Quantity-quality, individualized practice, compassionate pandemic response and memory
ON YUGAS
Religious people keep repeating that this is the worst time, materialistic Kali yuga; Satya yuga was far better… I grew up listening to these talks. One day I was just comparing the present with the past and it was a shocking discovery: king Harishchandra, the most truthful being on Earth, suffered in Satya yuga to the level when he had to auction his wife and son on the crossroad. He had to sell them off to get some money. Then nobody was giving him even a piece of bread to eat – and he had to sell himself to the raja of Benares, who made him guard one of his cremation areas.
The taxation was so severe back then, that when his son died and his wife brought him for cremation – he took half of her clothes as tax.
If I compare this time with the current century there will be a dramatic difference: if somebody tries to sell his wife and son – he will be severely beaten by the mob, police will arrest him. I have moved around a lot and have a firm conviction: if you ask for bread or food – nobody will say “ no”. People might not give you money, but no one will deny you food… You may knock at any door – and the ladies of the house will graciously give you rotis, immediately. If a lonely man dies – people will gather, will collect money and take a body for cremation without any questions. In my opinion, present times are far better than so-called Satya yuga.
Q: That’s because the basic necessities are provided?
Guruji: Yes, they are. The sense of sharing is much more common and developed. Otherwise we will not have so many bhandaras where people are distributing food. Most of the religious organizations started to distribute food.
You obviously heard about universal income theory: people came up with the idea of division of capital – so people could stop working. Equal universal income is a thing which came up from the grounds of socialism – there is no need to work, only those who are willing to work will be able to continue.
The accumulation of capital in the world is such that by paying for the basic necessities you can save a person from meaningless labor.
Guruji: The idea is taking shape… I’m saying – decentralization. End of the business empire. If you don’t have to worry about kitchen money – than it opens great opportunities; we will learn about capabilities, the capacities of the creative human mind. The art, the poetry – so many things could be explored.
If you stop just fighting for survival – then you can produce so much…
Guruji: You can relax and think… We don’t know what miracles we can discover then.
Perhaps it’s very much against the interests of capitalism, isn’t it?
Guruji: And against the monarchy system, yes. Capitalism is just the shadow of monarchy. As an unemployed person I like this idea of universal income – it works.
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