I have a gold necklace in my hand. To whom does it belong? To be able to tell the answer to this question, I am sure you will a few additional questions to as me. Such as:
- Who paid for it?
- After having purchased, did the person retain it or has given it as a gift to me?
- Has he pledged it to anybody?
Based on the answers to the above, I guess you would be able to answer my question about the ownership of the gold necklace.
But, who owns it truly. I would say that the earth owns it truly. Even if I have paid for it to the retail store keeper, even if the retail has paid for it to the manufacturer and even if the manufacturer has paid for it to the miner. Did the miner pay anything to the earth for it ?
All that are money did was to make the material move hands and during that process it did undergo changes in shape, texture, size, look, feel, structure, content etc. However, who truly owns the gold?
A child born of a mother grows up over the years. She gets schooled, educated and completes her Masters. She works, moves places, gets into a relationship, starts a family and lot more. Definitely she would never be the same form as she started. And yet, the child does belong to the mother, her source of existence.
Quite similarly, every single object we so called claim to be ours, we claim to be owners of is a false notion. Its just to be assumed that way for the conveience of the transactions in the world. However, we have to know that none of us have paid anything to the Earth to claim any kind of true transfer of ownership.
I have a beautiful garden at home. We also have a tall and good yielding papaya tree. A passer by, looking at the yellowish ripenning and fresh looking fruit on the tree, asked me If I could give him one. And instinctively I said no. And then after he walked away ahead, a series of thoughts ran through my mind. I asked myself as to how is it that I said no. What did I feel insecure about? I discovered that it stemmed for the hidden and deep beleif of mistaken ownership.
One day, as the wind was blowing heavily, out of somewhere a gold bangle landed inside my garden. The wind brought it and it fell onto a piece of land that I claim to be mine for having paid for it. Does this bangle now become mine?
Think about it. I would like to equate it to the gold necklace. Money like the wind, by just transfer the location of the object but it doesnt truly transfer the ownership of the object and the material used for it.
Its time, mankind realised and treated objects obtain by use of money as just transfer of place and form of the object and that the true ownership if of the earth to whom we are in great debt. However, unlike a banker of these days, the earth is far more compassionate. The long rope it gives us is however far overused by all of us. It will not take the earth more than a few seconds to take it all back unto itself.
Ownership of any thing can never be ours, yours or mine. It always belongs to the earth below. Lets share it and use it as a collective resource and not suffer the consequences of maintaining the false notion of ownership.
संस्कृतम् 