PROMOTING THE SPIRIT OF SIMPLE LIVING AND COMMUNITY FOR OUR SHARED FUTURE As our mother earth approaches the limits she can tolerate of the burdens that we humans have placed upon her, our religions could remind us of our proper relationship to our mother. If we examine our scriptures and the lives of our prophets, we see that all have enjoined us to pay more attention to spiritual treasures than to accumulating worldly goods. They have also encouraged us, by their words and personal examples, to share what we have with each other. By living in spiritual communities, such as Gobind Sadan founded in 1968 by Baba Virsa Singh in New Delhi, or developing other ways of communal sharing, we may be able to follow these universal spiritual teachings, thereby drawing closer to God as well as to each other and also setting a pattern for a sustainable future.
The Buddha advised his followers that contentment with what one has is the greatest wealth. He said, “High thinking and simple living—This is the teaching of the enlightened ones.” [1] During the 1990s when I was a volunteer In Gobind Sadan’s farming community called Shiv Sadan on the banks of the Ganges River, we lived in huts made of the local grasses and were quite contented and happy, feeling God’s presence everywhere. Once Baba Virsa Singh instructed me as we were walking through the fields,
Always try to live close to nature, for you will be very near to God. Worry, fear, and pressure will be far from you. Your mind will be open, free, and clear, with no enmity. Your mind will be fearless, kind, and full of love. The muscles of your mind—as well as of your body—will be strong. A person with a strong mind is not susceptible to evil; it cannot enter his thoughts. His mind goes straight ahead. And one day his inner truth mixes with the Great Truth. [2]
Jesus advised his devotees that if they sincerely wanted to follow him, they should first sell their belongings and give the income to the poor. The early Christian communities apparently did so, and then lived in communities with sharing of goods and meals, with Jews and Gentiles sitting together, in contrast to the exclusive social norms of the times. This was a radical economic, social, and spiritual program which is not practiced by most Christians today. It has been replaced by market capitalism, especially with the decline of the alternate economic systems of communism and socialism. Those who honor the Christian tradition of tithing some portion of their income usually give it to their church to support the institution, rather than to share with the poor. Commenting on this abandonment of Jesus’ radical program, theologian Sallie McFague writes,
Market capitalism is a type of economics that allocates scarce resources on the basis of individuals successfully competing for them, not with regard to the needs of the planet’s inhabitants nor with an eye to its sustainability. . . . Market capitalism denies one huge fact: Unless the limited resources of the planet are justly distributed among its myriad life forms so they all can flourish, there will be no sustainable future for even the greediest among us. . . .
While no human economic system can be the Kingdom of God, Christians have the obligation to work for systems that are at least faint approximations, rather than in clear opposition, to it. [3]
Charitable giving is a strong part of Jewish tradition. Orthodox Jews in particular follow several laws related to sharing, including the imperative of giving 10 percent of one’s earnings to charity.
The Prophet Muhammad’s family usually lived in dire poverty because of the Prophet’s generosity to those in need. Muslims are required to give 2.5 percent of their surplus income in charity, and the Holy Qur’an often discusses charity as benefitting both the giver and the receiver. For instance, in Surah 2:
If you dispense your alms openly, it is well, but if you conceal it and give it to the poor (in secret), this is better for you; and God will (make it an atonement to) blot out some of your evil deeds. God is fully aware of all that you do. . . .
That (which you spend) is for the poor who, having dedicated themselves to God’s cause, are in distressed circumstances. They are unable to move about the earth (to render service in God’s cause and earn their livelihood). Those who are unaware (of their circumstances) suppose them wealthy because of their abstinence and dignified bearing, but you will know them by their countenance—they do not beg of people importunately. And whatever good you spend, surely God has full knowledge of it.
Those who spend their wealth night and day, secretly and in public, their reward is with their Lord, and they will have no fear, nor will they grieve. [4]
The Buddha taught that dana, or charitable giving, is necessary for a peaceful world. He told the story of a king who decided not to give to the needy from his resources, with disastrous results:
From the not giving of property to the needy, poverty became widespread, from the growth of poverty, the taking of what was not given increased, from the increase of theft, the use of weapons increased, from the increased use of weapons, the taking of life increased. [5]
Buddhist professor David Loy of Japan concludes, “A society where people do not feel that they benefit from sharing with one another has already begun to break down.” [6]
The founder of the Sikh tradition, Guru Nanak, put economics and distributive justice at the heart of his straightforward spiritual program: Work hard by honest means to earn your living, share with others from your earnings, and always remember God. He and his successors, nine more enlightened Gurus, developed social programmes such as langar—free community kitchen—to help bring down the barriers between people, as well as to make sure that no one goes hungry.
Baba Virsa Singh developed his communities on these principles. Being a farmer, and son of a farmer, Babaji determined that he and his devotees should support themselves by hard work as farmers, and also use the farm income to offer services to the poor: food, medicines, education, and clothing, as well as paid employment for those who need it. He was offered a large manor and extensive acreage in Punjab by a wealthy devotee, but the Tenth Sikh Guru came to him in vision and told him that he must not accept the gift and must in fact leave that place immediately. To instead base his mission on honest labour, he took a small piece of worthless land on the outskirts of New Delhi, and he and his devotees began trying to turn it into a farm. It was a barren place of rocks and thorns without trees or water, and cut by deep ravines. The first thing they did was to dig a well by hand, with women as well as men carrying the dirt on their heads in baskets. They dug big stones out of the land and used them in making walls. Sevadars carried earth here and there to level the fields. Initially hand-plowing was done with the help of bullocks; later a tractor was brought to help turn that rocky land into fertile fields. Even more difficult land reclamation was undertaken in a barren, alkaline, flood-prone wasteland on the banks of the Ganges, which Babaji and his devotees eventually turned into a record-breaking farm whose surplus income was used to provide services to the poor, irrespective of their religion or caste, and to spread appreciation of all religions.
Sevadars live simply both in Shiv Sadan and in the Delhi community. When the weather is cold, we use more clothes and blankets rather than heaters; when the weather is very hot, we use “desert coolers,” a simple technology in which water is pumped across grass mats and then blown into the room by a small fan, lowering the temperature by evaporation. In Gobind Sadan Delhi, we have very few vehicles; a small van suffices to bring things from the market, and otherwise we mostly use bicycles, bus and Metro. We have built many large underground tanks to capture and reuse great quantities of water. Our free community kitchen is supplied by our own organic crops and dairy. Waste materials of all sorts are reused or sold to recyclers. Free distribution of good used clothing to the poor goes on continually, with donations coming in around the year. Free medical is offered for simple problems, but if anyone needs to go to a doctor, other community members accompany him and will even offer their own blood if needed. Places of worship for all religions and peaceful gardens offer an oasis of spiritual refreshment open to all.
Guru Nanak’s ideal of people working and sharing with each other is similar to that of communism, as Babaji pointed out. But he maintained that it cannot ultimately work unless people embrace the third part of Guru Nanak’s spiritual programme: always remembering God. It is God’s power that empowers and motivates people to work hard and to share with each other, beyond their short-term selfish interests.
If people of all religions—and no religion—learn to keep the Love of God, rather than personal ego, at the center of their lives, then sharing and caring for each other will occur naturally. Residential communities such as Gobind Sadan may not be workable everywhere. But wherever people learn to recognize each other as brothers and sisters in one human family under the parenthood of God, they will naturally see to it that in their community no one starves, no one is without clothing, no one is without shelter, no one is without medical assistance, and no one is alone in times of sorrow and suffering. And when we all recognize the earth as our beloved mother, we will all feel that respect and love toward all creation which will prevent us from wantonly destroying our planetary home.
Because all our religious tradition have shown us ideals of sharing and simplicity, we who are trying to promote spiritual culture must find ways of bringing those essential principles to light and being living examples of them ourselves, for the sake of our shared future. Baba Virsa Singh observed,
Jesus said he would find the lambs who were lagging behind and drive them forward into the herd; he would lift the lambs that were lost and carry them to the herd. He was referring to his great love for those who have been rejected by society: “I have come for you. You are not going to be lost now.”
Religion does not lie in erecting big edifices as houses for God. God does not have time to sit there being worshipped. Rather, God is here in the world, constantly working with the poor and needy, for the uplift of humanity. . . . Those who love God should always be thinking about what problems exist in their particular areas, and spend their time working to alleviate those problems. . . .
I have full faith that if those who preach the word of God would all get involved and begin to work productively again—rather than sitting idle and taking money for themselves and for big buildings in God’s name—we would be able to overcome many of the current difficulties in the world. . . .
As one meditates, one becomes aware of everyone’s needs and is always concerned for their wellbeing. One cares for the poor who work all day but still cannot meet their basic necessities. Guru Amar Das has said, “Worry for others.” One continually prays, “Please, God, give them food, give them clothing, please make their life easier. And in addition to their physical sustenance, please give them spiritual sustenance.” [7]
Endnotes
1. Buddha, The Dhammapada, trans. P. Lal, New York: Noonday Press, p. 201
2. Baba Virsa Singh, Loving God, third edition, New Delhi: Gobind Sadan/Sterling Publishing, 2006,, pp. 52-53
3. Sallie McFague, “God’s Household: Christianity, Economics, and Planetary Living,” in Paul F. Knitter and Chandra Muzaffar, Subverting Greed: Religious Perspectives on the Global Economy, Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2002, pp. 121, 133
4. The Holy Quran, with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English by Ali Unal, Surah 2: 271-274, New Jersey, USA: The Light, 2007.
5. The Buddha, Digha-Nikaya III, p. 65 ff, in The Long Discourses 396-405, as quoted by David R. Loy, “Pave the Planet or Wear Shoes? A Buddhist Perspective on Greed and Globalization,” in Knitter and Muzaffar, op. cit., p. 63.
6. David Loy, op. cit, p. 71.
7. Baba Virsa Singh, Loving God, op. cit., pp. 76-79.