P.R. Sarkar
The Supreme Consciousness is my father and the operative Principle is my mother. The universe is my home and all of us are citizens of this cosmos. This universe is the imagination of the Macrocosmic Mind, and in the extroversive and introversive phases of the cosmic imaginative flow, all entities are being created, preserved and destroyed. In a personal way, when a person imagines something in their mind, for that moment the person is the owner of the thing and no one else. When a thought born human being roams about in an imaginary corn field, the imaginary person is not the owner of the field, rather the imaginator is.
This universe is created in the imagination of the Supreme Entity (Brahma in Sanskrit), so the ownership of this universe lies with Brahma and not the microcosms created out of Brahma’s imagination. All the property of this earth, movable as well as immovable, does not belong to any particular individual, but everything is the common patrimony of all of us, and Brahma is our common father. Every living being can utilize their rightful share of this property, just like the member of a joint family favored with property rights by the father in the Dayabhaga system [a system of inheritance in which the heirs’ right of inheritance is subject to the discretion of the father, who has the right to disinherit any of the children. Another feature of this system is the rights of inheritance for women]. Like members of a joint family, living beings should safeguard this property in a befitting manner, utilize it properly and make adequate arrangements so that everyone enjoys it with equal rights, and ensure that every one lives with a sound body and a sound mind.
We should not forget even for a moment that this whole animate world is a large joint family in which nature has not assigned any property to any particular individual. Individual ownership has been created by opportunists guided by selfish motives. The defects of this system provides them with good opportunities and enable them to grow fatter in a parasitic way. When the entire wealth of this universe is the common property of all created beings, how can we support a system in which some roll in riches and others die wallowing in poverty, when such a system is not sanctioned by righteousness (Dharma)? Every member in a joint family is provided with the necessary food, clothing, education, accommodation, medical aid and other amenities according to the economic resources of the entire family. If, however any member of the family happens to take possession of grains, clothes, books or medicines more than what they require, then will it not bring distress to other members of the family? In such circumstances their act will certainly be anti-social and against Dharma.
In the same way the capitalists of this modern world are immoral and anti-social. In order to accumulate more and more in their houses they torture others to starvation, and to impress people with the glamour of their garments they force others to put on rags. In fact they suck the very living plasma of others to enrich themselves. A member of a joint family cannot be called a social creature if they do not have a common heart with other members, or if they do not accept the high ideals and self-evident truth of joint rights. According to genuine spiritual ideology the system of individual ownership cannot be accepted as absolute and final, hence capitalism too cannot be supported.
Copyright Ananda Marga Publications 2011
From Problems of the Day