Inflation, what it is, what it does, and how to stop it–SP
December 18, 2021 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa
Dec 31 1973 LA morning walk
Prabhupāda: …theologician?
Prajāpati: Here I am, Śrīla Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: No theory?
Prajāpati: Actually, I was concerned this morning about inflation. The government and the newspapers, they say the biggest problem today is inflation. From our Kṛṣṇa conscious standpoint, how can we cure this problem of inflation?
Prabhupāda: It is very simple. Don’t accept paper currency. It must be gold or some metal worth. Just like one dollar, it must be worth one dollar metal. Then it is solved. But they want to cheat. How it can be solved? Because if I pay you one dollar, I must pay you value for one dollar. But it is the cheating process is going on, “I pay you one dollar, a piece of paper. That’s all.” So you accept cheating, and I also cheat. Government allows. So how the problem can be solved? It is cheating. But the government allows it as law. And you accept, I accept. Then how they can be solved, solution? This is the solution.
Prajāpati: In the economy itself there isn’t actually enough money to, that’s even in the banks…
Prabhupāda: That is cheating. Therefore I say cheating. I have no money. I give you simply paper. I promise to pay hundred dollars. What is the use of that promise if I have no money? But you want to be cheated. I cheat you. That’s all. You are satisfied of being cheated by me; so I take the advantage and I cheat you. I give you a paper. That’s all.
Bahulāśva: Real money is gold and silver.
Prabhupāda: Any… It must be value. According to the market price, it must be value. Whatever it may be. Gold is taken, because gold is the most valuable metal. A small piece of gold, it can carry two hundred dollars. But if I give you iron, then you have to bring another, what is called, bus, to carry it. (laughter) So therefore gold standard is accepted everywhere. There is a standard price of gold, so when I pay you money, it must be, carry the value in gold. That’s all. Then there is no inflation. The people want to be cheated, and people cheat. That’s all.
Bahulāśva: In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Prabhupāda, you say that Kali became gold standardized.
Prabhupāda: That is another point. That one who has gold, he can purchase these four kinds of sinful activities: meat-eating, gambling, intoxication, illicit sex. If you have money, you can get illicit sex from big, big quarters. Is it not?
Karandhara: Yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. The sinful activities have increased because the world has produced too much wealth. Because they can purchase sinful activities. And that is being increased by inflation. False money I have got, and with that false money I can purchase all this illicit sex, wine, intoxication, and… It is just like nowadays, bank is giving you a card, “Americard…” What is that?
Karandhara: Charge card. Bank Americard.
Prabhupāda: Ah. So you simply show the card, you get the goods. So to exchange, it has become very cheap. So cheaply you can purchase. Therefore cheaply you can purchase sinful things also. The people are becoming sinful. The modern economy is, “Engage people in hard working to produce, and by artificial cheating, secure the goods, commodities.” This is modern economy. So a worker is getting three thousand dollar per month, but he is getting paper. But he is thinking that “I am getting money.” He is giving his labor, and things are being produced. This is the policy. “Cheat him. Without giving money, give him paper, and get his labor, and produce goods.” This is modern economy. Is it not? A laborer, a worker, is given high salary, high wages. So what he is getting? It is paper. And he is very enthusiastic to give his labor. So production is more. And when you go to purchase the products, then you have to pay again. Whatever you have earned, you have to pay everything, pay to the bank or pay to the man. Simply cheating process is going on. There is no solution. People are cheaters. They have been taught how to cheat. Everyone has got a cheating propensity. That is conditioned life. Four defects: to commit mistake, to become illusioned, to cheat and imperfectness of the senses. So cheating propensity everyone has got. So that cheating propensity is being encouraged more and more. Instead of minimizing it or stop it, it is being encouraged.
Bahulāśva: So unless they become Kṛṣṇa conscious, then there is no solution.
Prabhupāda: No. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ. There cannot be any good quality in human society unless accepts Kṛṣṇa consciousness. This is the… This dog is thinking that we may not cheat him, from the back we may not attack him. Just see. Therefore he is stopping.
Bahulāśva: He doesn’t know that you are the ever well-wisher, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: So you are going to carry the message to the government?
Prajāpati: Yes. Śrīla Prabhupāda. We’re working on a…
Prabhupāda: That issue metal coin and the problem will be solved. But they will not take your advice.
Prajāpati: This is part of our platform. To even run for political office, we need solutions to the problems to offer as a platform. We will draw up various bills, ready for legislation, show them that we are serious.
Prabhupāda: So how you’ll present it? The cheating process is going on. Unless you become God conscious, the cheating process will not stop. So there is no solution.
Prajāpati: So therefore we introduce bill into the schools to introduce God consciousness to all the children there.
Prabhupāda: Yes. God consciousness. Then everyone will be honest, and everything will be adjusted. Everyone can understand this is pure cheating. I give you a hundred dollars, a piece of paper. That’s all. And you accept it. You want to be cheated. You thought, that “I have got now daily, hundred dollars. So let me work very hard.” He does not consider that “I am not getting a hundred dollars. I am getting a piece of paper.” So people have no brain to understand even. “This is not hundred dollars. Give me cash, hundred dollars.” Then everything, solution will be… There will be no inflation. Because I know that paying you a piece of paper, I can cheat you, therefore I am printing notes, to cheat so many people. Therefore inflation. But when there will be no possibility to cheat you, then there will be no inflation. Here I have got the opportunity, because I know that pushing forward a piece of paper, I can cheat so many people. So there must be inflation. Is it not? This is not psychological? If I know that I can cheat you by this instrument, so why shall I not increase that? That is inflation. What do you think, Karandhara?
Karandhara: That’s the basic principle, yes.
Prabhupāda: Yes. I am cheating you, and people accepting my cheating.
Karandhara: The governments actually started the whole thing. They instituted paper money and they instituted it because it is a cheating process. But everyone is participating. So it is just going on and on. That is the real cause of inflation.
Prabhupāda: Yes. That’s it. They are getting encouragement in their cheating business.
Bahulāśva: They won’t let you have any gold.
Prabhupāda: Now they have made law that you cannot store gold?
Karandhara: That’s been since 1933.
Prabhupāda: Just see.
Karandhara: Americans cannot own gold, store gold. Pretty soon they are going to pass the same law for silver.
Prabhupāda: Just see. Even they cannot have ornaments.
Karandhara: Well, you can have ornaments, jewelry.
Prabhupāda: So by law they are cheating. So how you can stop?
Karandhara: Now they have introduced a law that even the penny, which is the smallest denomination, it used to made out of copper, so now they are going to make it out of aluminium, because copper is too expensive.
Prabhupāda: Just see.
Bahulāśva: It will be worth less than a penny when it is made out of aluminium.
Prabhupāda: Why not cement? (laughter) Because by law everything will be acceptable. Make it cement.
Bahulāśva: Śrīla Prabhupāda, what can we do to curb down these rascals?
Prabhupāda: Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Bahulāśva: That will curb them down.
Prabhupāda: Yes. They will be purified. The more you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, they will be purified. This is… All problems are there on account of misunderstanding. What we are distributing? We are simply moving misunderstanding and bringing them to knowledge. This is our propaganda. So Mr. Theologician, is this suggestion appealing to you?
Prajāpati: It seems all right for ordinary dealings, Śrīla Prabhupāda, having this money, what’s going on, but for large scale transactions it might be very difficult.
Prabhupāda: Huh?
Prajāpati: And as the practical basis, transactions of thousands and thousands of dollars, would be…
Prabhupāda: That will be good for the people. Because large scale transaction is there, therefore the capitalists hoarding. Capitalists hoarding. Goods are there, everything is there. You pay black price, you get it. Then, when somebody’s hoarding, he is not giving to the market. So if the large scale industry and trade becomes stopped, that is good for people.
Jagajjīvana: Does that mean the same amount of gold is here?
Prabhupāda: No, larger scale… Suppose if you want to store, say, thousand kilos or a thousand bags of rice, so you have to pay me gold. But you have no such gold. Therefore large scale industry will be stopped. Just see.
Karandhara: Then the price of rice would go very low.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Then you get actual price and actual value. Goods are there, any part of the world you…, there is enough commodity. But these rascals, they are hoarding, and they are not giving in right time. So people are suffering.
Karandhara: Yes. There’s a… They buy now. They buy the goods before they are even grown, from the commodity market.
Prabhupāda: Yes, because they can pay in this paper, the bank will advance. So as soon as you… You have to introduce this metal coins, value. The whole cheating scheme will fail.
Jagajjīvana: In the past there was a lot of gold on the planet. What has happened to it? There used to be a lot of gold on the planet?
Prabhupāda: Yes. They used as utensil, as household pots. Just like now you are advanced, using plastic, because you have become very advanced. So you are using plastic. They were using gold.
Jagajjīvana: So what has happened to that gold?
Prabhupāda: What happened? If you keep utensil at home, what happens? You eat nicely on the plate. That’s all. Why you are concerned, what happening? It is in your store. That’s all. And gold is such a metal, any part of the country, any part of the world you go, you get immediately value.
Karandhara: Yes. Whenever there is an economic depression, then gold remains valuable. Just like when the stock market crashed in 1929, if you had gold you could still purchase goods. No matter how bad the economy was, people would accept gold as barter, but not currency.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Indian economy was that if you have got extra money, you get gold ornament for your wife. So then your money is stocked there. Or purchase some utensils, silver utensils. That was Indian economy. This depositing in the bank and thinking that I am getting good interest, that is another cheating. It is another cheating. If things are not available, what will you get by getting interest? Therefore I am advising that purchase land and produce our own food. There will be no problem.
Karandhara: The inflation rate is higher than the interest rate. If you earn 5 3/4 % interest in a year, the inflation has gone up 6% in a year. So actually your money, at best it’s kept the same.
Prabhupāda: The money is to be kept in cattle and grains. That is Indian economy, cattle and grains. If you have got many cows, you get milk. Milk preparation. And if you have got grain, then where is your problem? You prepare your foodstuff at home and eat and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Where is your problem? You want to eat and live peacefully. So if you have got grains and milk, you have got enough food and there is no problem. You haven’t got to go fifty miles for your work, and then you require a tin car. So many problems. But if you get your food at home, then eat them and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa and go back to home, back to Godhead. Simple thing.
Prajāpati: So many people now employed in sinful activities, jobs that are to do with sinful life. If we get rid of these sinful activities, what will we find for these people to do to replace their jobs?
Prabhupāda: Do pious activities. Do you mean to say we have to continue sinful activities for their job? (laughter)
Prajāpati: They say like that.
Prabhupāda: No, we shall give engagement.
Prajāpati: Cattle industry, liquor industry, tobacco industry, all these big industries.
Prabhupāda: Yes. Let them be without industry. Come to us. We shall give them food. Yes. Just like that… What is that? Mṛgāri, Mṛgāri. He was thinking that “Unless I kill animals, how I will eat, I shall live?” And Nārada gave him, that “I will give you to eat. Come here.” So he became Vaiṣṇava. So that is our propaganda.” Stop this nonsense business. If you think that ‘How you shall eat?’ I shall give you eating. Come on. “This is our program.” First of all you stop it. Then I will, see how I will give you.” Just see. When I came first I was alone. I had no shelter, no food. And how we are maintaining now thousands of people, and giving them to eat, and nice shelter? How it is possible? It is possible. Because after all, Kṛṣṇa gives everything. So if they become Kṛṣṇized, everything will come. Why they bother about the sinful activities?
Viṣṇujana: Dhanañjaya. Like you said this morning, Dhanañjaya.
Prabhupāda: Yes, Dhanañjaya.
Viṣṇujana: Kṛṣṇa will tell us where to…
Prabhupāda: Yes, where to get money. We have solution for all problems. Don’t bother. Go on with Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Do you think our solutions, all impractical?
Prajāpati: No, Śrīla Prabhupāda. They are not impractical.
Prabhupāda: Then, what do you think?
Karandhara: They are the only practical solution.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Karandhara: The karmīs are always saying there is no solution.
Prabhupāda: We say we have got solution.
Bahulāśva: They don’t want the solution, Prabhupāda.
Prabhupāda: That is another thing. They want to be cheated. That’s all.
Some Conclusions-This is a very interesting and useful conversation with Srila Prabhupada about inflation.
Who is today not feeling the pinch of inflated food, gas , energy, and all other commodity prices? So he explains that inflation is due to one thing-cheating by the government which makes it law and the people all accept this paper money as “Money” when in fact it is only some papers printed up by a corrupt government with a false promise to pay. The paper of itself has no intrinsic value as it is just– paper.
There has never been a government that has printed up its own fiat paper money and never defaulted eventually on its promises to pay upon demand !! Look at Germany after the war. They were taking wheelbarrows full of Deutch/German marks to buy a loaf of bread-nobody wanted the papers anymore. But if you have gold or silver, everyone will take it regardless of the time or place because it always has value despite what political despot is in power.
And now in the news the US President is raising the national debt ceiling to unprecedented levels-trillions of dollars. And who is asking how will this enormous debt ever get paid off? Nobody because why? They are all cheaters. Raising the debt level means they can continue to cheat and nobody will call them on it. And this just means one thing-more and more future inflation.
So the other reasonable solution Prabhupada gives above to this inflation problem is to get your own land and raise your own grains and food. When you are basically self sufficient you are OUT of this cheating inflationary loop.
When I go to local stores to buy what I cannot grow here I spend $10-30 dollars. But the karmis I see with huge overflowing shopping carts, their bills total a whopping $300-400 dollars or more. So they are cheaters getting cheated because they WANT to be cheated and therefore they do get cheated and Maya devi makes sure ot that.
So, the final question would be –who among our Hare Krsna devotees are buying land and growing their own food? If not, this means they want to be cheated still, and worse they will still not follow Krsna and Srila Prabhupada directives to do so.
Hare Krsna
damaghosa das
►740524r2.rom Conversations … Yes, naturally. If this man is fed up with this industry, he can go back to village and produce his own food. But he is attached to this industrial activity because he is thinking that “We are getting more money for wine and woman and meat. Let me enjoy.” That is the perfect, imp… But if he chants Hare Krsna maha-mantra, his consciousness will be purified and he will be made not interested this kind of work. He will go back to village and produce food.
740524r2.rom Conversations…They are creating hodge-podge civilization and putting the mass of people in chaotic condition. This is the sum and substance. I do not know whether you’ll agreed with me, but this is my study of the whole situation.
740525mw.rom Conversations Prabhupada: Yes, that was Gandhi’s philosophy, village organization. These people, they are attracting villagers to work in the factory, and they are exploiting them…. our philosophy. Make your life successful. By becoming Krsna conscious, you become free from all these troubles of material condition. This is our education. Don’t be after these motorcars, television, and all nonsense things, sporting, wine, women. Don’t be after these. Simply eat sufficiently, keep your health nicely, chant Hare Krsna, realize Krsna, and go back to home This is our philosophy…
►750403mw.may Conversations There are so many land. Come here and grow food. Grow fruit. That is… That is the desire of Krsna. Annad bhavanti bhutani. Produce food and eat in sufficiently, be strong, and chant Hare Krsna. That is our philosophy. Why you are producing bolts and nuts, tire and tubes? Eat. Rascal. They do not know that first of all you must eat. No, everyone is engaged in industry. Why? Krsna does not say that “Take to industry.” Krsna says, “Produce foodstuff.” Annad bhavanti bhutani. If you produce foodstuff, then both your animals, yourself, will be happy, becoming strong. Why do they manufacture other things?
►770527rc.vrn Conversations … There will be more water for gardening, and it will be moist, and then produce fodder for the animals and food for you. And animal gives you milk. That is … .. Don’t bother about big, big buildings. It is not required. Useless waste of time. Produce. Make the whole field green. See that. Then whole economic question solved. Then you eat … is beneficial. Even the stool is beneficial. Therefore I am asking so much here and…, “Farm, farm, farm, farm…” That is not my program–Krsna’s program. Annad bhavanti bhutani. Produce greenness everywhere, everywhere. Vrndavana. It is not this motorcar civilization.
