1st socio-economic principle of Prout
Diversity is the law of nature and uniformity will never be.
Purport: Variety is the chief characteristic (dharma) of the Cosmic Force of creation (prakrti). No two objects in the universe are identical, nor are two bodies, two minds, two atoms or two molecules. This variety is the force of creation’s forte. Those who want to equate everything must fail, for this is unnatural. All objects are equal only in the unmanifest or potential state of the Cosmic Force, and so those who think of equating everything invariably think of the destruction of everything. (Shrii P. R. Sarkar, Ananda Sutram 1962)
2nd socio-economic principle of Prout
The minimum necessities of all should be guaranteed in any particular age.
Purport: The Cosmic Entity is my father, the Cosmic Operative Principle is my mother and the three worlds are my homeland. So every thing or object of this universe is the common property of all humanity. Nothing in the universe is cent percent equal in both quality and quantity; therefore the minimum necessities of life should be made available to everybody. In other words, food, clothing, medical treatment, accommodation, education and so on must be provided to all. Humanity’s minimum necessities however, change with the change in eras or ages. For example for conveyance the minimum necessity may be a bicycle in one age and then an airplane in another age. The minimum necessities must be provided for all people according to the age in which they live. (Shrii P. R. Sarkar, Ananda Sutram 1962)
Income or purchasing capacity?
Question: What do we want, increase in per capita income or increase in purchasing capacity?
Answer: Prout suggests that increases in per capita income are not a sufficiently reliable and scientific index to determine the standard and progress of a particular unit. Rather, this approach is misleading and deceitful, because it refers to a simple mathematical calculation of total national income divided by total population. This does not give the correct picture of the standard of living of the people of a particular unit, as the wealth disparity in society is concealed. Per capita income shows the mean and not the variation of income distribution. If inflation is also considered, the reliability of per capita income is further reduced. On the other hand, purchasing capacity is the real index of how a person's economic needs can be met by their income. All Prout’s plans and programmes in the sphere should be aimed at increasing the purchasing capacity of the people.
Note that Prout stresses increasing purchasing capacity and not per capita income. Per capita income is not a proper indication of the increase in the standard of living of the people because while people may have very high incomes they may not be able to purchase the necessities of life. On the other hand if the per capita income is low but people have great purchasing capacity they are much better off. So purchasing capacity and not per capita income is the true measure of economic prosperity. Everyone's requirements should be within their pecuniary periphery or purchasing capacity. (Shrii P. R. Sarkar, 10 December 1987, Calcutta, From Questions and answers, Prout in a nutshell 12)
3rd socio-economic principle of Prout
The surplus goods and services, after distributing the minimum necessities, are to be given according to the social value of the individual's production.
Purport: The surplus wealth, after meeting the minimum necessities of the age, will have to be distributed among talented people according to their merit. Motorcars instead of bicycles, for example, should be provided to meritorious people in recognition of their accomplishments to provide them with greater opportunities for social service. ‘Serve according to your capacity and earn according to your necessity' sound good to the ears, but will reap no harvest in the hard soil of the world. (Shrii P. R. Sarkar, Ananda Sutram 1962)
4th socio-economic principle of Prout
The increase in the standard of living of the people is the indication of the vitality of society.
Purport: Meritorious people should certainly receive greater amenities compared to the level of minimum necessities allocated to people in general, and there should be never ending efforts to raise the level of minimum necessities. For example, today common people need bicycles whereas meritorious people need motorcars, but there should be proper efforts to provide common people with motorcars also. After everybody has been provided with a motorcar, it may perhaps be necessary to provide each meritorious person with an airplane. After providing every meritorious person with an airplane, efforts should be made to also provide every common person with an airplane, raising the level of minimum necessities. In this way efforts for rising the level of minimum necessities should go on endlessly, and on this endeavor shall depend the all round material prosperity and development of humanity. (Shrii P. R. Sarkar, Ananda Sutram 1962)
Minimum requirements and maximum amenities
There are many attractions in society, and it is the nature of human beings to run after these attractions. Communism exploited this human tendency by promising to give equal wealth to all. But the mundane resources in the world are limited, so is it possible to provide equal wealth to all? No, and the attempt to do so is nothing but a dazzling ostentation. Now communism has met its end. Communism was nothing but a "bogusism" -- a mere ostentation of verbose language and nothing else.
Rather than trying to give equal wealth to all, the proper approach is to ensure that everyone is guaranteed the minimum requirements of life. As the income of people increases, the radius of their minimum requirements should also increase. Just to bridge the gap between the more affluent people and the common people, we have to increase the minimum requirements of all. In addition, the maximum amenities should be provided to meritorious persons to enable them to render greater service to society. This should be done by setting aside some wealth for those with special qualities, but the provision of the maximum amenities should not go against the common interest. However, something more can be added. Besides increasing the maximum amenities of meritorious people, we also have to increase the maximum amenities available to common people. Meritorious people will earn more than common people, and this earning will include their maximum amenities. But the common people should not be deprived of maximum amenities, so there should be efforts to give them as much of the maximum amenities as possible. There will still be a gap between the maximum amenities of the common people and the maximum amenities of the meritorious, but there should be constant efforts to reduce this gap. Thus, the common people should also receive more and more amenities. If maximum amenities are not provided to common people, no doubt there will be progress in society, but there will always remain the scope for imperfection in future. What constitutes both the minimum requirements and the maximum amenities should be ever increasing. This idea is a new appendix to Prout.
If the maximum amenities of meritorious people become excessively high, then the minimum requirements of common people should be immediately increased. For example, if a person with special qualities has a motorbike and an ordinary person has a bicycle, there is a balanced adjustment. But if the person with special qualities has a car, then we should immediately try to provide the common people with motorbikes. There is a proverb that refers to plain living and high thinking, but what is plain living? Plain living eighty years ago was not the same as it is today, so plain living changes from age to age. The standard of value also varies from age to age. Thus, both the minimum requirements and the maximum amenities will vary from age to age, and both will be ever increasing. If this were not so, there would be no economic progress in society. So, our approach should be to provide the minimum requirements of the age to all, the maximum amenities of the age to those with special qualities according to the degree of their merit, and the maximum amenities to the common people as well. The minimum requirements of the age as per their money value plus the maximum amenities of the age as per their money value are to be fixed and refixed, and fixed again and refixed again, and so on. In this way you must elevate the standard of the people -- you must go on elevating their standard of living. (Shrii P. R. Sarkar, 13 October 1989, Calcutta, Prout in a nutshell 17)
Increasing requirements and amenities
Whatever is feasible and practical has been said in Prout. Marxism built castles in the air and encouraged the people to dream a meaningless dream. Prout has not done this nor will Prout do it. Prout will do that which is feasible and practical. If the common people and the meritorious people are treated as the same, the capable people will not be encouraged to develop their higher potentiality. This is the reason why the brain drain is happening in India. When talented people leave India, they leave it for good. Providing special amenities for those with special capabilities will stop the brain drain.
Prout’s approach is to guarantee the minimum requirements for all, guarantee maximum amenities for all and guarantee special amenities for people with special capabilities. This approach will ensure ever-increasing acceleration in the socio-economic sphere. The question of retardation does not arise; even the question of maintaining speed does not arise. There must be acceleration. Acceleration is the spirit of life, the spirit of existence, the spirit of the existential faculty. One may not be a genius, one may simply be a member of the ordinary public, and not properly accepted or respected by all, but even then one will get the minimum requirements and maximum amenities in an ever increasing manner according to the environmental conditions concerned, according to the demands of the day.
So what is the significance of this new approach?
1. Minimum requirements are to be guaranteed to all.
2. Special amenities are to be guaranteed to capable people. Special amenities are for people of special caliber as per the environmental condition of the particular age.
3. Maximum amenities are to be guaranteed to all, even to those who have no special qualities -- to the common people of common caliber. Maximum amenities are to be guaranteed to all as per environmental conditions. These amenities are for those of ordinary caliber -- the common people, the so-called downtrodden humanity
All three above are never ending processes, and they will go on increasing according to the collective potentialities. This appendix to our philosophy may be small, but it is of a progressive nature and a progressive character. It has far-reaching implications for the future. I hope you will realize its impact and all its potentialities. (Shrii P. R. Sarkar, 13 October 1989, Calcutta, Prout in a nutshell 17)
The amenities of life
The amenities of life are those things that make life easy. The word “amenity” comes from the Old Latin word “amenus” which means “to fulfil the desire” or “to make the position easy”. Amenities mean physical and psychic longings. Whatever will satisfy the physical and psychic longings of the people will be the amenities of the age. Common people should be favored with maximum amenities. For example, previously people used to dig a well to get drinking water, and then they carried the drinking water to their houses. Later water tanks were constructed, and now drinking water comes through pipes. In this way the amenities of life have increased and life has become easier. Though the aim is to get water, the system of getting it has become more effortless and more convenient.
Take another example. Suppose school children receive the minimum requirements of life. If they are provided with free snacks, this amenity will be over and above the minimum requirements. Again, in most trains there are first and second-class compartments. First class passengers already get special facilities, but if free tea or coffee is given to the passengers in the second-class compartments, it will be considered an amenity.
More and more amenities will have to be provided to the common people with the progress of society. This process will generate the impetus to collect and utilize more and more resources, and the proper utilization of the collective resources will elevate the standard of living of both the common mass and the meritorious people. As the need for the minimum requirements is fulfilled and the supply of the maximum amenities increases, the struggle for daily subsistence will gradually decrease and people's lives will become increasingly easy and enjoyable. For this reason Prout guarantees the minimum requirements and the maximum amenities to all. The root vidh prefixed by su and suffixed by ac and t'a' equals suvidha' which means “the pabulum asked for”. Kuvidha' means "the pabulum not asked for". If you are travelling by train and you see someone take a snack of delicious food, you will have a natural urge or longing to enjoy the same delicacies. This is a natural longing for physical pabulum. Those things that your body wants are the natural amenities. Natural amenities include all the longings of nature. They include all natural physiological longings such as urination, defecation and eating when one is hungry. Common people should be provided with more and more natural amenities to make their lives easy.
They should also be provided with more and more super-natural amenities. Common people experience much stress and strain -- they should be freed from this tension. For example, the rural people of India always worry about their crops. If the rains are late or if they fail, paddy production will suffer; if the climate is too cold or not cold enough, the winter crop will be adversely affected. The common people should be freed from all these stresses and strains. This can be achieved through the provision of super-natural amenities, which can be developed artificially through science and technology. For example, better agricultural techniques and the construction of small-scale dams to conserve water and improve irrigation can help relieve poor rural people of their stresses and strains. Even simple techniques can increase crop yields. For instance, if the smoke from burning wood chips is made to pass through a field of mustards seed, the flowers of the mustard seeds will bloom immediately and increase the production of the crop. We should provide common people with both natural and super-natural amenities according to the physical capacity, the psychic capacity and the technical capacity of the state. This approach will ensure that human beings get enough amenities so that their lives become satisfying and congenial.
The minimum requirements must be guaranteed to all human beings, and under the environmental conditions concerned -- that is, the existing environmental conditions -- there should be maximum amenities. You should satisfy the thirst for physical and psychic longings -- for physical and psychic pabula -- under the concerning conditions. So maximum amenities are to be guaranteed to all under the environmental conditions concerned, which means keeping in view such factors as the temporal, topographical, geographical, social and psychic conditions.
What is the difference among surroundings, atmosphere, and environment? “Surrounding” means “everything physical, either directly physical or psycho-physical, that surrounds.” “Atmosphere” means “the nature of different expressions in the surroundings, such as water, air, air pressure, temperature, etc.” “Environment” means “that which controls the characteristic of inanimate and animate beings.”
One age will go and another will come, and human longings will also change. In one age a particular type of breakfast is accepted as the standard, and in the next age it will be considered substandard. Today people eat bread and butter, but according to the standard of the next age people may eat fried rice or sweet rice. Thus, the maximum amenities of life should be guaranteed to each and every individual, and their standard should be continuously elevated. The jurisdiction of maximum amenities will go on expanding with the progress of human beings. Human beings are marching ahead, and their longing for different psychophysical pabula is also increasing. The minimum requirements of the age must be guaranteed, and the maximum amenities must also be guaranteed. Maximum amenities must be provided in the existing environment.
Can human thirst be fully quenched? Can human hunger be fully satisfied? Why is it that human thirst knows no limitations?
From Prout we are moving to psycho-philosophy. In the relative world human thirst cannot be satisfied.
Human beings are the progeny of the Supreme Progenitor, therefore human thirst is unlimited. All the properties of the Supreme are ensconced in human existence, and not only in human existence, but in each and every entity of the expressed universe. Can physical thirst, psychic thirst and spiritual thirst be quenched? Only spiritual thirst can be quenched. Unification of the unit with the Cosmic can quench the spiritual thirst. The physical body has certain limitations. It functions within very strict limitations. The mind has a far bigger jurisdiction, but it is also limited. (Shrii P. R. Sarkar, 13 October 1989, Calcutta, Prout in a nutshell 17)
