The Black-marketeers who have been recently raided in large scale by the police in Bihar, are almost in all cases rich merchants, millionaires, landlords etc.These people were not needy men but they amassed money and hoarded commodities out of a passion for accumulating wealth not only for their personal enjoyment but also for their enjoyment of their future generation. Such diseased persons who do not know the highest value of human life, but simply go on amassing money unnecessarily and immorally for the simple reason of sense gratification are described in the Bhagwat Geeta (Bg. 16.6-20) as Ashuras or the demons or the opposite numbers of the Gods.

1. A Spiritual Study of Greed
The Black-marketeers who have been recently raided in large scale by the police in Bihar, are almost in all cases rich
merchants,millionaires,landlordsetc.Itwouldnothave beenpossible for them to hoard such huge quantity of clothes
and foodgrainsif theywouldnothave possessedextrawealthtodothe mischief.Thesepeople were notneedymenbut
they amassed money and hoarded commodities out of a passion for accumulating wealth not only for their personal
enjoymentbutalsofortheirenjoymentof theirfuture generation.Suchdiseasedpersons who do not know the highest
value of human life, but simply go on amassing money unnecessarily and immorally for the simple reason of sense
gratificationare describedinthe BhagwatGeeta(Bg.16.6-20) as Ashurasor the demonsor the opposite numbers of the
Gods.The Ashuraisgenerallyfaithlessandunbelieverinthe existence of the Supreme Personalityof Godhead. He is led
to thinklike that,otherwisehe couldnotact so irresponsibly. His main principle of life is to satisfy the material senses
coupledwithundue pride andvanityof possessing more. It is unknown to him that his mind is the controlling agent of
hismaterial senses.Above hismindthere isintelligence andabove hisintelligence there is his living spirit known as the
soul. He amasses money for enjoying it in the estimation of sense gratification but not for the benefit of the soul. He
doesthisbusinesstill the end of creation and makes arrangement by legalised documents how his future generations
who may come to his home to enjoy the amassed wealth. His only business is to see how much bank balance he
possessedyesterdayandhow it has increased today. He thinks of annihilating one enemy today and others tomorrow
and tries to pose himself as one of the dominating Gods as if he has had attained to all perfection of life through the
mediumof money. But such Ashura is always bound up by the laws of Nature which he does not know. Simply for the
sake of sense enjoyment which is permanently transient and bereaving, he amasses money by all sorts of means
influenced by a disposition of passion anger and lust. It is stated in the Bhagwat Geeta that such class of Ashuras who
are the lowestof the humanbeingbecause theyare notonlymeanbutalsoenvioustootherfellow beings,are forcedto
take their birth in the lower grades of life after life still they are completely forgetful of the very existence of the
Supreme Personalityof Godhead.Thisforgetfulnessof the relationwithGodheadisthe standardlife of the animals and
that is the highest punishment that can be inflicted by Nature on a living being.
So the Ashura,althoughapparentlyhe seemstobe fortunate enoughbypossessionof muchmaterial wealth, is actually
most unfortunate creature. Wealth is considered to be Laxhmi the Mother of opulence or the Internal Energy of
Godhead.Assuch MotherLaxhmi isEternal Consortof Narayana(Fatherof all Narasor the 'livingentity') the Personality
of Godhead. Therefore wherever there is Narayana surely there is His Eternal Consort Laxhmi. But where there is no
realizationof Narayana,the apparentexistence of Laxhmi isthe false representationof Herexistence-justlike Sita (Who
is Laxhmi Herself) was falsely in the possession of Ravana. Ravana who is an ideal Ashura wanted to possess Sita by
cheatingSri Rama. The resultwas that Ravana was vanquished with all his paraphernalia. It should be noted therefore
that the ultimate destiny of the Ashura is just like that of Ravana.
The descendants of Ravana in the present age may take lessons from the fate of their celebrated forefather that they
must not try to possess wealth or captivate Laxhmi simply by cheating Her Lord the Narayana or the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. If they want to have money from Laxhmi and bestowed with Her favour, they must keep in
contact withNarayanathe LORD of Universe.We shall discussin a separate article how such contact with Narayana can
be made possible.
Laxhmi the Eternal Consortof Narayana isalwaysengagedinthe service of HerLord. She cannot be detached from such
eternal service andif the Ashuralike hisforefatherRavanatryto snatchLaxhmi from the service of Narayana surely the
Ashura shall meet with the same fate as Ravana met with.
Forgetfulness of Narayana the Godhead and possession of wealth of Laxhmi goes ill together. The Ashura however
imaginesthatLaxhmi havingbeeninhispossessionthe Lordof Laxhmi,Narayanahas become povertystricken! He does
not knowthatneitherLaxhmi canbe dispossessedof Narayananorthe Latter can be made povertystricken. The Ashura
therefore inthe course of hissense gratifyingprocessexhibits a disposition of kindness by distributing a fraction of his
ill-gottenwealth for the benefit of the so-called poverty-stricken Narayana (Daridra-Narayana)! Such conceptions are
manufactured in the rabid brain of the Ashura.
Narayanais the singularOriginof all naras.Nara meanslivingentityand'Ayana'meansthe 'repose'.Inthe Bhagavadgita
we can get the information that all living entities irrespective of their source of birth or species, are all born of the
AlmightyFatherSree Krishnawhoisnondifferentfrom Narayana. He is the begetting Father and the material Nature is

2. the material source of theirbirth.The Supreme Godheadbeingthe Fatherof all livingbeing,everyone hasgotbirth right
share in the property of Godhead according to His plan. Such plan is not direct design of the Almighty Father but it is
influencedbythe livingentitiesaccordingtotheirmode of nature whichtheyconfrontinthe relative world.The Ashuras
do not know this plan of God nor do they believe in it.
The Godhead as Father of all living entities, is equal to everyone. He does not design anyone's activity subjectively or
objectivelyneitherdoesHe create anyone'sfactual results.The actionsandtheirresultsare all outcome of the mode of
Nature of a particular living entity, as it has imbibed by its association with different modes of nature. That is the
instruction we get from Bhagavad gita.
The black-marketeersare,therefore,notinfluencedbyanydesignof Godheadbuttheyhave become so by dint of their
associationwiththe modesof passion and ignorance. Unrestricted hankering after wealth is the result of the mode of
passionforunsatiatedenjoymentandmadness after this sort of business, is the result of the mode of ignorance. They
are due to lack of cultivating the mode of goodness which alone can endow them with a sense of proper vision and
knowledge of life.
State can not check or banishoutthe black marketingprocesssimplyby police action, personal appeal or by legislative
conventions. The mode of ignorance and passion have pervaded the whole atmosphere. The mode of goodness has
altogetherbeenbanishedfromthe religio-social lifeof the presentgeneration.Attempt was made by leaders of men to
revive the mode of goodness of the general populace but for want of proper handling the desired result was not
obtained.Itisnot necessaryorexpectedthateveryone of the membersof the general publicwill be able todevelop this
mode of goodness. But if there were only fifty heads all over the world who might have imbibed and practised in the
mode of goodnessthe whole atmosphere of the worldwouldhave changedatonce.One moonissufficienttoilluminate
the whole firmament but millions of stars cannot even remove the darkness of night.
In order to save the world from a greater catastrophe which seems to be impending, some of the big heads of every
state of the world must now combine to implement in their characters the mode of goodness. When they are so,
general publicwilltrytofollow their footprints even if the members of public themselves cannot imbibe such nature.
It is necessary, therefore, that an association of really sincere gentlemen who may be turned to be devotees or so,
shouldnowbe formedwithaviewtoend the animal type of civilization.The civilization which has no other end in view
than to solve the necessitiesof the bodyandmindonly,issurelydoomedtomeetsuchcalamitiesasare dailyhappening
inthe presentage.The ignorantpopulationwhose basic principle of life is animality only cannot but eat one another's
flesh by such novel method as black-marketing or similar such sinister habits.
There is clear cut ways and means, as to how one can achieve, the quality of goodness, stated in the Bhagwat Geeta.
One has to imbibe the characteristic goodness of habits in respect of bodily and mental activities, controlling the
movementsof speech,mind,belly,generatingorgan,angerandtongue.Forany sincere gentleman,the whole courseof
achieving success in the above mentioned endeavours does not take a period more than a year only. Above all,
controllingthe habitsof the tongue is the most important item. And who has control over the tongue is systematically
able to control over all others senses. The socio-political leaders must be those who have passed the above course of
controlling system. Sometimes leaders of superior capacity exhibit such controlling system without any systematic
training.Forwant of systematictrainingone hastotake about thirtyto fortyyearsto become a regular controller of the
senses. One should therefore take up the standard process of attaining such success prescribed by the authority.
According to the Bhagwat Geeta the 'Mahatmas' are all imbibed with all godly qualities and as such the Mahatmas are
invariably devotees of the personality of Godhead. Such Mahatmas undoubtedly know it perfectly well that the
Personalityof GodheadShree Krishna is the Primal Cause of everything. So to become a Mahatma is to learn the art of
understading the personality of Godhead.
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