In some sense, the 20th Century has been a period in which the world has created infinitely. Back in 1900 there were only 8000 cars manufactured each year in the USA, and they were purchased only by the very wealthiest people. Today more than 16 million cars are produced in the USA every year. All the prosperity which we think of as American has been created during the past 90 years. In 1900 there was only one electric power plant in the entire USA. Today every nook and corner of the country enjoys unlimited power supply. Think about what has happened to life expectancy for people all over the world. Even in India the changes have been very dramatic. How has all of this been created? What has happened in the world that in a half a century, the vast majority of human beings have suddenly gained access to such vast material plenty? Today one country can produce the entire world’s requirement of cars, steel, or computer chips. In 1900 the biggest industries in the USA were producing horseshoes and hair pins. The same was true in India before 1947. All this prosperity that we take for granted now has only been here for a short time.
What changed in this century that made these miraculous achievements possible? One explanation is that better technology has spread rapidly around the globe. But who created this technology and where does it come from? Is it some kind of limited store which will get depleted? Technology is the creation of human beings. Is there any limit to our capacity to improve the means we use for our own development? I do not think so.
Another factor that is responsible for this development is education. Back in 1880 there was only one Ph.D. awarded in the entire USA. In 1990, there were 10,000 students studying for post graduate degrees in the USA just from South India, and more than 30,000 Ph.D.’s were awarded in a single year. What has happened? A phenomenal spread of education has taken place all over the world. All the accomplishments of modern life are based on this foundation of education. Is there any limit to the capacity of individuals to educate themselves? Are we capable of exhausting that limit? The quality of education, even in American schools, is still about a hundred years behind the times. What about in India, where a child can go to school in the rural areas for six years and still not be able to read? What will happen when we adopt the most advanced educational methods available, such as the ones that the Raghavans are applying at Arasavanangkadu in Tiruvarur District where children of illiterate parents learn to read Tamil and English by the age of 4? Is there any limit to the prosperity India can create?
Another factor responsible for development is the spread of freedom, of democracy. Political freedom itself is a very new phenomenon that spread to most countries only during the 20th Century. Democracy has been spreading like wildfire over the last 25 years. Even in democratic countries many individuals, racial and religious groups still lack full social freedom. We can foresee a time when freedom extends everywhere. A tremendous amount of energy is released when people have that kind of freedom. Of course, to fully utilize that freedom, people have to be educated. Is there any limit to our capacity to give greater freedom to people?
Development of social organization is another factor that has infinitely multiplied our creative opportunities. Money, banking, insurance, stock exchanges, pension funds, corporations, and the Internet are just of few of the myriad new social organizations and systems that have extended opportunities and prosperity to the masses. In a similar way, think how much development is the result of enhancing the skills of the population. Today India is graduating 300,000 engineers a year, which is five times more than the total number of engineers produced each year in the USA. Huge numbers of them are now working as software engineers in India and abroad. Is there any limit to the potential for expanding educational programmes that impart employable skills?
When we talk about infinite potential, even for material prosperity, let us try to imagine what has infinitely been created in the last 50 years and what could be created in the next 50 years if technology, education, organization and systems can be fully availed of. If India + Systems + Skills = USA, where will the world be if we fully organize and educate ourselves?
So far I have been speaking of what can be achieved without even referring to the power of Spirit. The idea is that wealth can be created infinitely. Based on the experience of the past century, that seems very plausible. Who has created all this wealth? We are the creators of that wealth. How can we overcome the limits that we place on ourselves, so that we can create anything and everything that we would like to create in our own lives? That is the knowledge contained in The Life Divine.
Over the last decade, the Indian Government has been liberalizing its policies to attract foreign investment. The country needs tens of billion dollars for investment in power, roads, telecommunications, etc. Many believe that if the Government could get $50 billion of additional investment, India could really take off. Today in India, apart from about Rs. 1,200,000 crores or about $250 billion in the banking system, there is probably another Rs. 600,000 crores or about $125 billion or more held by the public as savings in the form of gold. In addition the country is holding more than $120 billion in foreign currency reserves, mostly US dollars. Why should India be preoccupied with attracting foreign investment of $50 billion, when the country has ten times that amount available for investment? Where is the limitation? It is only a limitation in our minds, a limitation of attitude. Prosperity is a question of attitude.
