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2nd fundamental principle of Prout

There should be maximum utilization and rational distribution of all mundane, supramundane and spiritual potentialities of the universe.

Purport: The wealth and resources inherent in the crude, subtle and causal worlds should be developed for the welfare of all people. All resources hidden in the five fundamental factors – solid, liquid, luminous, aerial and ethereal – should be fully utilized and this endeavor will ensure the maximum development of the universe. People will have to earnestly explore land, sea and space to discover and manufacture the necessary resources. There should be rational distribution of the accumulated wealth of humanity. In other words, apart from meeting the indispensable minimum necessities of all, the necessities of meritorious people and those with special requirements must also be met.
Ananda Sutram 1962
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This universe is our common patrimony. Hence all the mundane, supra-mundane and spiritual potentialities should be utilized in the best possible way. Nothing should remain unutilized. 
From “Talks on Prout” (1961)
Prout in a nutshell 15

Copyright Ananda Marga Publications 1999
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The second fundamental principles states: “There should be maximum utilization and rational distribution of all mundane, supramundane and spiritual potentialities if the universe.” This principle begins the process of defining resources and capacities, to be utilized and distributed, as wider than the purely physical. Through this process an equal footing, in principle, is established for comparing subtle and economic values. For instance, the aesthetic and entitative value of a forest is no less important than its economic value as woodchips. In fact, the fourth fundamental principle establishes the subtle value as more important.

Maximum utilization is not, of course, the same as indiscriminate use or exploitation. Utilization means proper use and implies the opposite of misutilization and non-utilization or resources stagnation. When people are starving the production of materials for war is clearly misutilization. In similar circumstances, the hoarding of produce for trade advantages is criminal non-utilization.
Maximum utilization of physical resources therefore provides the means of properly generating the basic social requirements and amenities. Economic growth, properly directed, is not a goal but a necessary condition for a society expanding through improvements in the quality and span of human life. Economic development implies proper balance and distribution in this growth process, and maximum utilization of subtle resources implies full consideration of their development and expression in the midst of this economic development.

Rational distribution similarly, refers to access to subtle resources as well as an equitable and constantly adjusted income policy. Minimum requirements must first be guaranteed to all and then the surplus can be distributed to merit, provided that the differential gap is progressively closed and the minimum level adjusted upwards. Some socialist countries succeeded in cutting the tails of income distribution – the extreme highs and lows – but failed to maintain constant adjustment and so disparity has grown again. Finally it should be noted that this principle extends to include the requirements of the animal and plant worlds; their requirements as independent life forms and not simply as functions of human existence. This principle thus includes the existential value of all living creatures.

From New aspects of Prout, by Jayanta Kumar
Proutist Universal Publications, Denmark 1987

Copyright The author 1999