From: "Priyanath C Mittra"
To: am-global@earthlink.net
Subject: Bin Laden and Prout
Baba
Namaskar,
What do the pirate ships and Bin Laden have in common? How does Prout fit into the equation? Baba's teachings neatly answers these questions and more.
In His teachings from Social Justice in Human Society part 1, Baba explains that whenever any society is exploited by vested interests like capitalists then in response the common people adopt one of three main avenues:
1. Appealing to human sentiment like Gandhism;
2. Applying brute force like communism;
3. Stealing and pillaging from the rich like Robin Hoods.
Those appealing to Gandhism do not get success because those greedy capitalists are notoriously callous and remain unmoved by those humanistic appeals.
For instance:
(a) When those adherents of Gandhism plead, "Do not collect huge wealth which you cannot use", then those ruling capitalists simply pay a deaf ear.
(b) Whose those Gandhi enthusiasts proclaim, "Share your wealth and feed the poor", then those top capitalists merely look the other way.
(c) When those proponents of Gandhism say, "Build housing for the homeless", then big corporate executives nod their head and then continue counting their net worth.
(d) When the followers of Gandhi demand, "After all are cared for then and only then can you think about your personal luxuries", then the leading capitalists remain unmoved and sail away on their fancy personal yachts.
In short, capitalists simply ignore the humanistic appeals made by Gandhian activists. Such vaeshyas do not mend their ways.
Baba says, "No matter how much importance was given to the benevolence of the human mind by the Gandhian and Bhudan movements, or how saintly their propounders may have been, selfish and mean-minded people [capitalists] will never accept their principles." (HS-1)
The Gandhian theory can only be effective in some far-off dreamland, not in the hard realities of the world. Gandhism died while Gandhi was still alive; now only hypocrisy remains.
Poverty and slums are spreading fast across this earth as capitalists exponentially grow their wealth. There are more billionaires now than ever before, yet side by side large populations of people are homeless or living in the slums and shanty towns.
The slums of Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Manila, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Buenos Aires, and Cairo are filled with hoards of people lacking the basic necessities like running water, yet in those very same cities a select slice of the population is living like kings and queens in ritzy apartments with grand luxuries. But it is not even countries like Brazil, China, Philippines, South Africa, India, Argentina & Egypt that suffer from this vast disparity of wealth.
The homeless problem in New York City and through the US is notorious; plus the homeless population is burgeoning throughout western Europe and especially in Paris.
Thus in places where capitalism is thriving (China, India etc) as well as in places where capitalism has long been established (USA & Europe), there are serious issues with the disparity of wealth. And in all such areas Gandhian appeals do not even begin to address the problems. Rather, capitalists disregard the issue altogether.
So the ways of Gandhism do not work. The capitalists never give in to such demands.
Those resorting to the brute force of communism do not get success with those capitalists because they are unable to root out the seed of capitalism - they are unable to goad the mind in a proper moral or spiritual manner. Theirs is also a materialistic approach and the result is either the greed of individual or state capitalism.
Baba says, "Those who aspire to establish communistic systems either through legal methods or at bayonet point without changing the hearts of the people, without implementing development programmes and without introducing moral and ideological education to reform people’s bad habits, are also bound to fail." (HS-1)
The communist leaders themselves are very wealthy. Actually there is not much difference - from an economic perspective - between communism and capitalism.
Baba says, "Capitalism and communism are fruits of the same variety." (Prout Nutshell-16, Decentralized Economy – 2)
Communism is merely state capitalism where the government hoards all the money & the people are very poor; and capitalism means private ownership that creates a huge disparity of wealth between the economically elite and the common people. Thus, both harbor the safe defective mind-set.
Nowadays, we see that communism has basically failed. So the former communist nations are are aggressively pursuing capitalism. Some of the top capitalist countries are India, China and Russia. In such places there is no safety net. There are no governmental programs to help the poor. Those without jobs, food, housing and medical care are basically left to struggle on their own or die. Yet in those same places the number of billionaires is increasing everyday.
In places like the US and Europe there is a bit of a safety net. The laborers fight capitalists and in turn there are governmental services and subsidies for the poor etc. But in China and India where the common people have no such unity or power; capitalism is swallowing all. About this more detail can be given in the next letter.
Suffice to say here that communism failed to change the psychic pablum of the people and leaders. Instead of fighting or correcting capitalism, they became capitalists.
This bring us to the third and final defective methodology outlined in this letter: Robin Hoods. For those those not aware - in a phrase - Robin Hood is one who loots from the rich and gives to the poor.
Baba says, "Those that used to think it pious to loot the rich and distribute the spoils among the poor. The Robin Hoods of that era thought that their methods alone could do away with the social disparity." (HS-1, '87 Edn, p.45)
Such Robin Hoods think that by looting and pillaging they can bring social equality.
Baba says, "We have seen the advent of such Robin Hoods more or less in every country of the world. But this does not lead to the solution of the problem...Capitalism cannot be destroyed merely by pillaging the capitalists, for robbery and plunder may deflate the bloated capital of the capitalists, but it cannot kill the potential of the seed of capitalism." (HS-1)
So these Robin Hoods too fall short of the mark. Capitalists are not swayed or changed by such looting. Rather such capitalists come up with greater ways of protecting their wealth - i.e. increased security.
Some examples of Robin Hoods that we've seen in the recent and distant past include:
(A) Inner city riots such as the outbreak in LA in 1992 where the poorer blacks scorched, burned and looted the city in the wake of the Rodney King decision. In that case the judge exonerated the white policeman for beating a black man, Rodney King. In turn, the people destroyed the city. Yet still capitalism thrives in LA.
(B) In centuries past and even as recent as this year, pirate ships around the world would loot passing vessels, especially the boats of the ultra wealthy.
(C) The street warfare of Paris in 2010 featured youths looting and destroying the property of the establishment.
(D) In the late 1880's in the US, horsemen would derail and loot luxury trains as they crossed the vast open spaces of the western US.
(D) And if you investigate, you will come across numerous examples of looters around the world.
With their subterfuge ways such Robin Hoods try hard to knock off the capitalists but in the end they are met with defeat - even death.
Baba says, "Violence only invites violence. So these blood sucking [capitalist] cannibals take recourse to yet bigger conspiracy in time to come and the half-witted robbers ultimately meet their destruction at the hands of such capitalists." (HS-1)
Here again Baba reveals how such Robin Hoods get beat by the ruling capitalists.
Baba says, "The amount of punishment meted out to the [capitalist] bloodsuckers by the robbers falls far short of the mark when compared to what they themselves [the looters] got at the hands of these [capitalist] blood-suckers." (HS-1, p. 45)
Thus in all such cases, the looters invariably meet their demise at the hands of such capitalists.
ENTER BIN LADEN
Although, the late Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda cells are commonly thought of as terrorists that want to destroy everything, but we have to think in this way.
Al Qaeda wants to attack the nucleus of the capitalist stronghold and destroy them in order to retrieve the wealth and re-distribute it amongst all Muslims. That is their philosophy.
They see that the Middle East is swimming in petroleum profits and the the kings of those Arab nations maintain close ties with the US. In return the US gives those Arab royal families power, prestige, respect, as well as weapons to suppress the public.
Those close to the royal familes are extremely rich while the common people and youths in those Arab nations are very poor - in spite of the huge petroleum wealth. Such terroriests like Bin Laden want to capture the power by killing the enemies (i.e. capitalists), introducing Muslim social law, and redistributing the wealth among all. This is their endeavour.
As a whole then, as per Baba's definition, they are also a type of Robin Hood. Such Robin Hoods try to destroy captialists. And in this particular case the capitalists refer to both (a) the Arab royal families and (b) the US leaders and entrepreneurs. Indeed the Arab royalty controls huge wealth and that contravenes Islamic law which states that the wealthy are wretched.
The idea of using violence and force, destroying the capitalists to capture their wealth, and redistributing those riches among Muslims is the strategy of groups like Al-Qaeda..
How far Al Qaeda could get success is yet to be seen, but that is their approach. And as Baba points out, ultimately the firepower of those capitalist forces is more than Al Qaeda can handle.
Baba says, "Violence only invites violence. So these blood sucking [capitalist] cannibals take recourse to yet bigger conspiracy in time to come and the half-witted robbers ultimately meet their destruction at the hands of such capitalists." (HS-1)
Such terrorist cells meet their defeat at the hands of those capitalists, just as happens with all the other kinds of Robin Hoods. And indeed, just recently we all witnessed the assassination of Bin Laden.
So we can see that this Robins Hood technique also fails to end capitalist exploitation.
Baba says, "Those who lack a constructive ideology will never be capable of destroying capitalism, even if they speak sweet words, use threats, or create circumstantial pressure." (Problems of the Day, Point #3)
The only way to win the war against capitalists is to educate the common people about the ills of capitalist economic exploitation. This brings a collective rise in consciousness where people stand up to such capitalist exploiters. Thus we see the rise of vikśubdha shúdras, or the awakened masses, who are ready to bring revolution forward.
But again, these masses are fortified with the teachings of Prout. They are not merely looting, or putting forth human appeals, or any other defective approach.
In Prout our aim is to bring about the all-round welfare of humanity where through circumstantial pressure people adopt the path of psychic expansion and spirituality. Then all their crude energy will not be spent on the selfish tactic of accumulating more and more physical wealth.
Baba says, "Our approach should be to adopt a constructive ideal, and we should wage a ceaseless and pactless struggle against all anti-human and antisocial factors. We are to fight capitalism and not the capitalists. We are to wipe out this ism from human society because this ism is paralysing humanity. The capitalists are suffering from a sort of mental ailment, and it is our foremost duty to radically cure them by diverting their physical thirst towards psychic and spiritual pursuits." (Discourses on Prout)
Thus only, Baba's Proutistic teachings are the way for eliminating capitalism and bring forth a new human society.
Namaskar,
Priyanath
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Baba says, "Nothing would be better, if it were possible, than the eradication of capitalism by friendly persuasion and humanistic appeals. In that case the peace of the greater human family would not be much disturbed. But can it be guaranteed that everyone will respond to this approach? Some people may say that a day will come when, as a result of repeatedly listening to such appeals and gradually imbibing them over a long time, as well as through proper mental and spiritual education, good sense will prevail among the exploiters. This argument is very pleasant to hear. Such attempts are not reprehensible. But is it practicable to wait indefinitely for good sense to prevail among the exploiters? By then the exploited mass will have given up the ghost! Though the humanistic approach works in some cases, in most instances it does not produce any result; and even where it does work, it takes a very long time. So, wherever necessary, capitalism must be forced to abandon its ferocious hunger by taking strong measures." (Problems of the Day, Point #2)
Baba says, "PROUT is the panacea for the integrated progress of human society. It aims to bring about equilibrium and equipoise in all aspects of socio-economic life through totally restructuring economics. Without PROUT, socio-economic emancipation will remain a utopian dream. Only PROUT can save the world." (AFPS-9, Economic Dynamics)
"Ka'lo jalidhar, belate base, pal gun'e ja'i prabhu..." (PS 3204)
Purport:
O' Prabhu, O' Baba, by Your grace I am only only thinking about You,
ideating on You; by Your divine grace I am sitting on the shore of this
vast ocean of time counting the moments go by-- remembering only You. It is
Your grace. Baba, all these opportune and inopportune moments of my life
are vanishing into the oblivion one by one. Even then by Your grace I fill
my heart only with Your sweetness. Baba, only for You, only for You I fill
my heart with nectar.
Baba, in Your longing the flower pollen of my heart, the devotional
feeling of my heart, flies far across the vast, distant, unknown blue sky--
towards that divine land. My heart knows no bounds; it crosses over all
difficulties and feels no tiredness, fatigue, or frustration. By Your grace
it goes on and on in search of You.
Baba, I do not know why and when have You sent me into this mortal
world; I do not know anything. Baba, whose love and happiness has pulled me
here-- that also I do not know. O' Prabhu, please tell me what You want,
gently whisper in my ears.
Baba, my only request is that You please make me Yours...
Old Habits
Baba says, "The ancestors of all human beings were monkeys...But some of
the old habits still continue. Humans today fight among themselves in the
same manner as monkeys do. While fighting a person cries, 'Um, um' - this
is a monkeys' habit. Sometimes people not only cry like this but bite with
their teeth. This is also an old habit of monkeys." (AV-5, p. 79)
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