Economics of Mahaveera

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

Page 59

LIMITATION OF INDIVIDUAL OWNERSHIP AND PERSONAL CONSUMPTION 43
We can analyse the craze for money or wealth in three different situations:
Minimum ownership/wealth
•
Maximum ownership/wealth
• Unlimited ownership/wealth
@
Minimum Ownership
Whatever is needed for a living can be called the minimum need. This sets the limit for minimum ownership. Bread, clothing, housing these fall under the concept of minimum ownership.
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Maximum Ownership
Maximum ownership cannot be considered desirable or ennobling. It has its own limit. One can manage with one khadi dhoti or one saree. On the contrary, one may feel dissatisfied even with a saree costing two thousand, ten thousand or fifty thousand rupees. I have learnt from the newspapers that people possess dresses worth crores of rupees while one can certainly live with just one khadi kurta, one dhoti and one cap. The example of Gandhiji is before us. He even managed to live with just a dhoti.
People today do not comprehend how much of peace and comfort can be derived from these simple and limited clothes. It may seem strange but the moment we wear costly clothes, fear starts. While we put on such clothes, we also put on fear! the fear of the dress getting dirty; the fear of its getting torn, the fear of its getting shrunk; the fear of its losing the shine and the glamour. Like this, a number of other fears start bothering you.
Excessive Consumption Generates Fear
A man suffered from fear psychosis. He went to a sorcerer and told him about his problem. The sorcerer made out a talisman and while giving it to him said, "Wear this, you will not experience