PROUT Gems

There is a dire need for sound principles on wealth distribution,
allocation and accumulation.  The capitalist model is falling apart with
poor countries tied up in useless debt to rich countries, wealthy
individual accumulators hoarding excess wealth while indigenous
communities have not even got the minimum necessities.  And many other
examples.  It is time to realise that all these represent gross
inefficiencies in the capitalist system.  It is by no means an efficient
or equitable or fair system.  Rather it is a complete abuse.  Still many
corporations also benefit from handouts by way of the corporate dole.
Again a sign of being unable to establish anything viable without
government assistance and the falsity of free enterprise.

Sound principles are urgently needed on which to build proper policy
objecives.

1. Everyone must be guaranteed the minimum requirements of life. 
2. As the income of people increases, their minimum requirements
should also increase. 
3. To bridge the gap between the more affluent people and the
common people, it is necessary to increase the minimum requirements of
all.
4. Special amenities should be provided so that the diversity in
skill and intelligence is fully utilized, and talent is encouraged to
contribute its best towards human development.  
5. Maximum amenities should be provided to especially qualified or
gifted persons to enable them to render greater service to society
according to the social value of their production. 
6. The provision of these maximum amenities should not go against
the common interest. 
7. It is also necesary increase the maximum amenities available to
the common people over and above their minimum necessities.
8. There will still be a gap between the maximum amenities of the
common people and the maximum amenities of the especially qualified
persons, but there should be constant efforts to reduce this gap. 
9. If the maximum amenities for talented people becomes too high,
then the minimum requirements of the common people should be immediately
increased.  
10. What constitutes both the minimum requirements and the maximum
amenities should be ever increasing.

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Minimum Essentialities of Life

The availability of the minimum essentialities of life plays a vital
part not only in achieving world fraternity, but also in the development
of human personality. This should be tackled on a world footing, and
should be based on certain fundamental presumptions. Every human being
has certain minimum requirements which he or she must be guaranteed.
Guaranteed availability of foodstuff, clothing, medical assistance and
housing accommodation should be arranged so that human beings may be
able to utilize their surplus energy (energy up till now engaged in
procuring the essentialities of life) in subtler pursuits. Side by side,
there should be sufficient scope for providing other amenities of the
progressive age. To fulfil the above responsibilities, enough purchasing
capacity should be created.

If the supply of requirements be guaranteed without any conditions of
personal skill and labour, the individual may develop the psychology of
idleness. The minimum requirements of every person are the same, but
diversity is also the nature of creation. Special amenities should,
therefore, be provided so that the diversity in skill and intelligence
is fully utilized, and talent is encouraged to contribute its best
towards human development. It will, therefore, be necessary to make
provision for special emoluments which can cater for special amenities
of life according to the age and time. But at the same time, there
should be a constant effort to reduce the gap between the amount of
special emoluments and the bare minimum requirements of the average
individual. The guaranteed supply of minimum requirements must be
liberalized by increasing the provision of special amenities pertaining
to the age and also, simultaneously, by bringing about a decrease in the
provision of special emoluments given to the few. This never-ending
effort of proper economic adjustment must ceaselessly continue at all
times with a view to assisting the spiritual, mental and physical
evolution of human beings, and to let humanity develop a Cosmic
sentiment for a Cosmic ideal and world fraternity.

In this socio-economic set-up people are at full liberty in the
spiritual and mental spheres. This is possible because the spiritual and
psychic potentialities for which people can aspire are themselves
unlimited, and the extent of possession in this sphere does not hamper
the progress of others in their quests. But the supply in the physical
sphere is limited, and hence any effort for disproportionate or
unrestricted acquisition of physical objects has every possibility of
creating a vast majority of have-not's, and thus hampering the
spiritual, mental and physical growth of the larger majority. So, while
dealing with the problem of individual liberty, it must be kept in view
that individual liberty in the physical sphere must not be allowed to
cross a limit whereat it is instrumental in hampering the development of
the complete personality of human beings; and, at the same time, must
not be so drastically curtailed that the spiritual, mental and physical
growths of human beings are hampered. 

Thus, the correct social philosophy advocates the development of the
integrated personality of the individual, and also the establishment of
world fraternity, inculcating in human psychology a Cosmic sentiment.
The path advocates progressive utilization of mundane and supramundane
factors of the Cosmos. The society needs a stir for life, vigour and
progress, and for this it is essential to advocate the Progressive
Utilization Theory (Prout), meaning thereby progressive utilization of
all factors. Those who support this principle may be termed "Proutists".


- P R Sarkar
5 June 1959

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Minimum Requirements and Maximum Amenities

There are many attractions in society, and it is the nature of human
beings to run after these attractions.  Communism exploited this human
tendency by promising to give equal wealth to all. But the mundane
resources in the world are limited, so is it possible to provide equal
wealth to all?  No, and the attempt to do so is nothing but a dazzling
ostentation. Now communism has met its end. Communism was nothing but a
bogus "ism" - a mere ostentation of verbose language and nothing else. 

Rather than trying to give equal wealth to all, the proper approach is
to ensure that everyone is guaranteed the minimum requirements of life.
As the income of some people increases, the radius of their minimum
requirements should also increase. However, to bridge the gap between
the more affluent people and the common people, we have to increase the
minimum requirements of all.  

PROUT (PROgressive Utilisation Theory) also advocates that the maximum
amenities should be provided to especially qualified or gifted persons
to enable them to render greater service to society. This should be done
by setting aside some wealth for those with special capabilities, but
the provision of the maximum amenities should not go against the common
interest. 

This relationship between minimum requirements and maximum amenities has
already been clearly explained in PROUT.  However, something more can be
added. Besides increasing the maximum amenities of gifted people, we
also have to increase the maximum amenities available to common people.
Especially qualified persons will earn more than the common people and
this earning will include their maximum amenities. But the ordinary
public should not be deprived of maximum amenities, so there should be
efforts to give them as much of the maximum amenities as possible. There
will still be a gap between the maximum amenities of the common people
and the maximum amenities of the especially qualified persons, but there
should be constant efforts to reduce this gap. 

For example, students should get their minimum requirements of life, but
together with this they may also get lunches and snacks as part of their
schooling requirements paid for by society. Similarly, while first class
passengers already get special facilities, ordinary passengers may also
get free tea or coffee as part of their flight. Thus, the common people
should also receive more and more amenities.   If maximum amenities are
not provided to common people, no doubt there will be progress in
society, but there will always remain the scope for imperfection in the
future. 

What constitutes both the minimum requirements and the maximum amenities
should be ever increasing. This idea is a new appendix to PROUT. 

If the maximum amenities for talented people become excessively high,
then the minimum requirements of the common people should be immediately
increased. For example, if a person with special capabilities has a
motor bike and an ordinary person has a bicycle, there may be a balanced
adjustment. But if the person with special capabilities has a car, then
we should immediately try to provide the common people with motor bikes.


There is a proverb which refers to plain living and high thinking, but
what is plain living? Plain living 80 years ago was not the same as it
is today, so plain living changes from age to age. The standard of value
also varies from age to age. Thus, both the minimum requirements and the
maximum amenities will vary from age to age, and both will be ever
increasing. If this were not so, there would be no economic progress in
society. So, our approach should be to provide the minimum requirements
of the age to all, the maximum amenities of the age to those with
special capabilities according to the social value of their production,
as well as the maximum amenities of the age relative to the common
people. The minimum requirements of the age as per their money value
plus the maximum amenities of the age as per their money value are to be
fixed, refixed and fixed and refixed again and so on. In this way you
must elevate the standard of the people - you must go on elevating their
standard of living. 

The Amenities of Life 

The amenities of life are those things which make life easy. The word
"amenity" comes from the old Latin word "amenus" which means "to fulfil
the desire" or "to make the position easy." Amenities means physical and
psychic longings.  Whatever will satisfy the physical and psychic
longings of the people will be the amenities of the age. Common people
should be favoured with maximum amenities. For example, previously
people used to dig a well to get drinking water, and then they carried
the drinking water to their houses.  Later water tanks were constructed,
and now drinking water comes through pipes. In this way the amenities of
life have increased and life has become easier. Though the aim is to get
water, the system of getting it has become more effortless and more
convenient. Take another example. Suppose school children receive the
minimum requirements of life. If they are provided with free snacks,
this amenity will be over and above the minimum requirements. Again, in
most trains there are first and second class compartments. If free tea
or coffee is given to the passengers in the second class compartments,
it will be considered an amenity.

More and more amenities will have to be provided to the common people
with the progress of society. This process will generate the impetus to
collect and utilise more and more resources, and the proper utilisation
of the collective resources will elevate the standard of living of both
the common mass and the talented people. As the need for the minimum
requirements is fulfilled and the supply of the maximum amenities
increases, the struggle for daily subsistence will gradually decrease
and peoples' lives will become increasingly easy and enjoyable. For this
reason PROUT guarantees the minimum requirements and the maximum
amenities to all. 

What is the "the pabulum asked for"?  What is "the pabulum not asked
for."  Here pabulum means something that fulfils. If you are travelling
by train and you see someone take a snack of delicious food, you will
have a natural urge or longing to enjoy the same delicacies.  This is a
natural longing for physical pabulum. Those things which your body wants
are the natural amenities. Natural amenities include all the longings of
nature -- all natural physiological longings, like urination,
defecation, eating when one is hungry, etc. Common people should be
provided with more and more natural amenities and facilities related to
them to make their lives easy. 

They should also be provided with more and more super-natural amenities.
Common people experience much stress and strain - they should be freed
from this tension. For example, the rural people of India always worry
about their crops. If the rains are late or if they fail, paddy
production will suffer; if the climate is too cold or not cold enough,
the winter crop will be adversely affected. The common people should be
freed from all these stresses and strains.  Indigenous disadvantaged
persons all round the world should be similarly freed in this way.  This
can be achieved through the provision of super-natural amenities which
can be developed artificially through science and technology, better
agricultural techniques, the construction of small scale dams to
conserve water, etc. Even simple techniques can increase crop yields.
For example, if the smoke from burning wood chips is made to pass
through a field of mustards seeds, the mustard seed flowers will bloom
immediately and increase the production of the crop. So we should
provide common people with both natural and supernatural amenities
according to the physical capacity, the psychic capacity and the
technical capacity of the state. 

This approach will ensure that human beings get enough amenities and
that their lives become satisfying and congenial. Thus the minimum
requirements must be guaranteed to all human beings, and under the
concerning environmental conditions -- the existing environmental
conditions -- there should be maximum amenities provided. You should
satisfy the thirst for physical and psychic longings -- for physical and
psychic pabula -- under the concerning conditions. So maximum amenities
are to be available to all under the concerning environmental conditions
which means keeping in view such factors as the temporal, topographical,
geographical, social and psychic conditions. 

What is the difference amongst surroundings, atmosphere, and
environment? Surrounding means everything physical that surrounds,
either directly physical or psycho-physical. Atmosphere means the nature
of different expressions in the surroundings - water, air, air pressure,
temperature, etc. Environment means that which controls the
characteristic of inanimate and animate beings. One age will go and
another will come, and human longings will also change. In one age a
particular type of breakfast is accepted as the standard, and in the
next age it will be considered sub-standard.  Today people eat bread and
butter, but according to the standard of the next age people may eat
fried rice or sweet rice. 

Thus the maximum amenities of life should be assured in a fail safe
manner to each and every individual, and their standard should be
continuously elevated. The jurisdiction of maximum amenities will go on
expanding with the progress of human beings. Human beings are marching
ahead, and their longing for different psycho-physical pabula is also
increasing. The minimum requirements of the age must be guaranteed, and
the maximum amenities must also be guaranteed. Maximum amenities must be
provided in the existing environment. 

Can human thirst be fully quenched? Can human hunger be fully satisfied?
Why is it that human thirst knows no limitations? From PROUT we are
moving to psycho-philosophy. In the relative world human thirst cannot
be satisfied. Human beings are the progeny of the Universal
Consciousness, and human beings always wish to expand their
consciousness and therefore human thirst is unlimited. All the
properties of the Cosmic Expression are ensconced in human existence,
and not only in human existence, but in each and every entity of the
expressed universe. Can physical thirst, psychic thirst and spiritual
thirst be quenched? Only spiritual thirst can be quenched. Unification
of the unit with the Cosmic can quench the spiritual thirst. The
physical body has certain limitations. It functions with very small
limitations. The mind has a far bigger jurisdiction but it is also
limited. 

Future Progress 

In the future there will also be tremendous changes in the structure of
human beings. Psychic strength will increase.  Physicality will be
transformed into more and more intellectuality, and intellectuality will
be transformed into the culminating point of spirituality.  At that time
human beings will be making tremendous progress in the realms of
intellectuality and intuition. The human beings of that future age will
be very sensitive. The efferent nerves will be more active than the
afferent nerves, and subtle experiences will be more common than what
they are
now. Today human beings seldom have subtle experiences, but in the
future they will occur naturally and spontaneously.  As human beings
gradually move along the path of evolution, they will come to
increasingly understand that humans are more psychic than physical. 

The progressive availability of the maximum amenities of life will be
guaranteed in PROUT, satisfying physical needs. The satisfied physical
needs will lessen the physical obstacles which inhibit human progress
and human beings will experience all-round development, especially in
the intellectual stratum. Human beings will get the opportunity to
develop in the intellectual stratum without any hindrances. The truth of
humanity, the veracity of humanity, will go on increasing in different
areas of expression. That is why there must be guaranteed minimum
requirements and guaranteed maximum amenities for all human beings, and
that these must go on increasing. These amenities must be good for the
physical and psychic development of human beings, or at least for one of
these two. 

PROUT and Neo-Humanism 

The human requirements of every age must be guaranteed. The minimum
requirements must go on increasing according to the physical and psychic
standard of human beings and according to the changes in climatic
conditions, environment, etc. Thus the range of minimum requirements
will go on increasing according to the range of human social conditions.


According to the enlargement of human existential value and
jurisdiction, psychic pabula will also increase. There should be maximum
amenities for one and all with more thirst, more longing, for
physico-psychic objects of enjoyment. These amenities should be
increased for the entire social order. There cannot be any full stop,
any comma or any semi-colon in this progress. Progress is never-ending.
Pabulum is also never-ending. We should understand this. There cannot be
any stop in the march of human progress. And not only in human progress,
but in the physical and psychic worlds also.

Geo-sentiment will die out; socio-sentiment will disappear;
socioeconomic sentiment will be eradicated. Finally a day will come when
sentient sentiment will dominate. A day will come when human beings will
get the maximum amenities, then human beings will reach the zenith
point. But is the provision of maximum amenities the zenith point of
service? It may be looked upon as the zenith point, but because
circumstances change, maximum amenities change. The provision of maximum
amenities should be treated as a relative zenith point and not the
supreme zenith point. So maximum amenities of life under the concerning
conditions should be guaranteed and they should go on increasing. 

We should communicate this idea to the masses and encourage them to help
us in our noble mission. Whenever we are thinking of implementing a
theory we should feel that we are living in the present, then we should
implement the theory.  

Suppose there is a bright lamp. Hundreds and thousands of insects will
rush towards it and get burnt.  Similarly, communism was like a bright
lamp. Marxists built castles in the air. They propagated many tall talks
but they never thought about the practical application of their
socio-economic approach. They killed many innocent people and sent
countless others to concentration camps in the name of so-called
ideology. Stalin killed hundreds of thousands of people instead of
helping them by providing amenities for all. In the name of doing good
for the masses he killed so many people. This is not humanism. 

Today people have kicked communism out. In China the people recently
demanded `common human liberty'. That was considered an offence, so they
were crushed. Do not people have every right to demand common human
liberty? Whatever is feasible and practical has been said in PROUT.
Marxism built castles in the air and encouraged the people to dream a
meaningless dream. PROUT has not done this nor will PROUT do it. PROUT
will do that which is feasible and practical. 

If the common people and the talented people are treated as the same,
the capable people will not be encouraged to develop their higher
potentiality. This is the reason why the brain drain is happening in
India and third world countries. When talented people leave poorer
countries, they leave it for good. Providing special amenities for those
with special capabilities will stop the brain drain. PROUT's approach is
to guarantee the minimum requirements for all, guarantee maximum
amenities for all and guarantee special amenities for people with
special capabilities. This approach will ensure ever increasing
acceleration in the socio-economic sphere. The question of retardation
does not arise; even the question of maintaining speed does not arise.
There must be acceleration. Acceleration is the spirit of life, the
spirit of existence, the spirit of the existential faculty. 

One may not be a genius, one may simply be a member of the ordinary
public, and not properly accepted or respected by all, but even then one
will get the minimum requirements and maximum amenities suitable in an
ever increasing manner according to the concerning environmental
conditions, according to the demands of the day. 

So what is the significance of this new approach? 

1) Minimum requirements are to be guaranteed to all. 
2) Special amenities are to be guaranteed to capable people. Special
amenities are for people of special calibre as per the environmental
condition of the particular age. 
3) Maximum amenities are to be guaranteed to all suitably, even to those
who have no special qualities -- to the common person of common calibre.
Maximum amenities are to be guaranteed to all as per environmental
conditions. These amenities are for those of ordinary calibre or the
common people, the so-called downtrodden humanity. 
4) All of these three are never ending processes and they will go on
increasing
according to the collective potentialities. This appendix to our
philosophy may be small, but it is of a progressive nature and a
progressive character. It has a far reaching effect for the future. I
hope you will realise its impact and all its potentialities. 

P R Sarkar
13 October 1989

---

SOCIAL WEALTH

We should not forget even for a moment that this whole animate world is
a large family in which nature has not assigned any property to any
particular individual.  Individual ownership has been created by selfish
opportunists so that they might take advantage of the defects of this
system in order to grow fatter in a parasitic way.  When the whole
property of this universe has been inherited by all creatures, how then
can there be any justification for a system in which someone receives a
flow of huge excess, while others die for lack of a handful of grain?
(Problem of the Day, 2)

The aspiration to become rich by exploiting others is a sort of mental
malady.  In fact, if the eternal hunger of the human soul does not find
the real path leading to mental and spiritual wealth, it becomes engaged
in the work of depriving other of their rights; it robs them of their
material resources.  If any member of a family seizes food from a store
by application of mental or physical force, that person certainly
becomes the cause of misery to others.  Similar is the case when a
capitalist says, "We have seized wealth by intelligence and labour.  If
others have mental and physical potentialities they may also do it.  Who
objects to it?"  They do not want to realize that the volume of
commodities is limited whereas requirements are common to all.  In most
spheres, abundance for one individual takes the bread out of the mouths
of others.  It is a mental ailment not to understand this common
necessity.
(Problem of the Day, 7)

But the people afflicted with this malady are also members of this vast
human family and consequently, they are our brothers and sisters.
Therefore, they will have to be cured of this disease either through
humanitarian appeals or pressure of circumstances.  It will be a great
crime even to think of their destruction.
(Problem of the Day, 7)

It must always be remembered that the value of money lies in its use.
If more money is accumulated than is necessary, it becomes valueless for
lack of use.  The money you keep idle and valueless makes you
responsible for the injustice done to the hungry and the naked.  Your
valueless hoard shall have to be made valuable by providing
opportunities for others' use.
(Human Society I, 63)

The correct spiritual practice does not teach forsaking the world.  It
teaches the right and correct use of all property, crude or subtle.
(Supreme Expression II, 69)

Let everyone enjoy as much as they like on the subtle mental plane.  Let
everyone possess as much mental and spiritual wealth as possible.  But
individual hoarding of mundane resources and wealth must be stopped,
even by force if necessary.  Really speaking, both physical and mental
cravings are born of mental hunger.  It is certainly possible to
transform the craving for physical enjoyment into intellectual hunger by
channeling it toward a different goal through proper education.  Human
society today is badly in need of such education.
(Human Society I, 75)

The availability of the minimum essentials of life plays a vital part
not only in achieving a world family but also in the development of the
personality.  This problem should be tackled on a world-wide basis.
Every human being must be guaranteed certain minimum requirements.  The
availability of food, clothing, medical assistance, education and
housing should be arranged, so that human beings may be able to utilize
their surplus energy in subtler pursuits - energy which until now has
been engaged in procuring the essentials of life.  To fulfill the above
responsibilities, sufficient purchasing capacity should be created.  If
the necessities are guaranteed without demanding any personal skill or
labor, the individual may develop the psychology of idleness.
(Idea and Ideology, 94)

The minimum requirements of every person are the same, but diversity is
also the nature of creation.  Special amenities should therefore be
provided, so that diversities in skill and intelligence may be fully
utilized, and talent is encouraged to contribute its best for human
development.  It will thus be necessary to arrange for some special
remunerations to provide special amenities according to the age/era and
time.  But at the same time, there should be a constant effort to reduce
the gap between the amount of special amenities and the minimum
requirements of the average individual.  This never-ending effort of
proper economic adjustment must ceaselessly continue, fostering the
spiritual, mental and physical evolution of humanity and the development
of a cosmic sentiment for a world family.
(Idea and Ideology, 95)

In such a socio-economic program, human beings have full liberty in the
spiritual and mental spheres.  This is possible because the spiritual
and psychic entities for which human beings can aspire are themselves
unlimited, and one person's progress in this sphere does not hamper the
progress of others in their quests.  But the supply in the physical
sphere is limited, and thus any effort for disproportionate or
unrestricted acquisition of physical objects may create a vast majority
of "have nots."  This hampers the development of the total personality
of humanity.  So individual liberty must not exceed established limits
in the physical sphere.  At the same time it must not be so drastically
curtailed that a human being's spiritual, mental and physical growth is
hindered.
(Idea and Ideology, 95)

Ours is a subjective approach and an objective adjustment - the happy
blending between objective world and subjective goal (realisation,
expansion of mind, etc).  While moving towards the subjective goal, you
must maintain adjustment with the objective world.  There is no other
alternative.  When the human society is ensconsed in this supreme idea,
in the very near future it will become more constructive, with proper
planning.  Humanity of the entire universe will unite, and we are
anxiously waiting for that happy moment.
(Discourse in Caracas, Venezuela, 1979)

Every human being must be guaranteed the minimum physical requirements
of life; every human being must get scope for the full
exploitation/utilisation of his or her psychic potentiality; every human
being should have opportunity attain absolute truth; and endowed with
all the glories and achievements of the world, to march toward the
Absolute.  In and through this movement, humanity should be made
conscious of the purpose and meaning of life.
(Great Universe, 234)

Thus the correct social philosophy advocates the development of the
integrated personality of the individual and also the establishment of a
world fraternity by inculcating a cosmic sentiment in human psychology.
This path advocates progressive utilization of the mundane and
supramundane factors of the cosmos.  Society needs an impetus for life,
vigor and progress and for this enlightened people will advocate the
"Progressive Utilization Theory" (PROUT) which calls for progressive
utilization of all factors of the universe.  Those who support these
principles may be called Proutists.
(Idea and Ideology, 96)

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