Sri Aurobindo and Capitalism (2)

• 1.  India is not to follow the west – Sri Aurobindo;
• 2.  Sri Aurobindo and Capitalism;
• 3.  Crisis of Capitalism, Socialism – Sri Aurobindo;

1. Sri Aurobindo was a great Yogi that the world has ever seen – and we need not introduce him here. One can Google about him.
2. Today almost the entire humanity is living under the economic system of Capitalism. What did Sri Aurobindo say about Capitalism?
3. India is rushing at break-neck speed on the path of this Capitalism – privatization or corporatization of national wealth; production of items of human needs; agriculture; all kinds of means of transport – buses, trains, airplanes; educational institutions; hospitals; everything, every part of economic activity is being handed over to the private hands!
4. It is all being done under the much hyped ‘market economy’. In this economy market is made free to decide price of buying and selling (of items of human needs) on the principle of demand and supply. Here govt has got no right to interfere in this freedom of market to decide price. This economy is ruling our world today under an international regime of World Trade Organization.
5. However, in this market economy persons and their corporations, on the strength of their enormous wealth, first sell items of human needs at predatory prices (price below cost) to kill their competitors and thus create their monopolies, and then sell them to consumers at the exorbitant price. This is an ugly face of capitalism.
6. In capitalism common people find themselves placed in circumstances beyond their control where they work hard, earn money enough only to pay their bills, rents, buy food etc. to sustain life but with no money left for security of tomorrow, if they are unable to work; and, above this all they see around them those who own sky scrappers with the heap of wealth and enjoying their life of luxury. It is indeed development but it is an uneven development.
7. Did Sri Aurobindo approve this ugly Capitalism?
8. One can understand the merits of this Capitalism. In Capitalism private persons (and corporations controlled by them) work on national resources efficiently to make best output from the resources for the progress of their country. It is so because they have an incentive to earn profit out of the whole trouble (ventures) that they undertake.
9. We also understand that India needs today to be efficient to develop herself at fast pace – after all she has to defend herself against many inimical foreign powers – for example, an expansionist (communist) dictatorial regime of China; India’s economy is backward and she has to catch up with other countries and compete with them in an integrated world economy; India has to gain international respect by her progress; and, things like that.
10. But we also know that these private persons and their corporations in their effort to earn more and more profits buy / produce commodities at low cost and sell at exorbitant price and make life of common people miserable. They make their life hell!
11. How long can India follow the path of Capitalism – the Capitalism that is bound to give birth to monopolies, cartels, exorbitant prices of life sustaining items in the name of development and create hell on earth?
12. With a daily increase in the living cost of common man and not enough earnings to meet that cost, there is discontent all around the world – discontent in India; in China; in USA, Russia, Europe … discontent is everywhere! And, this discontent is increasing with the passage of time.
13. How long can this discontent be overlooked? How long can the world, including India, go on this path?
14. Can we gain an insight from Sri Aurobindo in facing this problem of human miseries? Sri Aurobindo did not approve of capitalism. He spoke of the death of capitalism.
15. Sri Aurobindo said coming of socialism on world’s stage was not an accident of history – it is the offering of Nature’s working to meet the demand of time. Socialism is inevitable – because of the struggle between Capital and Labor – and it is bound to be established either under historical convulsions of the violent force of State power or free groupings of peoples under an intelligent and collective will of social being for an inner and outer development.
16. He also said that this historical violent convulsion in the form of Socialism can be vetoed only if the collective social being willingly chose for the free groupings of peoples in accord with their race and culture without mutual incompatibilities of money and labor – without antagonistic struggle between capital and human toil.
17. Sri Aurobindo while dealing with the ideal of human unity saw an unfolding of the self-consciousness of social being, which started with its tentative steps in ancient social institutions and would culminate in a World-State under either of these two rival principles – the principle of Natural violent social convulsion (revolution) or a willing choice of social being (intelligently crafting social economy aimed at providing equity, outer and inner development of citizens).
18. In this process, he saw Socialism as an inevitable outcome of the struggle between Capital and Labor and said that Democracy and Socialism are the sign that this self-consciousness of social being is beginning to ripen into fullness.
19. In his writings we can find a clue of what is impending for this unfolding self-consciousness of social being and get guidance for the future of our social life as a race.
20. We would refer to Sri Aurobindo from “Ideal of Human Unity” on pages 463-502 where he says that if the mechanical or state principle is followed (that is, if the inner spiritual principle is not followed) for the unification of humanity, then, the great struggle between Capital and Labor might become rapidly world-wide; it would precipitate the inevitable step or present the crisis, which would bring about the transformation of nation states into the world state of a socialist kind.
21. He said that the socialistic, scientific, humanitarian thinkers were able to detect the trend of such tendencies and to dream of nation states transforming into a socialistic world state; that such speculation may seem chimerical and utopian to a person who only looks to today and tomorrow but in reality it is nothing of the kind; and that in essence (but not necessarily in form) such results are not only the logical outcome, but the inevitable practical last end of the incipient urge towards human unity.
22. We would quote Sri Aurobindo on this aspect in the next article of this series.