Economics of Mahaveera

Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya
Publisher: Adarsh Sahitya Sangh

Page 33

THE ECONOMIC CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT
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development in society, but this should not be done by just any means. It should be achieved with ahimsa (non-violence) and with good and ethical means.
Values Should not be Eroded Mahavira said that while earning wealth, human values should not be sacrificed. From this point of view, we find a major difference between Mahavira's concepts and the concepts of Modern Economics. Under Mahavira's philosophy, it remained an imperative that in achieving economic development values should not be permitted to be eroded: But today the situation is different. Keynes has said clearly: The time has not come when we should think about values or about morality. When all become rich, then it would become necessary to think about this. To Mahavira's Economics, development of compassion and sensitivity should keep pace with economic development. We should avoid a position where we become prosperous but the stream of compassion and sensitivity dries up. Man can amass wealth by cruel means, which could lead to development, but this kind of development should lead to impoverishment of millions of people.
Limits to Self-Serving
And yet, it is not possible to remain entirely untouched by selfishness. Even a person doing meditation has his own selfish motivation. This is not entirely bad or undesirable. Serving selfinterest could also be good but it should be within limits. Selfserving should not be such that it does harm to the well-being of others. The individual is not the only entity, The world is very large. There are millions of people. A person may develop his self-interest to an extent that he achieves his own economic development but causes harm to others. This is certainly not the right thing to do.
Mahavira also said that along with economic development we should ponder over other aspects. Mahavira's shravak Anand was very prosperous from economic point of view. He possessed thousands and thousands of acres of agricultural land. He had a