Your analysis (a rich country of poor people) is correct. The solution to the problem (to rehabilitate our economy) you have posed, lies in hard work and increased production on a cooperative basis. To achieve this, one has to rid the people of the disease of individuality, greed and selfishness. Every individual must be taught to think and work in the broader concept of society and its needs. Once that is done, there will be less talk, more work. Here again, it is the spiritual path that can save this country and the world from the wrongs of a materialistic order. What we need is a synthesis of the spiritual and material aspects of life: That will provide man with social consciousness and cooperative spirit imperative to the creations of national wealth and prosperity through selfless, cooperative labour. (S&M, p. 249)

There is no doubt that the distribution is not taking place properly. The existing doctrines of equality, socialism etc., have not succeeded in achieving equality of wealth and property. The difficulty is that you can equalise wealth, land and property by legalization, but can the law bring about equality in the desires of the people? This requires the healing touch of spiritualism.

To begin with, one has to cure desire and its evil consequences. We must persuade the rich that desire and its fulfilment in materialistic wants is an aspect of the monkey-mind which can only harm them and put them under bondage. That alone will solve the problem of inequality and maldistribution. The rich will give up their extravagant wants, the poor will get what they need and a little more; this process will bring about more equitable distribution. (S&M, p. 250)

True knowledge is that which establishes harmony and synthesis between science on the one hand and spirituality and ethics on the other. Man, therefore should at the outset determine the true value of education. Today, because of the striking growth of the physical sciences, man tends to feel he is highly knowledgeable. But only when man tries to understand knowledge of things beyond the physical sciences can he fully benefit from the latter. Beyond physics lies metaphysics. Of late some are beginning to realise this fact and are embarking upon spiritual exploration.

Great sages like Vashistha, Vamana, Jamadagni, Vishwamitra, Gautama and Parashara were among the Saptarishis who achieved the distinction because of their spiritual greatness. Do we have such sages today? It cannot be said that the accomplishments of modern science are not prodigious. There is no question about the necessity of scientific knowledge. But it must be realised that it is necessary as much to develop our sense of discrimination for the proper use of science pari passu with the development of scientific knowledge. It is because this discrimination has been lacking in the use of science we find that the world is facing many dangers and difficulties.

But even today there are some noble minds, who, even in the pursuit of science, are exploring spiritual truths, analysing them and trying to see how these can be used for transforming man. Newton, after discovering the gravitational power of the earth, declared: ‘Although I have discovered the force of gravity, the gravitational force itself has been existing always before my discovery.’ He also admitted that while ‘I have been able to identify the force of gravity, I did not create it.’ He was convinced that there was a creator for the force of gravity.

Einstein also, after his scientific studies of the working of nature, turned his mind to spiritual matters. He realized that for spiritual pursuits the company of good men was necessary, and that the association of good men can transform the human condition. He declared, ‘Tell me your company and I shall tell you what you are.’ This shows that what we are; is determined by the character of the people with whom we are associated.

There was another great thinker, named Dirac. He sought to know the connection between science and spirituality. He tried to discover the one entity underlying all things in creation and conducted experiments for this purpose. He found the truth to consist in the statement: ‘Love ever; hurt never.’ Dirac’s conclusion is nothing but an echo of Sage Vyasa’s pregnant pronouncement, after completing his works of the 18 Puranas: ‘To help others is meritorious; to hurt others is sinful.’

We have yet another modern thinker-De Broglie. Having begun as a critic of spirituality after serious enquiry, De Broglie confessed that his criticisms were due to ignorance. He proclaimed from his own experience that divinity was at the core of everything in the universe.

Such seers of the truth are not absent in the world of science. These great scientists, who have examined, explored and declared the truth, are akin to the ancient Saptarishis (Seven Sages). Newton declared that the universe is a manifestation of God and everything revolves through the power of God. Fritzof Capra, at the present day, has explored the link between the atom and vibrations in nature. In ancient times, Vyasa declared that the universe emanated from the vibrations of the sound. ‘Sita’ and all things in creation living and non-living- were the outcome of these vibrations. (SSS Vol.18, pp. 147-150)