A Crowded Approach

Date: Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:38:27 -0000 To: AM-GLOBAL Subject: A Crowded Approach From: "Ishvara" BABA "A'laker saurrathe saba'y nite tumi esecho..." - P.S. 1089 Purport: Baba, You have come with the shining chariot of divine effulgence. You have come to take everyone to the divine realm. You do not differentiate between who is great, who is meagre, & who is small etc. You listen to everyone's tales-- to everyone's feeling of the heart. Baba, even without seeing You, I have loved You. I am always feeling close & loving towards You. And even when I have not heard about You, I have been attracted by Your divinity. Baba, You are so gracious. You do not make judgements based on one's merits or demerits. You love all, unconditionally. And I understand that You are always present-- across all time and space. O' my dearmost, You have done so much for me, and in return You do not want anything. In spite of knowing about hundreds of defects in me, You have made me Yours and accepted me as Your own. Baba, You have showered Your causeless grace on me. You have come here on this dusty earth to take everyone onto the path of divinity. Baba, You are so gracious...

== CITIES: A CROWDED APPROACH ==

Namaskar, Nowadays this planet earth is going through a distinct transition. We all know that the pole-shifting is underway and becoming more pronounced every day. That is one aspect. And one of the intrinsic precursors to this monumental shift is the increasing occurrence of more and more natural disasters. This is what we are witnessing today. Indeed hardly a week goes by where an earthquake, hurricane, or tropical storm does not wreak havoc somewhere. And we know such disasters are only going to become more and more prevalent. This fact each and every Ananda Margii knows.

THE SOCIETY MUST GROW

At the same time we have to develop the society in the best way possible. And for this Baba has given Prout-- which as we know advocates decentralization. Where each and every local community or area is self-sufficient in the socio-economic spheres.

TOTAL NEGATIVITY OF CAPITALISM

Unfortunately, today the vast majority of the world has been built up around the capitalistic model-- where everything is focused on the city centers. Because by this way they can best exploit the masses. Baba says, "Capitalists want to produce commodities at the lowest costs and sell them at the highest profits. To produce commodities cheaply, there must be efficient transportation, cheap raw materials, cheap labour, cheap energy, adequate water supply, etc. No matter what form capitalism takes -- individual capitalism, group capitalism or state capitalism -- capitalists will always prefer centralised production. All these forms of capitalism are inwardly the same. Thousands of industries have grown up like mushrooms around Calcutta, Bombay, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kanpur and Madras in India due to this capitalistic mentality." (PNS-16, p.62) And this uncontrolled growth of industries in cities has happened across the face of the earth: From Sao Paolo to Los Angeles, from Tokyo to Madrid, from Cape Town to Hong Kong, from Sydney to Mexico City. All these industrial centers grew up "like mushrooms" and suffer from all the ill-effects of centralisation such as extreme financial inequality and huge racial disparities. And not just that, the negativity of city life gets expressed in countless ways. Baba says, "There are also many other adverse effects of industrial centralisation. For example, in large cities it is difficult for people to remain healthy because of the scarcity of fresh fruits, vegetables and milk. Immorality and corruption are rampant. Thieves, criminals, drug addicts, alcoholics and anti-social elements easily conceal themselves, and prey on innocent people. Malnutrition, air pollution and water pollution, to name just a few problems, also exist. All large industrial centres presently suffer from these problems." (Prout-16, p.63) Thus the problems of city life are numerous and complex.

NO ESCAPE

Plus, in this era especially one other definite loophole is that when natural disasters and calamities strike then it is very difficult for the people in the cities to manage. Of course natural disasters which occur anywhere are difficult. But usually the people in the countryside can manage alright. Whereas when disaster strikes in the cities then the city dwellers just get stuck & trapped there amongst the rubble with no hope of being safe or getting proper water or food. So this is one on-going and impending problem for most countries around the globe. And we are going to see the negative effects of this more and more. So in this capitalist era innocent people got sucked into the cities because there were no jobs in the countryside, small towns, or villages. The capitalists lassoed everyone into the cities-- where common citizens could be systematically exploited by top capitalists. This was the negative capitalist game plan-- to pile and squeeze a huge amount of people into a small place and profit from them all. And this we have seen. Due to this abnormal population density, when natural disasters inevitably strike in those city centers, then that'll spell tragedy for the common mass. To avert all this as much as possible, we should step by step follow Baba's Prout theory of decentralisation. Baba says, "Maximum socio-economic decentralisation is essential to ensure the social and economic liberation of human beings." (Prout)

CAPITALISM CANNOT DIVORCE ITSELF FROM CITY LIFE IMPENDING DOOM OF CAPITALISM

However the capitalists cannot even conceive of decentralisation. They have absolutely no inkling of this. Baba says, "Capitalism will never support decentralisation, because capitalist production exists to maximize profits" which such cheating capitalists can do best in city life. (PNS-16) Hence in capitalism there must be cities. That is how they exploit everyone. Hence cities and capitalism are inseparable. And as the extreme problems in cities continues to rise and go out of control, then this will be the death toll of capitalism. This is one of the reasons why capitalism collapses.

BABA'S BLESSING: PROUT HAS ALL THE ANSWERS

By Baba's grace though in our Marga we are moving in this direction of Proutistic decentralisation through our Master Units, cooperatives, and countryside living. And as Baba says this is the road to success. 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." (PE) Namaskar, Ishvara

Note 1: MORE EVILS OF THE CAPITALISTIC CITY MODEL

Baba says, "Urban civilisation is one of the chief reasons of moral degeneration because many people are compelled to live undesirably in small, congested places. This is inimical to morality." (AFPS-2, p.13) Baba says "Cities become dens of corruption because of anti-social elements, but generally such things are not noticeable in villages. In villages everybody knows everyone else. Everybody knows the livelihood of their neighbours. But even after twenty years of living in a city people seldom get acquainted with their neighbours. They don't even know that there are many swindlers lurking in their midst." (PNS-15, 'Dialectical Materialism')

Note 2: MORE BENEFITS OF PROUTISTIC DECENTRALISATION

Baba says, "From the economic viewpoint decentralisation is an absolute necessity. With the exception of heavy industries and essential government offices, all industry should be shifted to the villages. To stop overcrowding in the cities this is the only feasible approach. Villages are not congested, so anti-social people will not be able to hide themselves there. If they try, the police can easily detect them." (AFPS-2, p.14) Baba says, "In a decentralised economy, people do not have to leave their homes to work in an industry, and consequently they are saved from the expenditure of maintaining two establishments. Moreover, decentralisation increases the possibility of saving labour, because people can earn their livelihood while simultaneously taking care of their household responsibilities." (PNS-16, p.61)

Note 3: THE POLE SHIFT HAS STARTED

Baba says, "Do you feel that the seasonal order is changing and has been disturbed? The North Pole is moving closer to the tropical regions and the South Pole is coming closer to the western hemisphere on the opposite side of the tropical area. If in the eastern hemisphere the North Pole moves from north to south and in the western hemisphere the South Pole moves from south to north, what will be the effect in the earth's hydro sphere? The polar ice will melt and the ocean levels will rise. It will have its impact on the tidal waves throughout the globe... The season is changing -- big climatic changes are taking place." (Prout-17)

Note 4: NO NEED TO FEAR...HUMANITY WILL RISE

Baba says, "[When] a catastrophe comes, the human intellect will be able to overcome such a catastrophe... Let humanity rise, and let this development of humanity be more and more spiritually-oriented." (AFPS-7)

*************************************************** Physical Food and Future

Baba says, "Future generations will spend more of their time and energy on subtle psychic and psycho-spiritual activities, so their demand for physical food will decrease." (PNS-13, p.47)

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