corruption all over is crying for a new world order. All have a social responsibility to take care of all as the early Christian communities. Private ownership with a social responsibility? Yes. Amassing of wealth beyond a reasonable limit? No. Are we, perhaps, bold enough to begin with a limited but serious experiment of a Gandhian model of trusteeship of property?! Certainly Christ would like that, a true and original communist that he was.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti