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There are some people who argue that if people will not possess what they produce, why should they take initiative to produce more ? Such objections can be met by asking counter questions such as ‘aren't people members of a society?" Don't they owe something to the society in which they live. They should take initiative for more production of wealth in order to make the whole society prosperous. But they should not have desires to possess it all by themselves. Desires of all kinds are bad. They corrode our mind and to desire for peace with a corroded mind is like trying to hold water in a sieve.
Lord Mabāvira and Socialism The Problem of Problems today is how to stop the struggle between the rich and the needy. The people of wealthy section have plenty of food, clothing and bank balances. Yet they are struggling hard to augment and increase what they have had struggling restlessly. On the other hand there is the sweating mass, toiling and moiting for scanty meals. There is again a third class of men, the so called middle class people, who have got to put up the appearance of the wealthy section whereas in reality they are as poor, if not poorer than the labour class, and their condition is really miserable. One view in this connection has been that the needy and hungry exploited mass should openly rise up and snatch away the riches of the rich by force. The other is to vest all wealth in the state to take away the excess wealth from the rich and distribute it in accordance with the needs of the people. The present day socialism suggests that every man at a certain stage of his life should stop to earn more.
The Life of the great Jain Teacher Lord Mahāvira shows that from his very childhood, he was extremely unaggressive and of non-acquiring disposition, For one full year before his rununciation of the world, he was giving away all his wealth and at the time of ascetic life he distributed the very clothes and ornaments which he had on, his body and when he attained the final self realisation, he went on without any food. He gave away all that he did not want, not because he was compelled to do so but because of his own free will and choice. The life of Lord Mahāvīra thus teaches us a lesson, which the modern Socialism would profit by always remembering that in order that a human being may voluntarily consent for and equal distribution of wealth, his character and not merely external atmosphere should be built up in an appropriate manner.
Lord Mahāvīra, keeping nothing for himself reduced his necessaries to their barest minimum- in the words of Thomas Carlyle, made his "claim of wages a zero." It is true that the people of this materialistic age would not be able to practise renunciation to the extent and the manner done by Lord Mahāvira, but unquestionably. He is the transcendent ideal to be followed as much faithfully and closely as possible. Some amount of renunciation or Aparigraha as it is called in the Jaina Ethics should be the fundamental principle of all the socialist philosophy and the motto of the socialist should be Live and let live like that of Lord Mahavira.
-Prof. H. S. Bhattacharya's article quoted in Bhagavān Mahāvīra Aura Unaka Tattva Darsana, pp. 869-73.
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