The old Japanese method of cultivating rice yields larger crops on poorer soil than the old Indian method. It was introduced and publicized by the Indian Republic's Ministry of Agriculture with such favourable results that it has become unnecessary to import the annual balance required to meet the population's growing needs. It is estimated that cheaper and more plentiful rice will within a few years reduce or remove the traditional hunger of this vast country. The people have hitherto religiously interpreted their starved existence as the will of God. The episode may teach them the philosophic truth that they are here to become co-workers with God by developing their intelligence, knowledge, and abilities. By improving themselves, they are able to improve the environment. The supine fatalism saddled on them by a mistaught religion and a miscomprehended mysticism may yield at last to the correct kind of fatalism taught by their own highest philosophy.
-- Notebooks Category 9: From Birth to Rebirth > Chapter 3 : Laws and Patterns of Experience > # 113
