In the economic sphere, you must know that two factors are very important. The first is that money will have to be kept in circulation. It must be understood that the more the purchasing capacity of money is not utilized or money is kept stagnant, the more the economic stratum is damaged. The second is that money, and indirectly its interest, can bring about disparities in wealth if it loses its ability to be the unit of economic equilibrium and stability. If these two fundamental factors of economics are even partially forgotten, a worldwide economic depression will result.
Even if countries or socio-economic regions which have been maintaining a stable economic standard engage in trade related to bullion with other countries, they will have to suffer such a depression partially if not totally. If countries which are prosperous in various spheres and economically unrelated to other countries undergoing a depression, invest their wealth in enterprises of a non-yielding nature such as excessive defence spending, superfluous construction of large buildings, luxury goods, etc. -- investments which do not earn any income in return -- these countries will also suffer from economic depression. However, if a country discontinues trade related to direct or indirect economic transactions and commences barter trade instead with other countries, it will not suffer much from such an economic depression. In this case only a very slight economic depression, which is hardly felt, takes place at the end of every financial year due to imbalances in economic transactions. This type of depression is felt slightly every three years, a bit more every thirty years, and still more every 350 years. . . .
When something, for some reason or other, descends from its universally accepted position, or its natural value is reduced or brought down, we call it "devaluation". When the leaders of the state find it difficult to balance the value of the currency with bullion, sometimes they officially reduce the value of the currency. This is called "monetary devaluation". But, an economic depression is felt throughout a country or the world due to some inherent defects in the existing economic systems. [17 January 1988, Calcutta, Shabda Cayanika' - Part 15]
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"In economic life there is extreme inequality and exploitation. Although colonialism no longer exists openly in the political and economic sphere, still it persists indirectly, and this should not be tolerated... In this respect you should remember that in economic life, we will have to guarantee the minimum requirements of life to one and all... There cannot be any sort of adjustment as far as this point is concerned. The minimum purchasing requirement must be guaranteed to all. Today these fundamental essentialities are not being guaranteed. Rather, people are being guided by deceptive economic ideas like outdated Marxism, which has proven ineffective in practical life and has not been successfully implemented in any corner of the world. Why do people still believe in such a theory, which has never been proved successful? The time has come for people to make a proper assessment of whether they are being misguided or not." |
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"Human beings have still not been able to form a human society, and have still not learned to move with the spirit of a pilgrim. Although many small groups, motivated by self-interest, work together in particular situations, not even a small fraction of their work is done with a broader social motive. By strict definition, shall we have to declare that each small family unit is a society in itself? If going ahead in mutual adjustment only out of narrow self-interest or momentary self-seeking is called society, then in such a society, no provision can be made for the disabled, the diseased or the helpless, because in most cases nobody can benefit from them in any way... in that case there always remains the possibility of some people getting isolated from the collective. All human beings must attach themselves to others by the common bond of love and march forward hand in hand; then only will I proclaim it a society." |