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MODERN THOUGHT
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that wealth does not accumulate in a few hands so as to create further divisions in his society as rich and poor. Even to maintain harmony and goodwill in society, he has to curtail his own greed. There is no doubt that the moral ideal so intended is to establish economic equality. If wealth accumulates in a few hands as it happens in a capitalist society, the result will be creation of another class suffering the pangs of poverty and sowing the seed of dissatisfaction and ill- will against the rich. The basic principle of human welfare is contentment and normal amount of happiness. The ideal of Aparigraha, even if it is practised in a limited way, leads to social development and harmony of interest.
One of the most powerful factors of irritation in world politics is the existence of the two conflicting forces of Communism and Capitalism. If the former concerns itself with the state ownership of all industrial enterprises, the latter encourages individual ventures in all fields of production and distribution. In both these, the individual morals have to yield to group control. The end of both is multiplication of wealth.
Both these forces concentrate their attention on material wealth with corresponding decline in spiritual aspirations and conduct. It is true that life needs certain comforts to keep body and mind together. Material acquisition, if not checked by sanity and moral considerations, is likely to lead to exploitation depriving others of what they need even for their minimum comfort. In mundane thinking, material progress necessarily implies satisfaction of bodily needs and desires.
The only panacea for subsidence of the conflict of the two ideologies, is the development of individual morals. Resort to falsehood, violence, injustice and exploitation can be checked only by moral forces in the society. Excessive acquisition is the very antithesis of inner purity and social peace. It is only by voluntary limits imposed by each individual on his own desires and possessiveness that the acquisitive tendency can be curtailed. That is what the vow of Aparigraha offers. The goal of life is to purge the mind, body and speech of the various kinds of infirmities
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