Pranam Modern and ancient economics
1 Hindu economics is based on the concept of tridharma. - the three categories of reasons that are considered appropriate grounds for actions by an individual. This article looks briefly at the *DharmA, Artha and Kaama* while also looking at inappropriate grounds for action. We have a perception that epics and Vedas are religious only but we learn a lot from all of the, .We also try to understand healthcare, food, education and justice in Hindu economics. Contracts and prices are fundamental to TC economics while they are not as critical in Hindu economics. Lastly we examine taxation and state expenditure in Hindu economics. 2 “A paradigm is what the members of a particular community share, and, conversely a scientific community consists of men who share a paradigm”5 A paradigm provides a “ … ‘disciplinary matrix’: ‘disciplinary’ because it refers to the common possession of the practitioners of a particular discipline; ‘matrix’ because it is composed of ordered elements of various sorts, each requiring further specification.”6 Constituents of the matrix include “symbolic generalizations”, “shared commitments to beliefs”, “values”, “tacit knowledge” and “exemplars”7 . “Paradigms gain their status because they are more successful than their competitors in solving a few problems that the group of practitioners has come to recognize as acute. To be more successful is not, however, to be either completely successful with a single problem or notably successful with any large number. 3 “Economics is the study of how societies use scarce resources to produce valuable commodities and distribute them among different people. Behind this definition are two ideas in economics: that goods are scarce and that society must use its resources efficiently.”10 One can also look at Lionel Robbins’s famous all-encompassing definition of economics, still used to define the subject today: “Economics is the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between given ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. “By following their own self-interest, doing what seems best and most profitable for themselves, and responding to the incentives of prices set on open markets, people produce a spontaneous social order. In that order, literally thousands of millions of transactions and activities fit together to produce the things that people want within the constraints set by the resources that are available to the nation.” 4 “Individuals pursue their own self-interest, buying and selling what seems best for themselves and their families. People respond to incentives. Other things being equal, sellers seek high prices while buyers seek low prices • Prices are set in open markets in which would-be sellers compete to sell their wares to would-be buyers. • People earn their incomes by selling the services they own to those who wish to use them – their labor services, things they have produced, the services of the land and buildings that they own. • All of these activities are governed by a set of institutions largely created by the state. The most important are private property and freedom of contract. The nature of private property and contractual obligations are defined by the legislature and enforced by the police and the courts.” It is clear from the above that individuals, Neoclassical economics assumes a person to be, "a lightning calculator of pleasures and pains, who oscillates like a homogeneous globule of desire of happiness under the impulse of stimuli that shift about the area, *but leave him intact.* ". Rational expectations school of thought takes into account the expectations of people. Notwithstanding the differences among various schools, the assumption that one cannot change or educate human beings and thus no advice should be given to people is fundamental to TC economics. “The standard economic model of human behaviour includes three unrealistic traits—unbounded rationality, unbounded willpower, and unbounded selfishness—all of which behavioural economics modifies”. 5 While TC economists shy away from any debate on moral, ethical and philosophical questions, they presume that the appropriate model of society is no different from that of the large cats. Market forces and survival of the fittest are something that a TC economist is supposed to swear by. The only justification for this article of faith is TINA (there-is-no[1]alternative). Failure of communism is often cited as the reason to justify the TINA. Coming back to the role of state in the eyes of TC economics, it is worthwhile to also mention constitutional economics and about rule-of-law economics. Constitutional economics studies the "compatibility of effective economic decisions with the existing constitutional framework and the limitations or the favorable conditions created by that, framework." It has been characterized as a practical approach to apply the tools of economics to constitutional matters. The second serious problem faced by TC economists has its roots at the level of an individual. TC economics always took some traits of human beings as granted and unchangeable. Human beings worked to earn money and to take care of their families. One only had to pay more to make them work more. 6 On one hand, political leaders are confronting rising expectations of people and on the other hand young people are losing the will to work hard and earn more. Economists of the present century are called upon to find a solution to this obviously insolvable problem. They continue to use the tools that were developed for a different set of problems to search for a solution, little realizing that the problem is partly a creation of the tools that they have used for too long. Time is now ripe for “a reconstruction of the field from new fundamentals, a reconstruction that changes some of the field’s most elementary theoretical generalizations as well as many of its paradigm methods and applications” 7 “No King had any legislative powers in ancient India. Legislative activity or Lawmaking was done only at the Centers of Learning which can well be called the Universities of that time. Varanasi, Ujjain, Nalanda, Rameshwaram and almost all major temple towns were such centers of learning. The word Rishi used in Indian texts has often been translated as ascetic or sage but this creates confusion and lends to the term a super[1]human aura, a sort of mysticism. An impression has often been created in the public mind that the rishis who framed laws did nothing else but sit meditating under a tree or in some cave in the Himalayas. Nothing can be more removed from truth. Almost all rishis were married and lived a healthy family life. The best comparison of a rishi can be to the modern day university professor who lives in his university campus far removed from the din of the city and devotes himself to intellectual pursuits”. “A king was prohibited from becoming a lawmaker or even interpreting the law. However, after the 10th century, when the invasion of Islam led to a destruction of the famous Universities of India, some kings, as an attempt to safeguard knowledge, either took upon themselves or encouraged their ministers to take up the task of writing Commentaries and Digests of the Smritis”. The fact that kings in ancient India had no legislative powers is confirmed even by Smd Valmiki Ramayanam. Ram, even though he is an incarnation of Vishnu, does not attempt to make any laws. Neither a king nor the people are permitted to follow their own sweet will (SVR 2:109:9). The instruction to follow the directives of the learned ones is for everyone including the king (SVR 2:109:35). It is in this context that one should look at the role of a Hindu economist (artha-shastri) in ancient India. 8 A person has the freedom to make his own life choices maintaining the balance between tridharma (SVR 2:21:58 2:100:62). The job of an artha-shastri Chancellor of the Exchequer of FM) is to advise an individual as well as a king in the matter of maintaining a balance between the three reasons of tridharma while giving primary importance to dharma, secondary to artha and tertiary to kaama. The job of an arth-shastri is also to ensure that the ones whom he advises make efforts to increase the resources without affecting the tridharma balance. Maximum was 1/6 of the earnings; viz q16.66%. But all were taxed including the agriculturists. As Mahatma Gandhi said, the earth has enough to satisfy everyone’s needs but not to satisfy everyone’s greed. An arth-shastri in conjunction with dharma-shastris and the support of the state is supposed to ensure that people do not do any actions motivated by the Negative List. When one gives up greed, jealousy and such negative feelings one’s needs become limited. This creates abundance and removes scarcity. The Hindu world-view is essentially holistic with its focus on Brahmam, as opposed to individual. Hence, the focus of an arth-shastri has also to be holistic. *No individual is important compared to the whole. * Hindu economics, with its clear focus on the second element of triad of satyam, shivam and sundaram – improvement of people and society – did not need to dazzle the academic world with its mathematical prowess. The king and the arth-shastri had to show in *qualitative terms* their achievements. In this context it is interesting to read the questions that Ram asks his younger brother Bharat about the state of affairs in Ayodhya when Bharat goes to meet him in the forest (SVR 2:100:12-75). The questions relate to every aspect of economic life in the state. The questions do not include any demand for hard financial data like GDP growth. The paradigm of Hindu economics is *based on the premise* that if all qualitative indicators are pointing in the right direction, the final result will undoubtedly be good. Thus where greed was absent disclosures were true and so the 16.66% taxation were true. KR IRS 281121 On Sun, 28 Nov 2021 at 06:58, Markendeya Yeddanapudi < [email protected]> wrote: > > > -- > *Mar*The Contours of Theism > > > > Theism was perception of nature, as nature and with nature by smelling, > sensing and feeling and living as nature. Theism was simply breathing that > created the belief flow into the Hippocampus. The Hippocampus created the > concept bases for understanding. It was the seat of paradigms. People lived > breathing Theism, feeling theories continuously, and revealing them to > others who in turn smelt and sensed them, as the flow of God. > > Barter was the flower of Theism. Giving to the community and nature, what > all one could, was the essence of barter. The satisfaction of giving was > the satisfaction or income which a person felt and raptured about. Theism > and Barter constituted the anatomy of an economy. Income was giving not > receiving. > > Nature functioned as the essential part of one’s anatomy. Nature > continuously fed feelings as automatic understanding, creating flashes of > revelations into the Brain. May be, they functioned as the lightning, as in > the case of the rains we see. After all, the Brain mainly is electrical or > electromagnetic. > > Selfishness and egoism were simply impossible, when one was living as a > macro manifestation. And there was and is no place in the entire universe, > where you can disconnect yourself, creating personal separation and then > observing nature, to create science and technology. The scientific mind is > delusional. > > After all in your body there are trillions of bacteria.Not even one > bacterium works for money,creating a money economy separated from the > other bacteria.Without bacteria,you cannot live. > > Barter and Theism existed together as one. And Theism simply was the > belief in nature, in the symbiosis of nature. In your body there are > trillions of bacteria. Your living is their functioning. Without them you > cannot exist and live even for a nano second. > > The priests of those days spent their entire lives, breathing, smelling, > sensing and then conveying the intelligence flashes in the Brain to the > people, as the revelations from God. > > Unfortunately egoism and base emotions took over many priests and they > created counterfeit revelations from God or nature. Their Brains got > disconnected from their own bodies, they discounted completely the feeds > from their Amygdala, and they became the scientists of today, who create > technology and technology, destroying nature and calling it the money based > economic life. > > Modern Economy and Science and Technology on the one side and Theism on > the other, cannot coexist. > > Today grabbing as much money as possible is the essence of economic life > and all the theories of Economics are just euphemisms. Thanks to the > destruction of nature, which has become unstoppable now, God is getting > ready with his weapons; diseases will become continuous lightning and > thunder, in the acid rainfall created by us. > > Still God can be invoked. Stop destroying nature from your end. Start your > tiny effort. There can be the butterfly effect of revival of nature, Theism > and God, and then income will mean giving. > > YM > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Thatha_Patty" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CACDCHCJ4UiO4EbWa09QQN9KRqgvc1uu3_5mOe%3DT6aND7HRxMig%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CACDCHCJ4UiO4EbWa09QQN9KRqgvc1uu3_5mOe%3DT6aND7HRxMig%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/CAL5XZooRDoJLxSGpD0o-gb%3DAyvvCB9grjLBt0D0t7_qEUu%2BBLg%40mail.gmail.com.
