A Social Machine Built Around People’s Natural Inclinations

When properly engaged, people are happy and productive

I apologize for the recent lengthy hiatus from this work. Traveling and speaking engagements, and preparation for them, has made it impossible to continue continuity of thought. Please bear with me.

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Several months back, in the post “Designing the Perfect Society,” I made the point that “form follows function” and therefore in order to design a perfect society we must understand both the material and spiritual function of human beings. Earlier we briefly covered the spiritual aspect, and in the last several posts I have presented some background material regarding the material side of human life, and we are now in a position to look at how it all fits together.

We’ve identified, and described, the various parts of society: the brahmanas, ksatriyas, vaisyas and sudras, and these can each be thought of as parts of the social machine. The next thing we need to do is put the parts in their proper place in the social machine.

The Social Machine

Every machine is made up of essential parts, all of which are necessary for its proper functioning. If any parts are broken or missing the machine functions poorly, or perhaps, not at all. This is true of society as well - different types of people, with a variety of skills and abilities, function as the parts of the social machine. When all of the parts of the social machine are properly crafted and fitted the social machine works nicely to everyone’s happiness and satisfaction. And if they are not properly crafted (educated or trained, both materially and morally) or assembled (people doing the wrong job), the social machine limps along, sputtering and wheezing, producing results that do not benefit the whole, which is exactly what we see in today’s world. Tragically some 80% of workers do not like the work they do, but do it begrudgingly or sloppily. They overcome the dissatisfaction on the job with various intoxicants, distractions and mindless entertainment.

The parts of the social machine can be compared to parts of the human body:  the brahmanas the head and are meant to give discrimination between right and wrong and proper direction to society; the ksatriyas the arms for protection in every way – proper shelter, proper commerce, propter education, and protection from harm; the vaisyas serve as the belly, meaning to provide not only food, but to produce all of the necessities of life; and the sudras as the legs give service as needed to the other three sections. These parts are necessary to every endeavor, but to put it in terms of a productive enterprise: the smart people figure out what to do, the administrators figure out all the parts to be done, the organizers (managers) see that the work can progress in an orderly fashion, and the workers do the work.

Motivation

The major difference between the modern economy and the Vedic system is the underlying culture that prescribes how the parts of the social machine work together.  In modern society the determining factor of productive, and often even social, organization, is typically money. All too often, most people focus primarily on earning money at the expense of the type of work that is suited for them, or that will give them joy. Money alone almost always determines what is to be done, how it is to be done, and is the motivation to people who get it done. Unfortunately, there is typically little-to-no consideration of how it will affect any participants spiritually.

In contrast, in the spiritual culture, because everyone is conscious of the fact that they are spiritual beings whose goal in life is spiritual emancipation, the spiritual value of work is often the first and highest consideration. They understand that when they are properly fitted to the work, and working according to their nature, simply doing the work not only gives them a sense of satisfaction, but spiritual growth is a concomitant factor. Lord Krishna states this in the Bhagavad-gita (18.45-48):

By following his qualities of work, every man can become perfect. Now please hear from Me how this can be done. By worship of the Lord, who is the source of all beings and who is all-pervading, man can, in the performance of his own duty, attain perfection. It is better to engage in one's own occupation, even though one may perform it imperfectly, than to accept another's occupation and perform it perfectly. Prescribed duties, according to one's nature, are never affected by sinful reactions. Every endeavor is covered by some sort of fault, just as fire is covered by smoke. Therefore one should not give up the work which is born of his nature, O son of Kunté, even if such work is full of fault.

Both work, and the motivation for work in a spiritual culture are based not on money, but what should be done for the earth, for the community, and for the individual person. All of this comes under the heading of Dharma. This word entered the American lexicon in the 60s along with other Sanskrit words such as guru, karma, etc. However, like the word karma, few people actually know its proper meaning.

Dharma is explained as the essence of a thing. The Dharma of sugar is sweetness, and the Dharma of water is wetness. The Dharma of fire is heat and light. For the jiva, Dharma is service, which we see this demonstrated everywhere. Every one of us is engaged in serving someone or something, however, in the material world this service propensity is misdirected to material things and persons of this world. When performed according to with the view of pleasing the Supreme Lord, the activity becomes an act of devotion, resulting in spiritual progress.

The Properly Functioning Social Machine

In the spiritual culture everyone is properly fitted for their work, and motivated by a mood of rendering service to others, and the social machine thus assembled and tuned functions quite well. Everyone is satisfied by their work activity, the entire community has goods in abundance, and there is ample time for cultural and spiritual activities.

The Puranas and other Vedic texts speak of extremely prosperous cultures and happy people of yore who followed this Vedic path. But it is not something unique to the past – this happy culture can be established again with the same happy result – which is the purpose of this blog.

Rest assured - there is a better way to live.