Baba
Note: This is the second letter in this series; a link to the initial letter has been appended below. The text in brown is an excerpt from the earlier posting on this topic.
Namaskar,
Here we continue the investigation of the tragic plight of people in this late stage of capitalist exploitation. The initial analysis is follow by an article that dramatically portrays youths will even kill one another over a pair of sneakers.
On so many fronts, the common people in the US are victims of capitalism; and wherever materialism spreads the populations will suffer in a similar way. It is our duty to educate them and heighten their awareness.
Here is Baba's key teaching.
"Psycho-economy has two branches. The first branch endeavours to eradicate exploitative and unjust economic practices, behaviours and structures. It will counter all economic and psycho-economic exploitation and make people aware of how capitalists, in their singular or collective roles, exploit society and create unhealthy, artificial demands which not only poison the mind but encourage dangerous habits detrimental to psychic sanctity and expansion. The first and foremost duty of psycho-economics is to wage a tireless fight against all degenerating and dehumanizing economic trends in society." (1)
Psycho-economy is primarily needed in those countries that have a greater purchasing capacity like the US etc. In financially poorer nations, the populace is pressured to spend most of its money on matters of survival such as housing, food, clothing etc. Though it is true that those populations do get indoctrinated into and addicted to certain trends like tobacco and alcohol use. Really though, it is the economically wealthier nations that desperately need psycho-economy, i.e. taught what to buy etc.
Because up till now, the capitalists have successfully brainwashed common citizens in so-called first-world nations about what they need: to look "good", feel "good", and have "good" social status - by purchasing more toys etc. By this way the general populace gets trapped and pours huge amounts of money into the hands of those capitalists in order to buy harmful, degrading things. All because they are allured and swooped up by capitalist propaganda.
Whereas if people are taught what they really need to live on this earth and what will truly make them happy, they will easily be able to extricate themselves from the trap of capitalist exploitation. Because for the capitalist, they exploit a person's wallet by first getting inside that person's mind. So if the mind is clear and can understand what the capitalists are doing, then they can easily win the battle.
Thus in step-by-step manner, the common people need to be taught what to purchase and what not to purchase. Those things which are harmful should not be purchased: junk food, tobacco, liquor, lottery tickets, useless toys, items related with bad habits etc. Plus they should be educated on points of aparigraha so they do not purchase superfluous fashion clothing, x-tra gadgets etc. They should learn vehicles are for travel and not for prestige. The entire arena of psycho-economy is based on this simple equation: Buying what is needed and helpful for one's growth and development, and not buying that which is not needed and harmful to one's progress.
By this way they will save money and time, not incur debt, and spend time in higher pursuits. If they can understand that their self-worth is not a correlation of how much money they have or what kind of car they have, or what brand of clothing they wear, then they will readily become educated users / people. And such persons will not be helpless pawns of capitalism. This education is psycho-economy. All should learn and those who practice this will be happy and peaceful. Otherwise they may die in a stampede in a big box store on Black Friday. Then people will not rush headlong into Black Friday and risk their mind and body running after the mirage of materialistic happiness as presented by those leading capitalists. For one's existence psycho-economy is needed.
The critical issue is that if the common people were educated about Prout and had a better idea of what it means to be a smart users / people, then they would not get caught in the sticky web spun by capitalists. Then they would not get caught up in the madness of Black Friday.
As noted above, Baba has given psycho-economy as one part of a healthy economy. A key aspect of psycho-economy is to fight exploitation and educate the public about the tricky and greedy ways of capitalists. So that is what we must do.
Indeed, if people were aware about how they are getting cheated by capitalists and that they do not need all this useless merchandise, they would not run in that direction, i.e. into a shopping frenzy. If people clearly understood the sham, senselessness, and destruction related with Black Friday, then it would be obliterated. Indeed Black Friday itself would be no more.
Here below are two insightful piece that demonstrate how a growing number of people in the general society are gaining insight into capitalist exploitation. Such persons are qualified as vikśubdha shudras - i.e. those who are awakened to the exploitative tactics of capitalism and are readying to make a stand.
Editor's note: Perry Williams teaches high school English to students in Georgia. He is a sneaker enthusiast and mentors students who are interested in buying and selling sneakers.
"Give up ya J’s and ya Starter" was a common phrase many young people heard about 20 years ago while being held up at gunpoint for their expensive shoes and jackets. During that time, people were getting robbed for their Air Jordan sneakers and their NFL Starter Jackets.
With the recent news reports of young people being slain for tennis shoes, some people may feel that this is a new epidemic bleeding from the urban areas into the suburbs. Unfortunately, young people getting robbed and -- in the worst case -- getting killed over a pair of sneakers is not a new trend.
In the late 80’s and early 90’s, when basketball shoes crossed over the $100 mark, death over gym shoes began. A small shoe company decided on a new marketing strategy of focusing on one player instead of hundreds of lesser-known athletes. A shoe deal between Nike and a rookie from the University of North Carolina named Michael Jordan grew into a global, multi-billion dollar conglomeration with the best basketball player ever to play the game.
During this era, many of these highly sought-after shoes became popularized on the small screen with NBC’s “A Different World” and on the big screen with classic flicks such as “White Men Can’t Jump” and Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing.” Sneakers of that time were in demand then and today.
As a result, you have a consumer-based, sub-culture market that dictates what shoes are sold opposed to what shoe designers feel will be the next big thing. Many “sneaker heads” drive the market by selling shoes online and shoe companies try to capitalize on what is trending and selling on the web. What is so astonishing is that many of today’s young shoe collectors who are standing in line for days or making unsafe deals were not old enough to even see Michael Jordan play. Surprisingly, many of the shoes that carry these high price tags and garner the most attention are not newly designed shoes. They are mainly all re-released shoes or hybrids from years ago.
However, we have now entered an era where many shoes today have surpassed the $3,000 - $4,000 threshold. With the release of the Nike Marty McFly’s, LeBron’s, Foamposites and Air Yeezy, shoe prices have reached all-time highs. With these types of prices, many collectors are doing anything to get their hands on them. Some people do it for the actual culture and love of the shoe game and some are strictly in it for the money.
Courtesy of: Perry Williams
Before I get into this, lets all hop in the time machine and travel back 24 years...
The year is 1989 and 15-year-old Michael Eugene Thomas paid $115.50 for a pair of Air Jordans. His grandmother tells him not to wear his shoes to school because someone might like them. Michael simply responds, “Granny, before I let anyone take those shoes, they’ll have to kill me.”
On May 2nd, 1989 Michael was found strangled in the woods near his school…barefoot. His killer was 17-year-old James David Martin, a basketball buddy.
A month earlier, 16-year-old Johnny Bates was shot to death in Houston because he refused to give up his Air Jordan hightops. The killer was 17-year-old Demetrick Walker, who was later sentenced to life in prison.
Now lets hop in the time machine and return to present times…
We’re still in Houston and this time the victim is Joshua Woods (22 years old). He got one of the few vouchers to buy a pair of Jordans for himself and his 5-year-old son. The last text he sent to his mother read, “Mom I am okay. We are already headed home.” Of course, he never made it home because three young men shot him in an attempted robbery.
He died on December 21st, 2012 – four days before Christmas.
Joshua is one of many who were murdered for their pair of Jordans or sneakers. There was also 14-year-old Paul Sampleton Jr. and 16-year-old Juan Reyna. All across the country kids are killing kids over shoes. For some, this is a new world. Many are asking, “What is going on in today’s world where kids are killing each other over shoes?” Yet for others, particularly myself and others in the Midwest, this is a depressing repeat of history.
Can you imagine living in Chicago while Jordan was playing for the Bulls and releasing shoes? It was hell. In 1992 Jordan released the Air Jordan 7 and won another championship. Chicago also ended that year with 943 murders.
(Isn’t there only 365 days in the year? That’s almost 3 murders a day!)
Now don’t get things twisted. Jordan – the shoe or the man – is not to blame for the murders. I didn’t look to Jordan for answers back then and I certainly am not looking for answers now. But I am asking myself…
“Why does all of our respect & pride, as young black men, hang on what shoes you own?” I’m more interested in what the shoe represents, and what we need to do to deconstruct its importance. The only person that comes close to helping me understand what’s going on is...
Seriously, the brother (K West) is starting to make a lot more sense to me lately. I personally wish I could be his public translator (because he sounds a bit bipolar in his interviews) to help communicate his rants. Honestly, K West has been speaking about this issue and ways to solve it for YEARS yet everything gets lost in translation.
K’s most pointed statements, I believe, are in his song “New Slaves.” The story behind the song is just as pedagogical (yea, I can be smart like that and use fancy words) as the song itself. Let me give you the full story of K and how I view his anger, for his pain and rants should be our own. I’ll start with the conclusion and work backwards.
The solution K has been ranting and raving about is simple -
Empower yourself and others to become owners. F*ck being a consumer. In fact, consumerism is why we are slaves.
It’s a freakin’ brillant critique. In fact, one that has been shared by the likes of Dr. Cornel West himself. He writes in his book Race Matters:
But why is this shattering of black civil society occurring? What has led to the weakening of black cultural institutions in asphalt jungles? Corporate market institutions have contributed greatly to their collapse. By corporate market institutions I mean that complex set of interlocking enterprises that have a disproportionate amount of capital, power, and exercise a disproportionate influence on how our society is run and how our culture is shaped. Needless to say, the primary motivation of these institutions is to make profits, and their basic strategy is to convince the public to consume. These institutions have helped create a seductive way of life, a culture of consumption that capitalizes on every opportunity to make money. (p. 16, emphasis mine).
Consumerism is why we are where we are. Consumption simply means “to use up”. We’ve become users and like the saying goes – You are what you eat (or use). The problem with living in a culture of consumption is that your value is attached to the money you make or that can be made off you.
This is why America hates the poor. My heart hurts every time I see someone shame a person asking for money. I hate the way we shame and yell at poor people like we’re better. But that’s the culture of consumption we live in. A poor person doesn’t make money, which is the biggest shame we impose on them.
The culture of consumption we live in is also based steeply in manipulation. It plays on basic human needs to make a profit. What do I mean by basic human needs? Things like
-Respect
-Pride (or self-worth)
-Dignity
-Connectedness (or community)
These are not just values folks. They are not just desires. They are needs, something essential to humanity like air, food and water. Advertisers and marketers know this. So what do they do? Make commercials and ads that say “You are nothing and you are nobody unless you______.”
Fill in the blank: Wear this makeup, have this cologne, drive this car, go to this school, buy these clothes, own these headphones, live in this place, own this television, play this game system, or…
Wear these Jordans.
Dr. Cornel West further explains:
The impact of the market culture on black life has been devastating. The market invasion, including the ugly drug invasion, has transformed too many black neighborhoods into hoods, black civic communities into black uncivil combat zones. (pg. 17)
Once the market culture mixed with black culture, things went to shit. We used to see each other as people, fully dignified, no matter what shoes you had or clothes you wore. Then we adopted the values of the marketplace and ever since then people’s dignity has been called into question (unless you’re wearing Tom Ford with a pair of Jordans on your feet).
Courtesy of: Bryant Cross
Here below Baba outlines ways how capitalists exploit the masses and gives the solution to this problem as well. This is a blueprint for overcoming capitalist exploitation.
"Psycho-economic exploitation is the latest form of dangerous and all-devouring capitalist exploitation. It is a special type of exploitation which first weakens and paralyses people psychologically in various ways, and then exploits them economically."
"Some of the methods of psycho-economic exploitation include...the extensive propagation of pseudo-culture, exemplified by pornographic literature which debases people’s mind and particularly undermines the vitality of the youth; the negation of dharma in the name of secularism...the damaging of society by the use of unnatural and harmful methods of birth control...Both intellectual exploitation and psycho-economic exploitation are great dangers to the human race today."
"To counteract this threat, powerful popular sentiments will have to be generated immediately for the liberation of intellect. For this, the first requisite factor is that intellectuals must keep their intellects pure and unblemished. Casting aside all their inertia and prejudices, intellectuals will have to mix with the common people and engage themselves in their welfare. They will have to assist the common people in their development and extend their support to all anti-exploitation movements. This approach will help to root out exploitation, stabilize the structure of society and expand the intellectual standard of the common people. Human society will move forward to a brilliant future with rapid steps." (2)
Namaskar,
In Him,
Ravindra
R. Dunlap
REFERENCES
1. A Few Problems Solved - 7, Quadri-Dimensional Economy
2. AFPS-9, Capitalism in Three Spheres
KILLING OVER SHOES
Note: This is the second letter in this series; a link to the initial letter has been appended below. The text in brown is an excerpt from the earlier posting on this topic.
Namaskar,
Here we continue the investigation of the tragic plight of people in this late stage of capitalist exploitation. The initial analysis is follow by an article that dramatically portrays youths will even kill one another over a pair of sneakers.
PUBLIC EDUCATION
NEEDED:
AWARENESS ABOUT ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION
AWARENESS ABOUT ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION
On so many fronts, the common people in the US are victims of capitalism; and wherever materialism spreads the populations will suffer in a similar way. It is our duty to educate them and heighten their awareness.
Here is Baba's key teaching.
"Psycho-economy has two branches. The first branch endeavours to eradicate exploitative and unjust economic practices, behaviours and structures. It will counter all economic and psycho-economic exploitation and make people aware of how capitalists, in their singular or collective roles, exploit society and create unhealthy, artificial demands which not only poison the mind but encourage dangerous habits detrimental to psychic sanctity and expansion. The first and foremost duty of psycho-economics is to wage a tireless fight against all degenerating and dehumanizing economic trends in society." (1)
HOW IGNORANT PEOPLE GET
BRAINWASHED
Psycho-economy is primarily needed in those countries that have a greater purchasing capacity like the US etc. In financially poorer nations, the populace is pressured to spend most of its money on matters of survival such as housing, food, clothing etc. Though it is true that those populations do get indoctrinated into and addicted to certain trends like tobacco and alcohol use. Really though, it is the economically wealthier nations that desperately need psycho-economy, i.e. taught what to buy etc.
Because up till now, the capitalists have successfully brainwashed common citizens in so-called first-world nations about what they need: to look "good", feel "good", and have "good" social status - by purchasing more toys etc. By this way the general populace gets trapped and pours huge amounts of money into the hands of those capitalists in order to buy harmful, degrading things. All because they are allured and swooped up by capitalist propaganda.
Whereas if people are taught what they really need to live on this earth and what will truly make them happy, they will easily be able to extricate themselves from the trap of capitalist exploitation. Because for the capitalist, they exploit a person's wallet by first getting inside that person's mind. So if the mind is clear and can understand what the capitalists are doing, then they can easily win the battle.
EXAMPLES: HOW
PSYCHO-ECONOMY SAVES LIVES
Thus in step-by-step manner, the common people need to be taught what to purchase and what not to purchase. Those things which are harmful should not be purchased: junk food, tobacco, liquor, lottery tickets, useless toys, items related with bad habits etc. Plus they should be educated on points of aparigraha so they do not purchase superfluous fashion clothing, x-tra gadgets etc. They should learn vehicles are for travel and not for prestige. The entire arena of psycho-economy is based on this simple equation: Buying what is needed and helpful for one's growth and development, and not buying that which is not needed and harmful to one's progress.
By this way they will save money and time, not incur debt, and spend time in higher pursuits. If they can understand that their self-worth is not a correlation of how much money they have or what kind of car they have, or what brand of clothing they wear, then they will readily become educated users / people. And such persons will not be helpless pawns of capitalism. This education is psycho-economy. All should learn and those who practice this will be happy and peaceful. Otherwise they may die in a stampede in a big box store on Black Friday. Then people will not rush headlong into Black Friday and risk their mind and body running after the mirage of materialistic happiness as presented by those leading capitalists. For one's existence psycho-economy is needed.
BECOME A SMART USER
NO LONGER PAWN OF CAPITALISM
NO LONGER PAWN OF CAPITALISM
The critical issue is that if the common people were educated about Prout and had a better idea of what it means to be a smart users / people, then they would not get caught in the sticky web spun by capitalists. Then they would not get caught up in the madness of Black Friday.
As noted above, Baba has given psycho-economy as one part of a healthy economy. A key aspect of psycho-economy is to fight exploitation and educate the public about the tricky and greedy ways of capitalists. So that is what we must do.
Indeed, if people were aware about how they are getting cheated by capitalists and that they do not need all this useless merchandise, they would not run in that direction, i.e. into a shopping frenzy. If people clearly understood the sham, senselessness, and destruction related with Black Friday, then it would be obliterated. Indeed Black Friday itself would be no more.
WILL TO KILL OTHERS OVER A PAIR OF SNEAKERS
Here below are two insightful piece that demonstrate how a growing number of people in the general society are gaining insight into capitalist exploitation. Such persons are qualified as vikśubdha shudras - i.e. those who are awakened to the exploitative tactics of capitalism and are readying to make a stand.
Killing over kicks: How did we get here?
Courtesy of: Perry Williams
Courtesy of: Perry Williams
Editor's note: Perry Williams teaches high school English to students in Georgia. He is a sneaker enthusiast and mentors students who are interested in buying and selling sneakers.
"Give up ya J’s and ya Starter" was a common phrase many young people heard about 20 years ago while being held up at gunpoint for their expensive shoes and jackets. During that time, people were getting robbed for their Air Jordan sneakers and their NFL Starter Jackets.
With the recent news reports of young people being slain for tennis shoes, some people may feel that this is a new epidemic bleeding from the urban areas into the suburbs. Unfortunately, young people getting robbed and -- in the worst case -- getting killed over a pair of sneakers is not a new trend.
In the late 80’s and early 90’s, when basketball shoes crossed over the $100 mark, death over gym shoes began. A small shoe company decided on a new marketing strategy of focusing on one player instead of hundreds of lesser-known athletes. A shoe deal between Nike and a rookie from the University of North Carolina named Michael Jordan grew into a global, multi-billion dollar conglomeration with the best basketball player ever to play the game.
During this era, many of these highly sought-after shoes became popularized on the small screen with NBC’s “A Different World” and on the big screen with classic flicks such as “White Men Can’t Jump” and Spike Lee’s “Do The Right Thing.” Sneakers of that time were in demand then and today.
As a result, you have a consumer-based, sub-culture market that dictates what shoes are sold opposed to what shoe designers feel will be the next big thing. Many “sneaker heads” drive the market by selling shoes online and shoe companies try to capitalize on what is trending and selling on the web. What is so astonishing is that many of today’s young shoe collectors who are standing in line for days or making unsafe deals were not old enough to even see Michael Jordan play. Surprisingly, many of the shoes that carry these high price tags and garner the most attention are not newly designed shoes. They are mainly all re-released shoes or hybrids from years ago.
However, we have now entered an era where many shoes today have surpassed the $3,000 - $4,000 threshold. With the release of the Nike Marty McFly’s, LeBron’s, Foamposites and Air Yeezy, shoe prices have reached all-time highs. With these types of prices, many collectors are doing anything to get their hands on them. Some people do it for the actual culture and love of the shoe game and some are strictly in it for the money.
Courtesy of: Perry Williams
Death over the new Air Jordan Gama Blue
11
Courtesy of: Bryant Cross
Courtesy of: Bryant Cross
Before I get into this, lets all hop in the time machine and travel back 24 years...
The year is 1989 and 15-year-old Michael Eugene Thomas paid $115.50 for a pair of Air Jordans. His grandmother tells him not to wear his shoes to school because someone might like them. Michael simply responds, “Granny, before I let anyone take those shoes, they’ll have to kill me.”
On May 2nd, 1989 Michael was found strangled in the woods near his school…barefoot. His killer was 17-year-old James David Martin, a basketball buddy.
A month earlier, 16-year-old Johnny Bates was shot to death in Houston because he refused to give up his Air Jordan hightops. The killer was 17-year-old Demetrick Walker, who was later sentenced to life in prison.
Now lets hop in the time machine and return to present times…
We’re still in Houston and this time the victim is Joshua Woods (22 years old). He got one of the few vouchers to buy a pair of Jordans for himself and his 5-year-old son. The last text he sent to his mother read, “Mom I am okay. We are already headed home.” Of course, he never made it home because three young men shot him in an attempted robbery.
He died on December 21st, 2012 – four days before Christmas.
Joshua is one of many who were murdered for their pair of Jordans or sneakers. There was also 14-year-old Paul Sampleton Jr. and 16-year-old Juan Reyna. All across the country kids are killing kids over shoes. For some, this is a new world. Many are asking, “What is going on in today’s world where kids are killing each other over shoes?” Yet for others, particularly myself and others in the Midwest, this is a depressing repeat of history.
Can you imagine living in Chicago while Jordan was playing for the Bulls and releasing shoes? It was hell. In 1992 Jordan released the Air Jordan 7 and won another championship. Chicago also ended that year with 943 murders.
(Isn’t there only 365 days in the year? That’s almost 3 murders a day!)
Now don’t get things twisted. Jordan – the shoe or the man – is not to blame for the murders. I didn’t look to Jordan for answers back then and I certainly am not looking for answers now. But I am asking myself…
“Why does all of our respect & pride, as young black men, hang on what shoes you own?” I’m more interested in what the shoe represents, and what we need to do to deconstruct its importance. The only person that comes close to helping me understand what’s going on is...
Seriously, the brother (K West) is starting to make a lot more sense to me lately. I personally wish I could be his public translator (because he sounds a bit bipolar in his interviews) to help communicate his rants. Honestly, K West has been speaking about this issue and ways to solve it for YEARS yet everything gets lost in translation.
K’s most pointed statements, I believe, are in his song “New Slaves.” The story behind the song is just as pedagogical (yea, I can be smart like that and use fancy words) as the song itself. Let me give you the full story of K and how I view his anger, for his pain and rants should be our own. I’ll start with the conclusion and work backwards.
The solution K has been ranting and raving about is simple -
Empower yourself and others to become owners. F*ck being a consumer. In fact, consumerism is why we are slaves.
It’s a freakin’ brillant critique. In fact, one that has been shared by the likes of Dr. Cornel West himself. He writes in his book Race Matters:
But why is this shattering of black civil society occurring? What has led to the weakening of black cultural institutions in asphalt jungles? Corporate market institutions have contributed greatly to their collapse. By corporate market institutions I mean that complex set of interlocking enterprises that have a disproportionate amount of capital, power, and exercise a disproportionate influence on how our society is run and how our culture is shaped. Needless to say, the primary motivation of these institutions is to make profits, and their basic strategy is to convince the public to consume. These institutions have helped create a seductive way of life, a culture of consumption that capitalizes on every opportunity to make money. (p. 16, emphasis mine).
Consumerism is why we are where we are. Consumption simply means “to use up”. We’ve become users and like the saying goes – You are what you eat (or use). The problem with living in a culture of consumption is that your value is attached to the money you make or that can be made off you.
This is why America hates the poor. My heart hurts every time I see someone shame a person asking for money. I hate the way we shame and yell at poor people like we’re better. But that’s the culture of consumption we live in. A poor person doesn’t make money, which is the biggest shame we impose on them.
The culture of consumption we live in is also based steeply in manipulation. It plays on basic human needs to make a profit. What do I mean by basic human needs? Things like
-Respect
-Pride (or self-worth)
-Dignity
-Connectedness (or community)
These are not just values folks. They are not just desires. They are needs, something essential to humanity like air, food and water. Advertisers and marketers know this. So what do they do? Make commercials and ads that say “You are nothing and you are nobody unless you______.”
Fill in the blank: Wear this makeup, have this cologne, drive this car, go to this school, buy these clothes, own these headphones, live in this place, own this television, play this game system, or…
Wear these Jordans.
Dr. Cornel West further explains:
The impact of the market culture on black life has been devastating. The market invasion, including the ugly drug invasion, has transformed too many black neighborhoods into hoods, black civic communities into black uncivil combat zones. (pg. 17)
Once the market culture mixed with black culture, things went to shit. We used to see each other as people, fully dignified, no matter what shoes you had or clothes you wore. Then we adopted the values of the marketplace and ever since then people’s dignity has been called into question (unless you’re wearing Tom Ford with a pair of Jordans on your feet).
Courtesy of: Bryant Cross
HOW CAPITALISTS EXPLOIT THE MASSES:
PSYCHO-ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION
OUR DUTY IS TO EDUCATE THE PEOPLE SO THEY CAN RISE UP
OUR DUTY IS TO EDUCATE THE PEOPLE SO THEY CAN RISE UP
Here below Baba outlines ways how capitalists exploit the masses and gives the solution to this problem as well. This is a blueprint for overcoming capitalist exploitation.
"Psycho-economic exploitation is the latest form of dangerous and all-devouring capitalist exploitation. It is a special type of exploitation which first weakens and paralyses people psychologically in various ways, and then exploits them economically."
"Some of the methods of psycho-economic exploitation include...the extensive propagation of pseudo-culture, exemplified by pornographic literature which debases people’s mind and particularly undermines the vitality of the youth; the negation of dharma in the name of secularism...the damaging of society by the use of unnatural and harmful methods of birth control...Both intellectual exploitation and psycho-economic exploitation are great dangers to the human race today."
"To counteract this threat, powerful popular sentiments will have to be generated immediately for the liberation of intellect. For this, the first requisite factor is that intellectuals must keep their intellects pure and unblemished. Casting aside all their inertia and prejudices, intellectuals will have to mix with the common people and engage themselves in their welfare. They will have to assist the common people in their development and extend their support to all anti-exploitation movements. This approach will help to root out exploitation, stabilize the structure of society and expand the intellectual standard of the common people. Human society will move forward to a brilliant future with rapid steps." (2)
Namaskar,
In Him,
Ravindra
R. Dunlap
Note: LINK TO INITIAL LETTER IN THIS SERIES
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/2013/11/dont-know-where-to-die.html
http://anandamargauniversal.blogspot.com/2013/11/dont-know-where-to-die.html
REFERENCES
1. A Few Problems Solved - 7, Quadri-Dimensional Economy
2. AFPS-9, Capitalism in Three Spheres
PRABAHT SAMGIITA
"Kato je d'eke gechi toma're, shon'o ni, tumi a'sa ni..." (Prabhata Samgiita #2207)
Purport:
O' Parama Purusa, I have so much longing for You. With that feeling I go on calling You. But neither do You listen to my call, nor do You come close.They say that You listen to the feeling of the mind, and that You hear all the thought waves which sprout in the mind, because You are sitting right there in the mind. Although they say like that, to me it seems like You are not residing in the mind. You are not there. That's why You do not understand the feeling of longing which I have for You.
O Divine Entity, I do not know if You do not have the capacity to listen to my feeling, or whether You listen to my feeling of the mind but knowingly You do not respond. This is Your divine play. But this divine play of Yours is very painful for me. You are giving me pain by not caring about my longing. It may be possible that my cry reaches Your ears, but it does not touch Your mind or heart. That's why You do not give any response.
Baba, O' Parama Purusa, please tell me, except You who is mine? You know nobody is mine, that's why I open my heart to You. Many tales which up till now I did not tell You, those feelings of my heart I will tell You. Baba, I have so much longing and yearning for You. Why are You not listening. Baba, please pay heed to my call and come close...
