From a purely material viewpoint, it (India’s social and economic backwardness) is a question of supply and demand. Because of the overpowering material values of our society, the demand is growing larger and larger, while the supply remains the same or decreases. The solution, obviously, is to increase the supply or decrease the demand. Then, of course, there is, the problem of growing population. The triangular issue of economic imbalance needs to be spiritualised if an effective solution is to be found.

It is here that our insistence on a desire-less life, in which human wants are reduced; minimum needs come to the rescue as the only possible way of resorting the social and economic balance. Curb your desires, reduced, your wants, live in spiritual austerity, and the available material will be sufficient for all humanity. More than that, the tensions of a competitive socio-economic system will be dissolved and peace of mind will be restored. (S&M, p. 250)