Concepts of “Desire” and “Demand”:Vedanta goes beyondEconomics

By T.N.SethumadhavanAugust 2013

DESIRE IN VEDANTA

The purpose or goal of Life, prushartha, is fourfold viz. dharma, artha, kamaand moksha. Among these four objectives kama or the manifestation and fulfillment of desires is the starting point of all activities in life.

Life is nothing but an expression of desires, latent or patent, seeking fulfillment, overcoming obstacles, conquering challenges and in the process achieving success or failure. Indeed, life oscillates between fulfillment and frustration like a pendulum, Fulfilled now, and frustrated then, life moves through desires getting satisfied or unsatisfied and disappointed. Nobody can ever claim to have completely satisfied all his desires and similarly none can assert that he has not fulfilled any desire whatsoever in one’s life.

WHAT IS DESIRE?

Desire is called by different terms in Sanskrit—‘kama’, ‘iccha’, ‘eshana’ and so on. All of them have same meaning: craving and expectation. Desire or craving is a power which only those who have experienced know. Think of the power of desire! Desires generate energy and effort resulting in good or evil action. Desires make us go forward or backward. The instances of Sage Viswamitra and Menaka, Indra and Ahalya, Ravana and Sita or Kauravas and Pandavas are all typical examples of desires possessing the power of an atom bomb playing havoc in the course of their lives.Desires and life are synonymous.

Right at the time of our very birth the newborns give out a cry. That cry is the first visible expression of desire, probably, a protest for or a jubilation of being born. It may be an expression for satisfying hunger or yearning for physical security emerging out of the safety of the mother’s womb or it may be a desire to satisfy anything we can never know.

The Vedanta philosophy believes that man is born to work out his karma, which is the accumulated result of all his actions. All actions are born of desires or kama. Desires give birth to action and action creates karma and karma creates desires, again. The chain continues. The cycle keeps rolling. Life goes on. A question arises where did it all start? And why? What is man without desires? Man has pondered over these questions from Vedictimes.

We will be surprised to know that the worldor creation or the multiplicities around us all started with the concept of desire! Whose desire? It is the desire of the Creator, Brahman or Paramatman.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says

“In the beginning, before the creation of bodies, all this was just the Self, undifferentiated from the body of viraj. This Self was like a human being in shape. He is referred to as the first born virat, the first person to have a body endowed with the capacity of willing, acting and knowing. He naturally felt his existence and expressed himself thus “I am”. This being is now known as Purusha.

When he did not see anything else whatsoever except himself, this first self, in the shape of a man, became afraid. (Therefore people still are afraid when alone. This fear indicates the universal desire for self-preservation). The virat (the sum total of all gross bodies in the universe) the original being, Self, looks around and sees nothing else but himself. When he realizes his loneliness, he has two feelings, one of fear and the other of a desire for companionship. His fear is dispelled when he realizes that there is nothing else of which he has to be afraid of. His desire for companionship is satisfied by projecting another body of the size of man and woman united in close embrace. This body was then called husband and wife. From the union of these two the race of human beings is produced.

According to the mantra, Prajapati or Hiranygarbha or the Cosmic Person, the Purusha appeared to divide himself into two halves indicating that both are his elements. The two are not separate; they do not mean any duality. One half of the Cosmic person becomes man and the other woman each incomplete without the other like the two halves of a split pea. When the peanut is split into two halves each half becomes incomplete without the other. Both the halves are needed to make each other complete. So too are men and women in the world.”

Taittiriya Upanishad says that before creation, Brahman brooded over the matter and thought of manifesting Himself into many. So resolving, he created this universe consisting of sentient and insentient, and entered into them i.e. projected the universe out of his own power of maya which consists of objects with form and without form, some describable and others indescribable. The same Brahman, the same Truth, appeared as truth and untruth both, That is why wise persons say that whatever is visible, audible or object of comprehension, it is a form of Paramatman, the truth itself. Before manifesting, this universe of sentient and insentient was non-existent i.e. was in an unmanifest state. From that came the existent with names and forms. Brahman transformed Himself by Himself into the universe of sentient and insentient objects. Therefore He is known as sukrita, the self-created.

Aitareya Upanishad while discussing the Origin of the Universe and Man says that in the beginning all this verily was Atman (Absolute Self) only, one and without a second. There was nothing else that winked. He (Atman) willed Himself: "Let Me now create the worlds". That is when there was nothing other than Consciousness, also called Atman, This One and Absolute Consiousness willed to create a world of multiplicity and relativity. Creation is a consequence of that Will Power, ‘Tapas’ or the desire of Paramatman.

Prasna Upanishad says Prajapati, having performed penance, created a pair - Rayi, matter and Prana, energy - thinking that they would together between themselves produce creatures in many forms.

Svetasvatara Upanishad uses a simile to explain the process of creation. Just as a ray of light, though colorless in itself, assumes different colors when it passes through a prism, the formless Brahman who is one without a second, who is undifferentiated - nirvisesha, for the reasons not known to the human mind, created diversity at all levels with the help of His own power. When the world meets its end, all these diversities merge back unto Him.

Paingala Upanishad mentions the famous process of quintuplication - panchikarana - or splitting and mixing up of subtle elements in various proportions to make them gross substances out of which Prajapati created many Brahmandas - macrocosms and many worlds appropriate to each of them - microcosms.

Brahma Sutras which interpret and organize the Upanishads, regard Brahman as the material as well as the efficient cause of the universe, its origin and support, himself uncreated and eternal.

In the Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna tells

balam balavataamasmi kaamaraagavivarjitam

dharmaaviruddho bhooteshu kaamo'smi bharatarshabha // 7.11 //

OF THE STRONG, I AM THE STRENGTH - DEVOID OF DESIRE AND ATTACHMENT AND IN ALL BEINGS, I AM THE DESIRE UNOPPOSED TO DHARMA, O BEST AMONG THE BHARATAS.

I am the balam, strength, ability, virility; balavatam, of the strong. That strength, again, is kama-raga-vivarjitam, devoid of passion and attachment. Kamah is passion, hankering for things not at hand. Ragah is attachment, fondness for things acquired. I am the strength that is devoid of them and is necessary merely for the maintenance of the body etc., but not that strength of the worldly which causes hankering and attachment. Further, bhutesu, among creatures; I am that kamah, desire - such desires as for eating, drinking, etc. which are for the mere maintenance of the body and so on; which is dharma aviruddhah, not contrary to righteousness, not opposed to scriptural injunctions; bharatarsabha, O scion of the Bharata dynasty (Arjuna).

Having said about the ‘how’ of creation there is no answer to the eternal question why the Creator desired to create. Swami Vivekananda refers to this in his famous lecture given during the first World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893:

“How can the perfect become the quasi-perfect; how can the pure, the absolute, change even a microscopic particle of its nature? But the Hindu is sincere. He does not want to take shelter under sophistry. He is brave enough to face the question in a manly fashion; and his answer is: ‘I do not know. I do not know how the perfect being, the soul, came to think of itself as imperfect, as joined to and conditioned by matter.’ But the fact is a fact for all that. It is a fact in everybody’s consciousness that one thinks of oneself as the body. The Hindu does not attempt to explain why one thinks one is the body. The answer that it is the will of God is no explanation. This is nothing more than what the Hindu says, I do not know.”

That puts an end to all questions: we do not know why ‘He desired’!! But the fact is that life is desire-manifest, full of promises, fears, and the seed of all that happens in and around us. Let us see what the modern science of Economics says about desires.

CH 2

DEMAND IN ECONOMICS

What Vedanta calls as desire Economics calls it as demand. The first principle or fact that a student of economics learns is that desires are infinite, but the means to fulfill them are limited. So we have to choose, and in the process of fulfilling our desires, we create fresh ones. Of course, we are told, ‘Overcome desires.’ It is not possible for a majority of the people to even understand the logic of it, let alone be able to practice it. Hence the dictum, ‘Enjoy, fulfill your desires with care’ is the basis of Economics. Economics thus deals with the management of human desires.The various definitions of Economics bring out clearly the intricacies, implications, processes and consequences involved of satisfying human desires both from the demand and supply sides.

Some of the great economists have defined Economics as follows.

Adam Smith(1776) defines the subject as "an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations,”

J.-B. Say(1803) defines it as the scienceofproduction, distribution, and consumption ofwealth.

John Stuart Mill(1844) defines the subject in a social context as:The science which traces the laws of such of the phenomena of society as arise from the combined operations of mankind for the production of wealth, in so far as those phenomena are not modified by the pursuit of any other object.

Alfred Marshallprovides a still widely-cited definition in his textbookPrinciples of Economics(1890) that extends analysis beyond wealthand from thesocietalto themicroeconomiclevel:Economics is a study of man in the ordinary business of life. It enquires how he gets his income and how he uses it. Thus, it is on the one side, the study of wealth and on the other and more important side, a part of the study of man.

FormerLondonSchool of Economics professor Lionel Robbins'(1932) book "An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science" features an all-encompassing definition of Economics that is still used to today. He wrote "Economics is the sciencewhich studies human behavior as a relationship between given ends and scarce means which have alternative uses,"

Thus most of the definitions of Economics, classical and modern, suggest the subject as the study of:

  • the economy
  • the coordination process
  • the effects of scarcity
  • the science of choice
  • human behavior and
  • human beings as to how they coordinate wants and desires, given the decision-making mechanisms, social customs, and political realities of society.

Economics is divided into two main areas, microeconomics and macroeconomics.Microeconomics examines items on an individual level such as production, consumption and distribution of wealth and also various factors of production such as land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship. Macroeconomics focuses on the economy as a whole, looking at things like trade and unemployment levels, poverty alleviation, Gross National Product, imports and exports, price levels, monetary policy, developmental planning etc.

Human beings have unlimited wants meaning that there is never such a time that a human being is satisfied and not in need of anything. On the other hand, resources available in nature, which should be used to meet those human wants, are limited. The available resources can never be enough to satisfy all human needs.

This phenomenon, where there are unlimited human wants which are to be met by very limited resources, is essentially what economists call scarcity. Scarcity is referred to as the fundamental economic problem, and all economic activities revolve around trying to solve this problem. In view of scarcity, a good which is usable but in abundantsupplymay not qualify to be called an economic good. Air and water, for example, are just ‘goods’ in the sense that they are readily available and cannot be deemed to be scarce.

Economic goods are presumed to be scarce in supply, that is to say, they cannot at one time meet thedemandof humans. The concept of scarcity is so vital in moderneconomics that it defines economics as a study of human actions and behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses.

Along with scarcity comes another equally important concept in economics: Choice. Choice comes about as a result of scarcity, and in a way, choice is conditioned by these circumstances. Since human wants are unlimited and resources limited, it emerges that one cannot be able to practically meet all his wants at any one time. Because of this, it becomes inevitable for someone to choose between the many unlimited wants which one wants to satisfy at any given moment. This, in economics, is not just a conscious decision; it is an inevitable action that one has to take.

Since you make a choice of doing something, or fulfilling a certain want, it turns out that at any one time, there is a certain other want that you have to ignore, or forego, in order to fulfill your earlier want. When you wake up to go to work in the morning, for example, you probably would have loved to sleep just a little more, but then you have to wake up and leave for work because you must earn a living. In this scenario, it can be rightly assumed that you have foregone sleep in order to go to work.

Supply is the quantity of a given commodity that the producer or seller is willing and able to sell to the market at a given price over a specific period of time. Thedemandfor a commodity is the quantity that the buyer is willing and able to buy at a specific period of time and at a specific price. The supply and the demand are the variables that affect the market equilibrium point.

Equilibrium is a situation in which the force that determines the behavior of variables is in a balance and therefore they exact no pressure on the variables to change. In an equilibrium position the actions of all economic agencies are mutually constant.

The concept ofdemandis based on otherconcepts such as the utility concept. Utility is the level of satisfaction an individual derives from the consumption of one unit of a good or service. The aim of each individual is to try and maximize his utility with the minimum inputs. A consumer will therefore buy a combination of goods and services that maximize his utility at a minimum cost given the means to achieve the goods and services are scarce.

CH 3

DIFFERENCE IN GOALS:

ECONOMICS

The goal of economics is to produce a scientific understanding of how and perhaps why human beings allocate limited resources to fulfill their wants and needs or in other words, their demands.The five major goals in this direction are the following.

  1. Full employment:Full employment is achieved when all available resources (labor,capital,landandentrepreneurship) are used to produce goods and services. This goal is commonly indicated by the employment of labor resources (measured by theunemployment rate). The economy benefits fromfull employmentbecause resources produce the goods that satisfy the wants and needs that lessen the scarcity problem. If the resources are not employed, then they are not producing and satisfaction is not achieved.
  1. Stability:Stability is achieved by avoiding or limiting fluctuations in production, employment, and prices. Stability seeks to avoid the recessionary declines and inflationary expansions ofbusiness cycles. This goal is indicated by month-to-month and year-to-year changes in various economic indicators such as theinflation rate, the unemployment rate, and the growth rate of production. If these remain unchanged, then stability is at hand. Maintaining stability is beneficial because it means uncertainty and disruptions in the economy are avoided. It means consumers and businesses can safely pursue long-term consumption and production plans..
  1. Economic Growth: Economic growth is achieved by increasing the economy's ability to produce goods and services. This goal is best indicated by measuring the growth rate of production. If the economy produces more goods in the current year than the previous year, then it is growing. Economic growth is also indicated by increases in the quantities of the resources--labor, capital, land, and entrepreneurship--used to produce goods. With economic growth, society gets more goods that can be used to satisfy more wants and needs--people are better off; living standards rise; and scarcity is less of a problem. Policy makers are usually most concerned with growth rate, price stability and the inflation rate
  1. Equity: Equity is achieved whenincomeandwealthare fairly distributed within a society. Almost everyone wants a fair distribution. However, what constitutes a fair and equitable distribution is debatable. Some might contend that equity is achieved when everyone has the same income and wealth. Others contend that equity results when people receive income and wealth based on the value of theirproduction. Still others argue that equity is achieved when each has only the income and wealth that they need.
  1. Efficiency: Efficiency is achieved when society is able to get the greatest amount of satisfactionfrom available resources. Withefficiency, society cannot change the way resources are used in any way that would decrease the total amount of satisfaction obtained by society. The pervasive scarcity problem is best addressed whenlimited resourcesare used to satisfy as many wants and needs as possible.

The five economic goals of full employment, stability, economic growth, efficiency, and equity are widely considered to be beneficial and worth pursuing. Each goal, achieved by itself, improves the overall well-being of society.