Economics of Mahaveera

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

Page 61

LIMITATION OF INDIVIDUAL OWNERSHIP AND PERSONAL CONSUMPTION 45
The first control
The second control :
:
•
The right means in the process of earning wealth
The limitation of personal
Mahavira had prescribed a schedule of articles of consumption. It was a kind of enumeration which has never been prepared by any economist. Upasakdasha Sutra embodied ten principles in which there is a mention of ten prominent persons of that time. If the consumption prescribed in that schedule is followed today, the problem of poverty would get automatically resolved. Some of the rules governing that list are:
consumption.
number of clothes,
number of twigs for brushing teeth,
quantum of wealth,
•
• quantity of water,
• number of vehicles, and so on.
A committed and dedicated person takes a vow: 'I shall not keep more than so many clothes. I shall not use anything more than one dhoti and one shirt at any time. For cleaning the body, I. will not keep more than one towel.' These were the limits followed by a person who possessed millions of gold coins of that time.
A committed person limits also the quantity of water. He decides that he shall not use more than a given quantity of water. The problem of pollution was not there at that time, nor was there any programme for that, but there was an awareness that the problem of pollution can arise any time later. Today, this problem has acquired dangerous proportions and the danger of this getting formidable in future is being expressed. None of the ways to deal with this seems to be adequately effective. The misuse of water today is much more than ever before. It cannot be easily imagined how much terrifying the water crisis is going to be in future. A person committed to religious faith limits the use of water by pledging, 'I shall not use more than a given number of pitchers of water for bathing.'