The Economy of Permanence: A Quest for a Social Order Based on Non-violence (स्थायी अर्थतन्त्र)

Economy of Permanence
[A quest for a social order based on non-violence
By: J. C. Kumarappa
With a foreword from: M. K. Gandhi
ECONOMY
of
PERMANENCE
Dr. J. C. Kumarappa
Published by:
Sarva Seva Sangh Prakashan
Rajghat, Varanasi - 221 001, India.
Email: [email protected]

Economy of Permanence
FOREWORD
Like this brochure on the 'PRACTICE & PRECEPTS OF JESUS' Dr. Kumarappa's on
'THE ECONOMY OF PERMAENCE' is a jail production. It is not as easy to
understand as the first. It needs careful reading twice or thrice if it is to be
fully appreciated. When I took up the manuscript I was curious to know what it
could contain. The opening chapter satisfied my curiosity and led me on to the
end without fatigue and yet with profit. This doctor of our village industries
shows that only through them we shall arrive at the economy of permanence in
the place of that of the fleeting nature we see around us at present. He tackles
the question - shall the body triumph over and stifle the soul or shall the latter
triumph over and express itself through a perishable body which, with its few
wants healthily satisfied, will be free to subserve the end of the imperishable
soul? This is 'Plain living and High thinking'.
On the train to Bombay. 20-8-1945.
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Economy of Permanence
PREFACE
In a previous study, 'WHY THE VILLAGE MOVEMENT? the conditions prevailing in
India in comparison with the orders obtaining in leading western countries were
considered. In this booklet, an attempt is made to present a positive outlook
that will suit the genius of the people of our land.
Religion, as practised today, is largely institutional and ritualistic. It has lost its
grip over the everyday actions of men. Hence there are many who have lost
faith in it and regard it as a superstition to be shunned. As the natural
consequence of excluding religion from life, economics has been divorced from
moral considerations on the plea of business being business. In the traditional
archives of knowledge, religion, sociology and economy jhave all been reserved
their separate and exclusive spheres. Man has been divided into various
watertight compartments. The left hand is not to know what the right does.
Nature does not recognise such divisions. She deals with all life as a whole.
Hence, in this' little book an attempt is made to co-ordinate the various
principles governing different departments, and to focus them all on, the many
problems of everyday life of man as an integral undivided unit.
The object of the present quest is to relate our spiritual and higher self back to
life so that the daily routine of mundane existence may be regulated in
accordance with the dictates of our better self, and to find a way of life that
will lend purpose for existence and action to such as have no use for the
present day traditional religion because of its other worldiness from humdrum
everyday life. An effort is here made to bring all walks of life into alignment
with the universal order. What men of religion term 'eternal life' or 'Union with
the Godhead' has been interpreted in relation to the everyday life of man in the
title of this book as 'The Economy of Permanence'.
The approach may be novel, but if it sets others thinking on the ways and
means of achieving the end aimed at, this venture would be amply justified.
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Part I of this book was written during my incarceration in Jubbulpore Central
Jail and before the Second part could be tackled I was set at liberty on grounds
of health.
I am thankful to Gandhiji for his criticism and suggestions and his Foreword.
I am indebted to Artist Madhav Satwalekar who has kindly provided pictorial
representations to elucidate some passages.
24th August, 1945.
Maganvadi, Wardha, C. P.
J. C. Kumarappa
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PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
In this edition Part I remains much the same.
Part II-Man in Gregation-has been added as a separate volume. This part deals
with activities of man as a Member of Society. Taken by itself this part may be
considered a plan for the Development of the country on the basis of non-
violence. It treats about planning, Agriculture, Village Industries, Exchange, De-
mocracy and the State in relation to Key Industries, Monopolies and Natural
Resources. It indicates the services that the State should render to the citizens.
It is hoped that this addition will give a complete picture of life in a community
working towards non-violence and peace.
-J. C. Kumarappa
Maganvadi, Wardha, C. P.
THIRD EDITION
This is only a reprint of the Second Edition.
-J. C. Kumarappa
9th February, 1957,
Kallupatti, S. I.
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PART ONE
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INTRODUCTORY
What is permanent? What is transient?
Apart from God there is nothing that can be said to be permanent. He is the
only being with neither beginning nor end. Human intellect being limited, it is
not possible for it to comprehend fully what is everlasting in the absolute
sense. Such a conception refers to conditions beyond Time and Space. The laws
of God, Truth and Love, are absolutes being unchangeable and permanent in
the strictest sense of the term.
Within Time and Space there is no such thing as absolute permanency.
Everything begins somewhere and ceases to exist sometime. The interval that
separates the two moments varies. In some cases it is short, and in others it is
long. A flower blooms in the morning, by the evening it is faded and gone. Its
life is but a few hours. Tortoises are reputed to live for centuries, while a unit
of millions of years is required to compute the age of our universe. So in
comparison with the flower, the tortoise is said to be long-lived while the world
is Permanent. It is all a matter of relative terms.
Nature (when it is not a term convertible with God) is limited by Time and
Space. It came into existence once in the remote past and will cease to be
sometime in the future. Human life rarely reaches even a hundred years while
the unit to reckon the life of Nature will run into astronomical figures. Hence
the life of man is said to be Transient in comparison with that of Nature which
is Permanent. It is in this relative sense that we speak of 'An Economy of
Permanence'.
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SECTION ONE
NATURE
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I. NATURE
There are certain things found in Nature which apparently have no life and do
not grow or increase, and so get exhausted or consumed by being used. The
world possesses a certain stock or reservoir of such materials as coal,
petroleum, ores or minerals like iron, copper, gold etc. These being available in
fixed quantities, may be said to be 'transient' while the current of overflowing
water in a river or the constantly growing timber of a forest may be considered
'permanent' as their stock is inexhaustible in the service of man when only the
flow or increase is taken advantage of.
In animate life, the secret of nature's permanency lies in the cycle of life by
which the various factors function in close cooperation to maintain the
continuity of life. A grain of wheat falls from the parent plant. It gets buried in
the earth, sends out roots into the soil and through them absorbs nutritive
elements with the aid of moisture and the heat of the sun. It sprouts up into a
plant by this process. The plant shoots out leaves which help to gather
nourishment from the air and light, as the roots do from the soil. When some of
these leaves 'die' they fall to the ground and are split up or decomposed into
the various elements which the parent plant had absorbed from the soil, air,
and light. This is again used to nourish the next generation of plants. The bees
etc. while gathering the nectar and pollen from these plants for their own
good, fertilize the flowers and the grains, that are formed in consequence,
again become the source of life of the next generation of plants. When ready,
this seed falls to the ground and comes to life with the help of the soil that has
already been enriched by fallen leaves of the previous generation of plants.
Thus a fresh cycle of life begins once again. In this manner, life in nature goes
on, and as long as there is no break in this cycle, the work in nature continues
endlessly, making nature permanent.
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II. WORK AND WAGES IN NATURE
'Work' in nature consists in the effort put forth by the various factors-insentient
and sentient-which cooperate to complete this cycle of life. If this cycle is
broken, at any stage, at any time, consciously or unconsciously, violence results
as a consequence of such a break. When violence intervenes in this way, growth
or progress is stopped, ending finally in destruction and waste. Nature is
unforgiving and ruthless. Therefore, self-interest and self- preservation demand
complete non-violence, co-operation and submission to the ways of nature if
we are to maintain permanency by non-interference with and by not short-
circuiting the cycle of life.
Even sentient creatures have to fall in line and function properly in their own
sphere if they are to exist. An earthworm by its movements in the earth, loose
is the soil allowing it to absorb air and water. When it feed on the earth
containing vegetable matter, it thoroughly mixes the various constituent parts
in its stomach and throws out a well prepared and fertilized soil- -worm casts-
from which plants can draw their own nutriment easily. ¹Here is a sample of the
form of vital co-operation eristing between soil, plant and animal life similar to
the one where bees and butterflies fertilize the flowers of plants.
In return for such services or 'work' done, the worker unit gets its feed. In this
way nature pays its wages honestly in the form of food and nourishment in
return for every benefit received by her in obtaining cooperation and bringing
about co-ordination of the manifold factors-inanimate and animate-in air, land
and water.
The life in the vegetable kingdom is immobile. The seeds can only fall directly
below, near the parent plant or tree. If all seeds fall and germinate around the
parent plant it will create a suffocating congestion. It is necessary to broadcast
the seed further afield. To do this, nature commandeers the services of birds,
animals etc. Here the mobile creature performs a special function. A bird may
eat the fruit of a plant and pass out the seed, perhaps miles away. It does this
co-ordinating work as a part of its own existence and not as an obligation to
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anybody. It eats to satisfy its own hunger. While performing its own primary
function it fulfills its role in the cycle of life.
In this manner nature enlists and ensures the co-operation of all its units, each
working for itself and in the process helping other units to get along their own
too-the mobile helping the immobile, and the sentient the insentient. Thus all
nature is dovetailed together in a common cause. Nothing exists for itself.
When this works out harmoniously and violence does not break the chain, we
have an economy of permanence.
A bird living on other creatues
Birds feeding on ears of corn which they have done nothing to cultivate
TYPES OF ECONOMIES IN NATURE
A bird using a nest built by its own effort
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III. TYPES OF ECONOMIES IN NATURE
This complete non-violent co-operation between the various units is not always
present in all forms of life. Some units, instead of passing through the different
stages in nature drawing their sustenance from the elements and insentient
creatures, short- circuit the long process by preying on their fellow creatures.
Here too, violence interposes with its accompaniment of destruction.

1. Parasitic Economy: Some plants live on others and become parasites. Often
   the host tree, or plant, dies in consequence of all the nourishment drawn by
   its roots not reaching its various parts, as it is robbed on the way by the
   parasitic growth. This also leads to violence and death. Among the animals,
   the sheep eats grass and drinks water and exists non-violently, while the
   tiger short-circuits the process of nature by feeding on the sheep, drinking
   its blood, introducing violence and basing its whole existence on it. Here
   violence becomes an essential part of the life of the tiger.
2. Predatory Economy: When a unit in nature benefits itself without
   conferring a corresponding advantage to another unit it is said to be
   predatory. A monkey comes into a mango grove, to the existence of which it
   has not contributed anything by either digging, planting or watering, but
   enjoys the fruits on the trees. It acts in self-interest but without a
   contribution. This form of economy may be less violent than the previous
   one, but nevertheless, it is destructive.
3. Economy of Enterprise: Some creatures take what they need while
   performing some distinct service to the unit from which they derive their
   benefit, and while thus contributing to the product, they take something
   that is of their own effort and making. In the case of the honey bees, they
   fertilize the flowers from which they gather the nectar and pollen, and
   convert the nectar into honey, and store these products in combs built by
   themselves with wax produced out of their secretion. These creatures are
   not parasitic as they help the unit from which they draw benefit instead of
   killing it. They are also not predatory as they contribute their own share and
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effort in the obtaining of the product. They benefit by their own enterprise-
instinctive though it may be. They are active constructive units.
4. Economy of Gregation: Incidentally, it may be observed, that the honey
bees do not work for their own respective individual gains but for the
common benefit of the whole colony. Here is an extension from self-interest
to group-interest and from acting on the immediate urge of present needs to
planning for future requirements.
A honey bee collecting food, not for
itself, but for the whole colony
The mother bird feeding its young ones,
without expecting a reward
5. Economy of Service: The highest form of economy in nature is the economy
of service, This is the best seen in the relation between the young one and
the parent. The mother bird will scour the jungle to feed its young one and
risk its life in defending the young from its enemies. It functions neither for
its present need nor for its personal future requirement, but projects its
activities into the next generation, or generations to come, without looking
for any reward. Because of its mother love, it contributes disinterestedly,
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without desire to benefit personally. This comes nearest to what may be
called a non-violent economy of permanence.
These pure forms are set out in this chapter in the increasing order of
permanence and non-violence.
Out of these five simple forms of economies many more complex types can be
obtained by permutations and combinations.
A robber killing a child for its necklace
A pickpocket at work
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SECTION TWO
MAN-THE INDIVIDUAL
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IV. MAN AND FREEWILL
For the purpose of our study we need not go further into the economies of life
governing other orders in nature but confine ourselves to the life of the one
creature in the animal kingdom-Man-who has the ability either to make or mar
the orderly functioning of Nature. Though such interference as it may suffer
from him may be but transient, as Nature is mighty enough to hold its own
against man and ultimately have its own way, yet, from time to time, he does
upset its even working and cause a jar or jolt, like the present global war. By a
closer study, we may be able to find ways and means of co-operating more
satisfactorily with the order of the day in nature and thus be able to avoid
needless violence and contribute to greater happiness by consciously working
towards, if not attaining, an Economy of Permanence.
All other animals conform, more or less rigidly, to the laws of Nature. They do
not have much latitude for the exercise of their own 'Freewill'. They work under
the dictates of their instinct which tells them the way of Nature. Their path
through life is like that of railway train, the rails, like their instinct, guide the
direction and course of the trains. Without any further steering, if nothing
untoward happens, as long as the train is kept in motion, it is sure to reach its
destination travelling by night or day, through open country or forests, over hill
or dale.
As soon as a chicken bursts its way out of the egg-shell it runs about in search
of food and picks up grains that are good for its nourishment. When fed, it rests
under the winds of the mother bird, getting the needed warmth. It is naturally
aware of approaching danger and runs to shelter instantly. It never overeats
because the food may be palatable, nor goes in pursuit of pleasure to gratify its
senses. All such life is controlled by instinct and not conscious volition.
Animals that live close to nature seldom get ill and, even if they do suffer from
digestive disturbances occasionally, they eat certain .herbs by instinct which
set them right either by vomiting or purging.
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The main trouble with man arises out of the fact that he is endowed with a
'Freewill' and possesses a wide field for its play. By exercising this gift in the
proper way he can consciously bring about a much greater co-operation and co-
ordination of nature's units than any other living being. Conversly, by using it
wrongly he can create quite a disturbance in the economy of nature and in the
end destroy himself.
Instinct was compared to a railroad which unerringly guides the coaches on the
track, and does not allow them to stray from the path or course laid out for
them. On the other hand, the gift of 'Freewill' allows for freedom of movement.
But all movements are not with impunity. It is like being on a bicycle.
Theoretically the rider is free to go where he pleases. The steering gear-the
handle bar-is fully under his control. Nevertheless, his movements are
restricted by the limitations of the machine and the dictates of prudenec. He
cannot fly into the air, nor float over water. Even on land, he cannot go
everywhere. He has to restrict himself to the beaten path or road. If he tries to
go across ploughed fields he may be tossed over the bars by the front wheel
sticking in the rut or mud. If he tries to go over thorny weeds etc, the tyres will
be punctured. Hence, this theoretical freedom has its limitations and a wise
rider will keep within bounds. This conscious control of his movement requires
discipline and knowledge, without which the machine, which was intended to
help him, would be the means of bringing distress. A rider, who uses the known
road and travels by light of day, can attain a speed several times that of which
he is capable on foot.
In the same way, man can accomplish much more than the instinct-driven
animals if he disciplines himself to the use of his 'Freewill' to the proper sphere
and does not let his fancy run away with his desires and senses. He can be a
conscious agent of his own fate, moving either to success or to destruction by
following the light of day within him-his native intelligence combined with the
spark of the divine. If he does not do so, like the rider of the bicycle who
rushes in the dark or ventures over rough country, he will come to grief and will
have to pay the penalty for sinning against his conscience and against nature.
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Nature is faithful and submissive to those who respect her; but to those, who of
their own 'Freewill' choose to ignore her requirements, she is sterner than
justice and visits such transgressors with unrelenting punishments of violence
and death as areward for their sins. Instances of these we shall notice in the
next chapter.
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V. USE AND MISUSE OF FREEWILL
The life of man today is so complex that it is not possible, within the range of
this book, to take notice of all the activities resulting from the exercise of his
freewill. All that we can attempt is a limited consideration of a few outstanding
types, directly arising out of such primary needs as hunger, thirst etc., leaving
it to the reader to explore other instances coming within his ken, and to judge
for himself what is the proper use of freewill called for, and to what result its
improper use leads on each of those occasions.
Hunger: Let us take the highly urgent call-the most elemental instinct of
hunger. The physical body of an animal is like a machine. It requires fuel to
supply the necessary energy to run it, needs repairs and renewals to replace
wear and tear and to maintain it in working condition, and oil to lubricate its
various moving parts to lessen friction. These needs are indicated by the feeling
of hunger. The sense of smell and taste direct the animal to the things that will
satisfy the need and keep the body in sound working order.
Generally, all animals that lead a natural life follow their instincts. They eat to
live and are healthy. Man too can do likewise. But, unfortunately for him, in
many cases man uses* his freewill, not to appease his hunger but to pander to
his palate with overcooked and highly spiced savoury dishes. The enjoyment of
taste frequently makes him eat more than is necessary. He lives to eat. This
misuse of freewill to gratify his tongue is often the cause of most of the
ailments modern man is heir to. Over-eating not only taxes the digestive system
and causes irregularities, but, even nutritive food in excess of normal needs,
becomes injurious and even poisonous to the system and gives rise to all kinds
of disease resulting in much pain and probably in premature death.
Thirst: When food is digested, it is absorbed in liquid form. The nutritive
elements are carried by the blood stream to the regions where they are needed
and the waste from the body tissues etc., is also transported by it to the lungs,
where the waste matter is eliminated by being burnt up with the oxygen of the
air we breathe in. In the process, a good deal of the water of the blood
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evaporates and goes out of the system as moisture in our breathing and also as
perspiration through the action of the skin, which last helps to regulate the
temperature of the body. This drying up of the blood is signalled by the feeling
of thirst, to quench which a copious in-take of pure, clean water is vital to life,
not only as a means of transporting nourishment to the different parts of the
body, but also as a cleaning agent of blood, to wash out the impurities in it
through the passing out of urine and to air-condition the system with the aid of
the skin.
By the wrong use of will, man displaces this natural function by allaying his
thirst with intoxicating liquors which introduce various poisons into the system.
These deaden the nervous mechanism and retard mental powers and finally
become an inpediment to sound health. This habit often brings dishonour to the
individual and spells ruin to the family. Alcoholism is the root cause of many
evils and vices found in modern society.
Smell: Similarly, the sense of which directs the animal to its food, is put to
wrong use by inhaling tobacco or taking snuff which, though for the moment
may seem to soothe and stimulate, have harmful after effects on the heart and
brain.
Sex: Perhaps the strongest of all urges to activity in animal life arises out of
the natural mating instinct to ensure reproduction and continuity of the
species. Most birds and some animals too, not only centre their colourful,
emotional life round this instinct, but also pair off and live in harmony to put
forth a joint effort to rear their young ones. In all cases the male and female
come together in nature, at certain seasons only, for the sole purpose of
reproduction.
By the exercise of his will, man has fallen below brute beasts by putting his
physical sex equipment in the service of sensual pleasure, without any intent or
desire for progeny. Children, instead of being the only purpose of sexual
intercourse, have now become a by- product and in many cases, merely
unwanted' accidents of such relations. Nature wreaks her vengeance for this
departure from her ordinances by visiting the sinners with such dire diseases as
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