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

Economy of Permanence
will be more sensitive of the feeling of others and their surroundings than to his
own. He will weep with those who do weep and rejoice with those who do
rejoice. His scale of values will be altruistic. He will not be conscious of his own
rights. He will sublimate his fatherhood into protecting and supporting those
who are helpless friendless, accepting the whole human family as his own.
In the history of scientific research there are many instances of scientists trying
the effect of their researches on their own persons. Many have risked their lives
in doing so and some have lost them in the process. These are the martyrs with
whose blood human progress is cemented. One of the chief reasons why
Gandhiji has adopted the loin cloth as his complete wardrobe is because he
wanted to identify himself and feel one with the millions of our land who have
not even decent rags to cover their nakedness, leave along any protection
against the inclemencies of the weather.
In a country like ours, bristling with socio-economic problems, we need persons
who will take on themselves the disabilities, privations and poverty of the
masses and having experienced in their own being the sufferings of those
around them will proceed to find a suitable remedy. It is for this purpose that
the various human laboratories or ashrams and institutions like Tagore's
Santiniketan, and Gandhiji's Charkha Sangh, the Gram Udyoga Sangh, etc. are
established. These function like a nursery where a horticulturist produces
tested and selected seeds to supply the gardens of the land. The proved
remedies of these experimental stations are placed at the service of the world
at large.
Hence, it is through the House of Sublimation we can find a solution for the ills
humanity is suffering from violence and hatred. The life of the people in
general has to be planned and ordained, not from the point of view of
individual interest based on laissez-faire principles, but from a selfless,
detached and long range point of view. When so planned each member of
society, however humbly he may be placed, will have full opportunities to
make his own contribution for the good of all. Then life will be neither pure
imitation without any regard for varying circumstances nor will it be one of
www.mkgandhi.org Page 66