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The Path of Arhat: A Religious Democracy
the principle of Aparigraha. Good Jainas take a vow to fix their possession of material things including wealth.
Economy of Indian society was, till recently, dominated by this principle of Aparigraha. However, the more we have come under the influence of Western materialism, more superficial our attitude towards the life has become. Past history of India is replete with examples to show that a multi-millionaire would himself lead the life of a poor man and would be prepared to donate the whole of his wealth for a public cause. There was no marked difference between the life style and standard of the persons belonging to different financial stratas of the society. A rich man did not desire more luxury simply because he could afford to spend. Now the standards have changed, outlook towards life and life-style is also changed. Earn more and spend more; increase your standard of living, simple thinking and higher living a contrast to what English poet Wordsworth said - are the mottoes of modern life. The result is licentiousness, absence of moral discipline, unnecessary and unfruitful spending, want of equilibrium in the prices of consumer goods, diversion of essential raw materials for the production of luxury goods, exploitation of labour and consumers, unequal distribution of wealth produced by the society and the resultant unrest and class war.
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The principle of 'Aparigraha' was never more relevant than today. It is highly unfortunate that even the socialist ideology led by thinkers like Marx and others, who revolted against social injustices, resulting from economic imbalances, failed to go to the root of the problem, and could not go beyond the materialistic conceptions of history and economics. They forgot to take into account that a human being is the unit of the society and hence no social structure can be effectively improved without improving its units.
Indian seers have always kept this aspect in mind. They have always emphasized the advancement of the individual character of each man because they knew that a society can
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