Monday 29 May 2017

Rta, Vrta & Coase's Moses

For Rta is to Vrta as Coase is to Moses
Commandments no Khizr supposes
Only in Bhishma is all Niti
& Krishna this Riti.


 Ṛta (Sanskrit ऋतम् ṛtaṃ "that which is properly/excellently joined; order, rule; truth") is the principle of natural order which regulates and coordinates the operation of the universe and everything within it.[1] 

Vrta (Sanskrit: व्रत) means "vow, resolve, devotion",[1] and refers to the practice of austerity- e.g. a vow to keep a fast on a particular day of the week.Derived from the root ‘vr’ ("will, rule, restrain, conduct, choose, select"), the word is found over 200 times in the Rigveda.[1][8]  Every man's vocation, as in hymn 9.112.1 of the Rigveda, is called his Vrata. Thus, whatever profession one is devoted to, resolves to do his best in, is deemed Vrata in the Vedic literature.[9]The act of sacrifice, in another context such as in hymn 1.93.8 of the Rigveda, is also called a Vrata.[9]

Rta is naturalistic, objective and discoverable by contemplative darshan (theoria). Vrta is an individualistic, subjective and subject to an experiential 'costly signal' type test (pariksha). Essentially a person keeping an eusebic vow which involves a 'Zahavi handicap' or 'costly signal' (i.e. reduces fitness) is 'willing' Rta and gains a Transferable Utility (which may be wholly ontologically dysphoric) as a result. In the Mahabharat (henceforth MBH) the harsh Vrtas of Seers cause them to gain Merit sufficient to alter Dharma as the Human reflection of Rta. Thus, they can make co-operative games conformable with Rta and, by granting boons or pronouncing curses, also generate initial heterogeneity in endowment of this Transferable Utility.
A 'Stationary Bandit'- i.e. King- can, by a vrata, or self denying ordinance, become focal for Tiebout sorting- as happens in the MBH where the Just King, who hasn't yet learned Game Theory, because he binds himself by vows, becomes focal for a sort of Tiebout sorting such that his new Capital is far in advance of that of his envious cousin who retains the ancestral patrimony.

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