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

Economy of Permanence
As man evolves, his consciousness of duties enlarges and he becomes more and
more aware, not of the benefits he gets by being a member of society, but of
the duties he is to perform towards the well-being of that society. In the final
stage he reaches the service economy in which he realizes himself in the
service of others.
In this part of the book we shall consider not the gragation of the pack-type but
man working together for the common good of mankind.
What the world needs today is the knowledge of how people can work together
and bring about general welfare of mankind without involving the destruction
of others. It may be that in this economy the apparent well being may not be
flashy but if would certainly be lasting.
The Western pack-type gregation economy is today an example of what would
be the result of following those methods. Those who have eyes to see need only
behold and note in what stare Europe is today to study the end of the pack-
type gregation. Nearly 150 years of large scale production at a feverish heat has
resulted in starvation and nakedness and lack of consumers of goods, not to
mention the millions of lives that have been lost and the untold material
wealth that has been either blown up into the air or sunk in the sea, leaving
man tearing his hair not knowing what to do next. The pack-type gregation,
therefore, is one of which we should beware, as we are interested only in
bringing about an economy of permanence. The economy of pack-type
gregation ultimately leads to conflict and destruction. Though it may seem to
flourish for a while it ends up in a conflagration and therefore it is in the long
run a transient economy. Hence we need not spend our time and effort in
studying the working of this type of economy in India.
For our part, as we are interested in an economy of permanence, we have to
study how man should act in a group and as a group to be able to work towards
an economy of permanence.
In the first part of this book we saw man's action individually in the group. We
studied the values that should govern his consumption.
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