This blog gives the reasons why kannaDigaru must buy residential/commercial sites in their own hometowns as soon as possible, preferably today.
Economic and environmental reasons
karnATaka is facing a severe problem today, the problem of land grabbing by people from neighbouring states, viz., Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Before you complete reading this blog, one tamilian, one mallu and one gult will have bought a 60x40 site in your own city, whether it is beMgaLUru or maisUru or hubLi or naMjanagUDu. Remember that the migrant is not richer than you. He's only smarter; he's only more careful about his own future. Even he has to take a bank loan to buy a site, not just you. Only, he's ready to take the pain now to ensure a better tomorrow for himself (which, unfortunately, is turning out to be a worse tomorrow for us).
The above doesn't seem to be reason enough for some kannaDigaru who have the money to buy sites, but who think it's a display of either (a) violence or (b) hatred to run in this ratrace and grab land. Such kannaDigaru are mistaken, as will presently be argued. But before that, I want to point out to a few more reasons why we should buy sites
Some gRuhastha kannaDigaru have a more basic flaw in their understanding of gRuhasthAshrama, driven by which they claim, almost like a saMnyAsi that it's not correct to go behind property, acquire wealth, etc. The basic flaw in their understanding comes either from (a) sOmAritana or from (b) ignorance of one's own duties -- rather than from any deep understanding of the upanishattugaLu or the bhagavadgeete or any dharmagraMtha. All our dharmagraMthagaLu shout at the top of their voice that a gRuhastha must acquire as much wealth as possible. I shall quote two examples:
(1) taittirIyOpanishat:
tasmAdyayA kayA cha vidhayA bahvannaM kurveeta |
- Which means that the gRuhastha should obtain as much "anna" (which is nothing but wealth) as possible. The upanishat goes into detail as to why this is so.
(2) mahAbhArata:
UrdhvabAhurvirOmyEtannahi kaSchit shruNOti mAm |
dharmAdarthaScha kAmaScha sa kimarthaM na sEvyatE ||
- This is vEdavyAsa saying "I'm shouting at the top of my voice with my hands raised high, but nobody is listening to me! Why are you not enjoying kAma and artha which is obtained through dharma?". vEdavyAsa makes it very clear that kAma and artha (money, "anna", 60x40 sites!) should be enjoyed by the householder as long as they are obtained through rightful means (by not robbing, for instance).
Economic and environmental reasons
karnATaka is facing a severe problem today, the problem of land grabbing by people from neighbouring states, viz., Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Before you complete reading this blog, one tamilian, one mallu and one gult will have bought a 60x40 site in your own city, whether it is beMgaLUru or maisUru or hubLi or naMjanagUDu. Remember that the migrant is not richer than you. He's only smarter; he's only more careful about his own future. Even he has to take a bank loan to buy a site, not just you. Only, he's ready to take the pain now to ensure a better tomorrow for himself (which, unfortunately, is turning out to be a worse tomorrow for us).
The above doesn't seem to be reason enough for some kannaDigaru who have the money to buy sites, but who think it's a display of either (a) violence or (b) hatred to run in this ratrace and grab land. Such kannaDigaru are mistaken, as will presently be argued. But before that, I want to point out to a few more reasons why we should buy sites
- We feel most at home in our own hometowns. So it's logical for us to buy a site in our own hometown (the string "...before the tamilians buy" is not attached here).
- Slowly but surely, karnATaka is becoming increasingly prosperous and beMgaLUru increasingly choked, and there is no need for everybody to go to beMgaLUru for a job. This only means that we're going to see increasing need for us to settle down in places other than beMgaLUru. Before the prices soar, this is the right time to buy sites in our hometowns.
Some gRuhastha kannaDigaru have a more basic flaw in their understanding of gRuhasthAshrama, driven by which they claim, almost like a saMnyAsi that it's not correct to go behind property, acquire wealth, etc. The basic flaw in their understanding comes either from (a) sOmAritana or from (b) ignorance of one's own duties -- rather than from any deep understanding of the upanishattugaLu or the bhagavadgeete or any dharmagraMtha. All our dharmagraMthagaLu shout at the top of their voice that a gRuhastha must acquire as much wealth as possible. I shall quote two examples:
(1) taittirIyOpanishat:
tasmAdyayA kayA cha vidhayA bahvannaM kurveeta |
- Which means that the gRuhastha should obtain as much "anna" (which is nothing but wealth) as possible. The upanishat goes into detail as to why this is so.
(2) mahAbhArata:
UrdhvabAhurvirOmyEtannahi kaSchit shruNOti mAm |
dharmAdarthaScha kAmaScha sa kimarthaM na sEvyatE ||
- This is vEdavyAsa saying "I'm shouting at the top of my voice with my hands raised high, but nobody is listening to me! Why are you not enjoying kAma and artha which is obtained through dharma?". vEdavyAsa makes it very clear that kAma and artha (money, "anna", 60x40 sites!) should be enjoyed by the householder as long as they are obtained through rightful means (by not robbing, for instance).
2 comments:
For some people, it's the condition "obtained through dharma" that poses the problem. How do we know that? To put it mildly, the present day society is a whole lot more complex than during Vedavyasa's time. Thinking that one can amass wealth and buy property through dharma, in my opinion, is all but naive. Even an innocent buying of a flat in Bangalore in most cases makes one a part of a vastly spread corruption racket. Whoever says Bangalore is for the IT lot? Where and how are we displacing the original denizens of this place? I wish I had some means to check whether I'm following dharma all the way down, get an all right stamp and sleep peacefully in my new bedroom which is still smelling of fresh paint. Huh.
How do we know that it's "obtained through dharma"? Simple: ask yourself if that act takes you away from karmabaMdhana or near it. Ask if that act was for yaj~JArtha or it was for svArtha. kRuShNa says:
yaj~JArthAtkarmaNO&nyatra lOkOyaM karmabaMdhanaH |
tadarthaM karma kouMtEya muktasaMgaH samAchara ||
[O son of kuMti, karma, which in this case is of the nature of buying a flat in beMgaLUru, iunless performed for the sake of sacrifice, leads to karmabaMdhana. Hence, perform your duty without attachment to its fruit, i.e., being an asaMga. asaMga from what? From the fruit of your duties]
It is a very subtle point -- people go to two extremes in understanding this principle: one renounces karma itself and the other renounces any hope of performing it without attachment to fruit. The middle way is the right one.
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