Individual welfare lies in collective welfare
A saint was going
to a town and in between a rich person met him. He requested to the saint to
pray for him. Saint prayed
ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः ।
सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु मा कश्चिद्दुःखभाग्भवेत् ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
Om Sarve Bhavantu
Sukhinah Sarve Santu Niraamayaah |
Sarve Bhadraanni
Pashyantu Maa Kashcid-Duhkha-Bhaag-Bhavet |
Om Shaantih
Shaantih Shaantih ||
Meaning
Om, May all be
happy, may All be free from illness. May all see what is auspicious, may no one
suffer.
Om Shanti,
Shanti, Shanti!!!
The rich person
said; “this is general prayer for everybody. You did not pray anything special
for me. Please pray for me”. The saint again recited same prayer and rich
person repeated himself. To this saint replied; “don’t you come within all? If
everyone is benefitted, you will also be benefitted.”
PROUT’s
(Progressive Utilization Theory) third fundamental principle says; “there should be maximum utilization of
physical, metaphysical and spiritual potentialities of unit and collective
bodies of human society”.
Purport: The
collective body, collective mind and collective spirit must be developed. One
must not forget that collective welfare
lies in individuals and individual welfare lies in collectivity. Without
providing for the comfort of the individual through proper food, light, air,
accommodation and medical treatment, collective good can never be accomplished.
So it is with the sole intention of doing collective good that one will have to
devote oneself to individual good.
If a person
thinks only of his individual interest, then he may overlook other’s
discomfort. If a person only thinks of collective good, then do we expect that
person to make pauper of himself? Collective good should be in favor of
everyone and not just for few.
One example- A
village did not have enough water for agriculture. An NGO helped them dig canal
but needed a storage tank to store water. Nobody was willing to give their land
for storage. Finally, a poor lady agreed to give her land. She understood they
already don’t have anything and if they don’t go with this option, they will
get worse. When people saw her sacrifice, they also decided to pay her
periodically so that she can also meet her necessities of life. In this way,
their problem of water was solved. This is one perfect example of “Collective good lies in individuals and
individual good lies in collectivity”. People will have to think for
collective benefit and they will be benefitted along with them.
Another example- Some
of you might have heard about Hiware Bazar in Maharashtra. They were facing
drought regularly. Fed up with the condition, they decided not to grow crops
like rice, sugarcane which consume more water. They decided not to dig any
borewell for farming and made drip irrigation mandatory for everyone. People
gave up their individual benefit of using tubewells and decided to move along
with everyone. This village has now become self-reliant for its water needs and
people are returning back from cities. You can read about them here.
There have been
many other successful stories where people have taken steps cooperatively.
India is undergoing many economic challenges and we will have to solve it
cooperatively.
(Cooperative
plays a very vital role in Prout's economy, which will be discussed separately
in forth coming blog).
People need to
understand that we should go for local products to support and strengthen our
economy. Our nearby people will be benefitted if we purchase local products and
when local economy will prosper, then individuals will also prosper. There is
difference between Swadeshi, Deshi and Videshi which already have described in
previous blog on - 'Decentralized
Economy'.
What do we mean by maximum utilization of
physical, metaphysical and spiritual potentialities of unit and collective
body?
According to my
understanding of Prout philosophy- a person with intellectual potential should
be utilized for intellectual work. There are many intelligent people but they
do not get opportunity to contribute as per their intellect rather they have to
toil as physical labourer or their intellect is unutilized. Similarly, people
with true spiritual potentialities should be utilized for giving spiritual
education and uplifting the society. Society should take care of them to meet
their needs. Nobody should be allowed to use their skills and talent in
exploiting others rather it should be utilized as collective property of
society that has nurtured them.
Take an example-
most of the people in Punjab are physically strong while in North East India
are shorter in height and not so strong. Gorkhas are fighting race while German
and Jews are good at science and research. They should be utilized accordingly.
To conclude, we
will have to give up our petty self interest else everyone will suffer and
gradually diminish. We have to arouse the spirit of collectivism through
spirituality.
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You can read one
more beautiful story here
where a judge asked the society to pay for a woman who had to steal bread for
her starving grandchildren.
Another good
story is available here
about a farmer who grew corn and distributed good quality corns to his neighbors
so that everyone has good output.
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