Economics of Lord Mahavira

Economics of Lord Mahavira is influenced by his principles and philosophies. His philosophies have been used to explain the economics behind it. He was the last of the 24 Tirthankars, who spread Jainism. In the Economics context he explains the importance of the concept of 'anekanta'(non-absolutism).<ref name="AVI"/> He understands the relevance of materialism in the modern world but also explains the importance of spiritualism, and how a blend of the two concepts will lead to the peace,content and happiness of human beings. He explains the nature of human beings and compares the basis of modern economics with that of his.
As mentioned above, Mahavira'a economics can be understood through some of his basic teachings. According to Mahavira, insatiable ambition and place can never be reconciled. We do need economic resources but the 'principles of economics' should conform with the 'economics of peace'.
Hence man should practice restraints and abnegation rather than falling prey to or being tempted by consumerism,luxury or comforts.One should not be mislead by the above sentence regarding Mahavira's principles. Although he stressed on abstinence and asceticism,he also understands the 'need' for resources in the pragmatic life. All he demands is that we should balance the materialistic lifestyle with self-restraint,wherever possible. Therefore he is not against the needs of a man for existence but against the 'needs' of luxury and comfort. As we all know that human wants are insatiable but the needs for a living are not.<ref name="AIJ"/>
Hence a balance between principles of limitation and relative principle of modern economics will give us a deeper understanding behind Mahavira's philosophies.
Human Nature
Lord Mahavira describes the nature of man under the four main aspects without which it would be difficult to understand humans fully.
<ref name="EOM" />
# Passion
# Lust or greed for wealth
# Faith in Religion
# Emotion
Basic Elements of Mahavira's Economics
The aspects of human nature leads us to the basic elements of Mahavira's economics. In modern economics, there are three basic elements -
# Desires
# Needs
# Demands
However under Mahavira's economics, there are four more elements to those of modern economic thoughts :
#Means of convenience
#Attachment
#Luxury
#Fame (or Ego)
Needs Vs. Luxuries
The essential needs or requirements for a human being are -
#Water
#Food
#clothes
#Shelter/House
Lord Mahavira says," Satisfying the need of body is necessity and that satisfying sense organs is secondary.For Example ornamentation,eating tasty food,listening to music are the demands of the sense organs." However Mahavira being a realist did not reject these demands.He accepted the demands of the mind and the importance of establishing a social relationship and marriage and producing progeny. But as human beings are greedy and egoistic they always desire for more.
Any article or commodity that results in deterioration of one's own health or that of the others (negative externalities) should not be consumed. He was absolutely against the consumption of luxury goods. They are neither required nor essential.He says "its a kind of unrestrained hedonism" . For example a Fridge,although it has become a necessity in the modern world but it is injurious to health and environment,therefore should not be consumed. Another example is an air conditioner. One derives excess comfort from this good,however it is undesirable because it is harmful for our body as well as the environment.There is no point consuming luxury or comfort good as it just satisfies greed and boosts a man's ego. Hence one should curb these type of wants or desires and avoid similar amenities.
His Devout Society
There are two core political-economic system of the society recognized by Mahavira. One is Communism and the other, Capitalism. The former is meant to be more socialistic and the latter capitalistic. However Mahavira found no difference in both these systems because both were driven by materialism.
Hence, Mahavira developed a new devout society. The fundamental basis of this society was religion, where materialism and spiritualism were interconnected,that is the principle of anekant. Anekant is a synthesis of both materialistic and spiritual pleasures. He thought that materialistic pleasures last for a brief period of time and hence are short term benefits gained by man. One should think about the long run. This is where spiritualism comes in. Hence a society with a blend of these two principles would be impervious.
In relevance to these principles, Mahavira argued about the issues of focal point of an economics policy. The focal point refers to the target of the economic policy- whether it is Man or Money.We will determine how man becomes the secondary target and money takes the primary position of policy making. In a society where wants and desires are unlimited, money takes the primary position and man is shifted to peripheries. When a person runs for luxury goods, he indulges in a excessive style of living. Due to this his greed increase and all he thinks about is earning more and more money to procure more of luxury goods. This greed results in the shift of primary focus of policies from man to money.As we can see in the modern days, all the policies are focused on the keeping monetary resources stable,price level,inflation stable. We are concentrating on money rather concentrating on the welfare of human beings. The government uses economic policies to manage the monetary and economic resources to increase our welfare level,where as it should be the other way round.
Therefore Lord Mahavira's equation for economics is :
Limit to wealth = Peace + Happiness <ref name="EOM"/>
The equation implies that limiting the amount of wealth one has will lead to inner peace and happiness.
Hence following this equation will lead us to the right kind of economic policies, where man is in the center of economy instead wealth. If this transformation takes place all economic agents can live happily.
It can be concluded that when there is dedication to religion, restraint and control man will be in the centre of economic policy and wealth will take the secondary position.In the absence of morality and ethics, material objects and wealth will be the central point and man would disappear among all the wealth.
Related Articles
*Jainism
*Mahavira
*Spiritualism
*Modern Economics

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu