Dear Editor,
Professor Gibson’s response (6/21/2019) to my letter continues to evade the fundamental claim she continues to make, that corruption is motivated by Hindu religious beliefs. At this stage she finds it expedient to inform us that the scientific literature ignores social and cultural context in which corruption exists. If this is the case then it would not be scientific. However, the studies I refer to give considerable attention to the social and cultural context. But now that she is questioning the efficacy of the social sciences, it is all the more incumbent on her to give us the textual evidence to support her claim.
So that Professor Gibson and readers may know my earlier letter provided ample Hindu textual refutation of her contention. In the end it is up to the editor’s pleasure. Suffice it to say we find a huge number of references which condemn greed and the desire for aggrandizement. As far back as it is possible to find textual references, every Dharmic tradition, including Buddhism and Jainism, speaks unambiguously of the evils of greed.
This is not the place for copious references, but a few verses from the Bhagavad Gita should illumine the matter. For example, 3.21 teaches that our every action-thought, speech and deed-must have as its ultimate goal the welfare of the society, while from a devotional perspective with regards to one’s own spiritual discipline and transformation, 9.27 urges that whatever action we engage in must be offered to God as an act of worship. Finally, with a direct reference to greed, 16.21 speaks of greed, anger and lust as the triple gateway to hell,
All of this however is based on a more general principle of society. We have a theory of social contract established on three important pillars. One is the principle of mutual growth and prosperity known in Sanskrit as paraspara abhyudaya. This idea was adopted by Mahatma Gandhi which he restated as sarvoyada or the upliftment of all which was essential in his work for the economic emancipation of the rural poor.
The second principle enunciated in the Bhagavad Gita is that of loka samgraha (Sanskrit) universal welfare, ranging from a blade of grass to the very cosmos. Every action of the individual, in thought, word and deed, must have as its ultimate objective the universal good. The third social principle is that of mutual non-violence which is at the heart of all Hindu ethics and one of the most pervasive precepts found throughout thousands of years of the Sanskrit tradition.
Greed and, ultimately corruption, hurt the society as a whole. Hindu intellectuals have been keenly aware of its harmful potency in every dimension of life, but especially in the pursuit of wealth and pleasure, and far from allowing it they established a web of checks and balances to guard against it. Does it continue in spite of all the safeguards? Obviously. Is Hinduism the motivation? Certainly not.
Yours faithfully,
Swami Aksharananda
