ASK MAULANA
Your Questions, Answered
Is today’s economic crisis in the world the result of unlimited freedom of the business community?
The economic crisis is not because of unlimited freedom, but the true reason is the unlimited lust for accumulating wealth. This kind of lust goes against the law of nature. Nature has provided things only in a limited quantity. Thus, if you try to acquire things without any limitation, it would certainly lead to a crisis. It is this natural fact that has been expressed by Mahatma Gandhi in these words: “The world has enough for man’s need, but not enough for man’s greed.”
Please explain how to develop God-oriented thinking in this material environment.
God-oriented thinking cannot be obtained by going into seclusion and engaging in meditation. It is developed through contemplation on the experiences and observations of daily life. Our environment has two aspects: outwardly, it is material, but at the same time it has spiritual content. You have to extract that spiritual content, just as the honeybee extracts the nectar content from the flower. This spiritual extraction is the only way of developing God-oriented thinking.
Many say that if we live a life of simplicity or an ascetic life, how will the economy run? Please comment.
Simplicity is the lifestyle of an individual, it has no connection with the economy. JRD Tata, for example, was very simple as far his personal life was concerned, yet he was able to establish an industrial empire in India.
How should a person manage his expenditure within his means of income?
Learn the art of differentiation between need and luxury. When you are able to discern this difference, you will certainly be able to easily manage your expenditure, whatever be your income.
It is a general feature that people do good things when there is compulsion. Otherwise, they fail to do good things. It is this human psychology that causes people to remember God only when they are in trouble; that is, when they are in compulsive situations. But, reward is for those who remember God without there being any compulsion to do so.
Many people say, “Materialism and spirituality cannot co-exist”. Please explain.
It is not a matter of coexistence; because, materialism and spirituality are not contradictory. Spirituality is the inner content of materialism, and materialism is the outer content of spirituality. It all depends on one’s intellectual awakening. One who is an intellectually awakened person can combine both these without any problem.
Often, people are of the opinion that the right time to indulge in spirituality and God-oriented thinking is after one has attained a certain status in life and reached a particular age. Please comment.
This kind of thinking is completely wrong. Spirituality is the most important part of one’s life. We need spirituality in every period of our life. The only fact is that when a person is immature, he needs to take advice from elders, and when he is mature he can take decisions on his own.
Why is it so difficult for man to accept his limitations and why does he keep nurturing the illusion that he knows it all?
Man is born with an insatiable nature. This nature is meant to provide impetus to him, so that he can continuously engage in struggle. But, sometimes people fail to accept the reality, so they take a jump that is not within their capacity. This is a well-known saying for such persons: Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.