In this lecture Acaryadeva points out how the quality of life changes according to the means of production in human society with different social and political structures. The choice of economy is a choice of life.

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SB 1.11.14

sammarjita-maha-marga-

rathyapanaka-catvaram

siktam gandha-jalair uptam

phala-puspaksatankuraih

TRANSLATION

The highways, subways, lanes, markets and public meeting places were all thoroughly cleansed and then moistened with scented water. And to welcome the Lord, fruits, flowers and unbroken seeds were strewn everywhere.

From the lecture:

Here some universal aspects of human – not just Vedic – culture are described.

The philosopher Hegel is in between theism and atheism. His idea is that God (the world spirit) is becoming revealed or realized through history and human interaction. The dialectic process is the basic engine for history.

Marx took his dialectics further. Srila Prabhupada agrees on his point that the means of production determine the status and quality of human society:

-          Hunters and gatherers had no large-scale communities or permanent settlements and egalitarian structure (flat hierarchies)

-          Agrarian revolution: huge food supplies (grains), fixed settlement, hierarchies, more developed civilization

-          Cities and industries: extended village relationships break down, the government replaces that, social welfare system is developed

-          Post modern economics: global village through a global communication system and cyber relationships

There is no value-free economy or society. If we want to be in higher consciousness we must be aware that certain economies produce certain political and environmental realities which can be conducive to spiritual life.

In cities people psychologically think their reality is human-made because this is their direct experience, having control over their immediate environment. With the capitalization of real estate a house was no longer a place for a family, but it became a number of capitals, a commodity for greed. Everything became abstracted and converted into capital.

Srila  Acaryadeva continued speaking about this  topic  in his evening class Karl Marx – Good Historian, Terrible Prophet

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