ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad

VALUE EDUCATION CELL

Notes:Unit-1

EXISTENCE IS CO-EXISTENCE

Universal Human Values and Professional Ethics (UHVPE)

(RVE- 301)

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 CHAPTER ONE

Understanding Value Education

1.1 Need for Value Education

All human beings continuously aspire for a happy life, a fulfilling and successful
life, and the purpose of education is to provide adequate competence to actualize this
aspiration.

For this, first of all it is essential to understand- what is really VALUABLE for
human being, and, what is really conducive to a happy and fulfilling life? - this is
the VALUE domain. Then, it is essential to know- How to actualize it? How to make
it happen? – this is the domain of ‘SKILLS’. Hence there is an essential
complementarity between ‘VALUES’ and ‘SKILLS’ for the success of any human
endeavor.

 The subject which enables us to understand ‘What is Valuable’ for human happiness
is called Value Education’ (VE)

Thus, VE enables us to understand our needs and visualize our goals correctly and
also indicate the direction for their fulfillment. It also helps to remove our confusions
and contradictions and bring harmony at all levels.

The present education system has become largely skill-based. The prime emphasis
is on science and technology. However, science and technology can only help to
provide the means to achieve what is considered valuable. It is NOT within the scope
of science and technology to provide the competence of deciding what really is
valuable.

VE is a crucial missing link in the present education system. Because of this

deficiency, most of our efforts may prove to be counterproductive and serious crises
at the individual, societal and environmental level are manifesting. Hence there is a
strong need to rectify this situation!

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1.2 Basic Guidelines for Value Education

In order for any course to qualify for Value Education, the following guidelines for
the content of the course are important:

Universal: It needs to be applicable to all human beings irrespective of cast, creed,

nationalities, religion, etc. for all times and space.

Rational: It has to appeal to human reasoning.

Natural and verifiable: It has to naturally acceptable to the human being who goes
through the course and there needs to be every provision in nature for its fulfillment.
It needs to be verifiable and experientially verifiable, and not based on dogmas,
beliefs or assumptions.

All encompassing: It needs to be cover all dimensions (realization, thought,

behavior and work) & levels (individual, family, society, nature & existence) of
human life and profession.

Leading to harmony: The Value Education ultimately is targeted to promote

harmony within the individual, harmony among human beings and harmony with
nature.

1.3 Content of Value Education

What are Human Values?

Value of any unit in this existence is its participation in the larger order of which it is
a part.eg. Value of a pen is that it can write. Here writing is the participation of the pen
in the bigger order in which pen, paper, human being, all are present. Value of an eye
is that it can be used for seeing. Value of a spinach plant is that it gives nutrition to
animals and humans. What is the value of a human being? This question implies what
is the participation of a human being in the bigger order? That bigger order includes
human beings, plants, air, water, soil, animals, birds etc. The value of a human being
is the participation of human being to ensure the continuity of harmony in that order.
In order to understand human values, we need to study human being along with all that
is there in the existence, and the role of human being in the relationship with each and
every unit in the existence.

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 Scope of study

As mentioned above, any course on value education must include:

• All dimensions- thought, behavior, work & realization, and

• All levels- individual, family, society, nature & existence of human living.

Accordingly, the content of Value Education will be to understand myself, my

aspirations, my happiness and understand the other entities in existence vis-à-vis the
human being, understand the goal of human life comprehensively, understand the
innate interconnectedness, order, the co-existence, the self-regulation and the cycle in
the nature. It should encompass harmony at various levels, namely, individual, family,
society, nature and existence. And finally it is to learn to live in accordance with this
understanding by being vigilant to one’s thought, behavior and work.

1.4 Process of Value Education

The process of value education has to be ascertained before we proceed. Let us now
acquaint ourselves with the process of value education which we are going to adopt. In this
course, various aspects of reality facilitating the understanding of human values will be as
proposals. You need to verify these proposals for yourself and examine your living in this
light. Let us see how we can verify these proposals.

We will verify these proposals through self-exploration. We shall investigate into

these proposals and try to verify within us in our own right.

 This self-exploration will be done on the basis of whether the proposals are
acceptable to us in a natural manner – i.e. they need to be naturally acceptable to us
and not just imposed externally.
Self-exploration will also include verifying the proposals through experiential
validation, i.e. by living according to them. Experiential validation will ascertain that
when we live our life on the basis of this education, our living will be fulfilling to us
as well as our surroundings.

 Since the process is of self-exploration, and not of giving sermons or prescribing

do’s and don’ts, you need not agree to all that is said, but only be ready to investigate
into them sincerely. We don’t want to just theorize and impose stated truths.

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 This process of self-exploration has to be in the form of a dialogue, a dialogue
between the presenter and the receivers to begin with; and slowly to translate into a
dialogue within the receiver himself/herself. Each one of us can conduct this
verification within ourselves.

Possible Questions:

1. What is the need for value education in technical and other professional
institutions?
2. What do you mean by values? How do they differ from skills? How
are values and skills complementary?
3. How do you presently decide what is valuable to you? How do you
ensure that your decision is right?
4. What is the difference between ‘belief’ and ‘understanding’?

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 CHAPTER TWO

Self-Exploration as the Process for Value Education

What is Self-Exploration? What is its purpose?

1. It is a process of dialogue between ‘what you are’ and ‘what you really want to be’.
It is a process of focusing attention on yourself, your present beliefs and aspirations vis-à-
vis what you really want to be (that is to say, what is naturally acceptable to you).It is a
process of discovering that there is something innate, invariant and universal in all human
beings. This enables us to look at our confusions and contradictions within and resolve
them by becoming aware of our natural acceptance.
2. It is a process of self-evolution through self-investigation.
It successively enables you to evolve by bridging the above gap- the gap between ‘what
you are’ and ‘what you really want to be’.
3. It is a process of knowing oneself and through that knowing entire existence.
The exploration starts by asking simple questions about yourself, which gives you clarity
about your being, and then slowly gain clarity about everything around you.
4. It is a process of recognizing one’s relation with every unit inexistence and fulfilling
it.
It is a process of becoming aware about your relationship with other entities in existence
and through that discovering the interconnectedness, co-existence and order in the entire
existence, and living accordingly.
5. It is a process of knowing human conduct, human character and living accordingly.
It is a process of discovering the definitiveness of human conduct and human character and
enabling one to be definite in thought, behavior and work.
6. It is a process of being in harmony in oneself and in harmony with entire existence.
This process of self-exploration helps you be in harmony within yourself, and in harmony
with everything around.
7. It is a process of Swatantrataand Swarajyastarting fromexploration of Swatva.

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Swatva: Innateness of Self – The natural acceptance.
Swatantrata: Self organized: Being in harmony in oneself
Swarajya: Self Expression, Self-Extension - living in harmony with others and thus
participation towards harmony in the whole existence.

Swatva→ Swatantrata→ Swarajya

The Swatva is already there intact in each one of us. Just by being in dialogue with it, we
attain Swatantrata enabling us to work for Swarajya.
Content of Self Exploration
1. Desire/Goal?-What is my (human) Desire/Goal
2. Program? - What is my (human) program for fulfilling the Desire

The main focus of self-exploration is myself- the Human Being. Basically, it should
dwell on the following two key questions:
1. What do I really want in life, or what is the goal of human life?
2. How to fulfil it? What is the program to actualize the above?
In short, the above two questions cover the whole domain of human aspirations and
human endeavor. Thus, it forms the content of self-exploration.
Process of Self Exploration
whatever is being presented is a PROPOSAL.
- Don’t assume it to be true
- Verify at your own right, on the basis of it being naturally acceptable
 Not on the basis of scriptures
 Not on the basis of equipment/ instrument
 Not on the basis of other humans.

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Take for example: a proposal- ‘respect’ is a value in human relation. When I verify at the
level of natural acceptance, I find that it is naturally acceptable to me. Similarly, when I
behave with respect, it is mutually fulfilling to me and to the other. Thus the proposal is
true. If it fails on any of the two tests, it is untrue. This verification leads to realization of
the truthfulness of the proposal and it becomes part and parcel of my understanding. It is
reflected in my thoughts, and in my behavior.
Natural Acceptance
At this point, we can make the following observations about natural acceptance:

(a) Natural acceptance does not change with time: The natural acceptance does not
change with time. It remains invariant with time. This can be easily verified. For example,
our acceptance for trust or respect does not change with age. People hundred years ago also
had the same natural acceptance. We can try to verify this within our span of observation.
(b) It does not depend on the place: Whether we are in New Delhi, New York or
AbuDhabi, if we address our natural acceptance, the answer would still be the same!

(c) It does not depend on our beliefs or past conditionings: We may be told frequently
not to trust people of other religions or castes, but is it naturally acceptable to us? No matter
how deep our belief or past conditioning, as long as we ask ourselves the question sincerely,
as long as we refer deep within ourselves, the answer will always be the same.

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(d) This natural acceptance is ‘constantly there’, something we can refer to: Try this
yourself: think of cheating or exploiting someone. The moment you think of this, you sense
a contradiction within and feel unhappy that very instant! It happens very quickly, and we
may not notice it, but it does happen! Similarly, the moment we think of disrespecting
someone, we become unhappy. The very thought is enough to cause a conflict, a strain
within us. Thus, this natural acceptance is always there, and if we start paying attention to
it, if we ask ourselves every time, for every thought and every desire we have, “Is this
naturally acceptable to me?”, we will get an answer. Whatever we do, this natural
acceptance is within us, it is telling us what is right. Every time we do something not readily
acceptable to us, i.e. every time we think or do something not acceptable to us, there is a
contradiction in us, because the thought/ deed conflicts with our own natural acceptance!
The moment we think of cheating, we become unhappy. We don’t even have to carry out
the action. It will become clear to us that while we want something else at the level of our
natural acceptance, we think or do something else, based on our beliefs and
preconditioning, which is contrary, it creates a disharmony in us; this is the cause for our
unhappiness. Take for example, one may proceed with the act of cheating under the
influence of say, an extraneous pressure but one keeps feeling unhappy about it and may
even repent over this act in the course of time. If somebody asks, ‘why do you cheat?’, one
starts offering explanations, inventing justifications. This is because it is naturally
unacceptable.
Natural acceptance is the same for all of us: it is part and parcel of every human being,
it is part of humanness: Let’s start exploring into this. We will find that no human
being finds disrespect acceptable in relationship. No matter who the person, however
bad or good, one always expects respect in relationship. For example, let us say a
person ‘A’ disrespects ‘B’. This man ‘B’ may bear a grudge against ‘A’ and set out to
“teach him a lesson”. This is because ‘B’ does not find disrespect acceptable and when
he does not get respect, it offends him. This may actually end up leading to a large
scale conflict!

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Possible Questions

1. Self-exploration is a process of dialogue between ‘what you are’ and what you
really want to be’. Explain.
2. What is the content of Self-exploration?
3. Explain the process of self-exploration with the help of a diagram?
4. What do you mean by your natural acceptance? Illustrate with examples. Is it
invariant with time and place?
5. What do you understand by the terms Svatva, Swatantrata and Swarajya?
6. Do you feel that you have some pre-conditionings? How do you evaluate them?

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 CHAPTER THREE
The Basic Human Aspirations – Continuous Happiness and Prosperity
Make a list of all that you want in your life and reasons for wanting them. For example,
when you start listing, your list may comprise of things such as- to be an engineer or an
MBA professional, to get the highest grade, to be the first ranker in the examination, to be
the smartest guy in the crowd, to be the master of all trades, to earn more wealth than the
wealthiest person in the world, etc. Once you have made the list, see if there is anything
basic to all of them? Is there any basic aspiration of yours behind all your wants? This is
an exercise worth doing to find out your basic aspiration?
Let us say, you want to be the first ranker in the class. Now, behind this desire to get
the first rank, is there a more basic desire? Why do you want to get the first rank? If you
keep asking this question, you will find that there is a basic desire. What is this desire, is it
to be happy? Yes, it is!
Desire – Continuous Happiness and Prosperity
Verify whether you want to be happy or unhappy.
Verify whether you want to be prosperous or deprived.
List all your desires. See whether the basic aspiration in that desire is happiness and/or
prosperity.
Verify whether you want continuity of happiness and prosperity or discontinuity of
happiness and prosperity?
Exploring Happiness and Prosperity
Happiness: the state / situation, in which I live, if there is harmony/synergy in it, then I
like to be in that state or situation. To be in a state of liking is happiness. To be in harmony
is Happiness.
Unhappiness:-If there is contradiction /disharmony in it, then I don’t like to be in that state.
To be forced to be in that state of disliking is unhappiness.

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Prosperity-
Prosperity: is the feeling of having or making available more than required physical
facilities.
To ascertain prosperity, two things are essential:
(a) Correct assessment of need for physical facilities, and
(b) The competence of making available more than required physical facilities (through
production).
One needs to ask oneself- Is prosperity abundance of physical facilities? Is it having more
and more of certain kinds of physical facilities? Or, is it a correct appraisal of my physical
needs and ensuring more than what I need in terms of physical facilities?
Difference between Wealth and Prosperity
Wealth is a physical thing. It means having money, or having a lot of physical facilities,
or both.
Prosperity is a feeling of having more than required. Prosperity is a feeling of having
more than required physical facilities; it is not just physical facilities.
A look at the Prevailing Notions of Happiness and Prosperity and their consequences
In the light of the above discussion, let us have a critical look at the prevailing notions of
happiness and prosperity. In the current scenario, we are generally trying to achieve
happiness and prosperity by maximizing accumulation and consumption of physical
facilities. This is an attempt to achieve happiness through pleasant sensory interactions.
The physical facilities are not seen in terms of fulfilling bodily needs but as a means of
maximizing happiness. This has resulted in wrong assessment of wants for physical
facilities as being unlimited. But this pursuit is self-defeating. Neither can we hope to
achieve continuous happiness through sensory interactions nor can we have prosperity, as
it amounts to trying to fulfil unlimited wants through limited resources. This effort is
engendering problems at all the levels. It is becoming anti-ecological and anti-people, and
threatening the human survival itself. Some of the consequences of such a trend are
summarized below:
At the level of the individual – rising problems of depression, psychological disorders,
suicides, stress, insecurity, psychosomatic diseases, loneliness etc.
At the level of the family – breaking of joint families, mistrust, conflict between older and
younger generations, insecurity in relationships, divorce, dowry tortures, family feuds,
wasteful expenditure in family functions etc.

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At the level of the Society – growing incidences of terrorism and naxalism, rising
communalism, spreading castecism, racial and ethnic struggle, wars between nations,
attempts of genocide, fear of nuclear and genetic warfare, etc.
At the level of nature – global warming, water, air, soil, noise, etc. pollution, resource
depletion of minerals and mineral oils, sizeable deforestations, loss of fertility of soil.

Possible misconceptions about happiness

I will be bored of happiness if I am always happy.

I will grow only if I am unhappy. If I become happy, my growth will stop.
I need to be unhappy to recognize that I am happy.
We think of others only when we are unhappy. Thus it is important/useful to be
unhappy so that one can help others.
Happiness and unhappiness go together, they cannot be separated.
Yes, I want happiness. But my desiring does not guarantee it. So, why to talk of
desire?
My happiness depends on the others. What can I do about it?
 We do not want happiness for ourselves – but we want to make others happy
(while we stay unhappy).

Possible Questions

1. “To be in state of harmony is happiness.” Examine this statement and

illustrate with two examples from your day-to-day life.
2. What do you understand by prosperity? What is the difference between
prosperity and wealth? How are the two related?
3. What is you present vision of a happy and prosperous life?
4. Critically examine the prevailing notions of happiness and prosperity and
their consequences.
5. “I will learn and improve only if I am unhappy. If I become happy, my
learning will stop”. Explore the validity of this viewpoint.

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 CHAPTER FOUR
The Program to Fulfil Basic Human Aspirations

The basic requirements for fulfilment of aspirations of every human being:

One requirement for fulfilment of aspiration of every human being is physical

facilities which includes food, clothing, shelter and implements etc. Is this all that
we want? Or we want something more than this? Can we find what else do we want?
Other than physical facilities, I want relationship. I live with other human beings
and relationship is an important issue here.
 If I look at the miseries in my life – what do I find? Are the miseries mostly due to
lack of physical facilities or lack of relationship? This I need to explore in my family
situation first.
Where am I putting in most of my efforts? In earning of physical facilities or in
ensuring relationship. This is a common fallacy in our lives that a large part of our
problems are due to lack of relationships though most of the time, effort and attention
is focused on earning physical facilities.
Thus there are 3 requirements - Right Understanding, Relationship and Physical
Facilities.

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The correct priority:
1. Right Understanding
2. Relationship
3. Physical Facilities
What is the order amongst these? If I work for Right Understanding then I am able to ensure
right Feelings in my relationship and assess my need of physical facilities correctly. Right
Understanding, thus, is the first priority. The second priority is Relationship. Working with
Right Understanding and right feelings in relationship – the need for physical facilities can
be easily accessed and fulfilled. Thus Physical Facilities is the third priority. And, of
course, we need all the three.
 For animal physical facility is necessary as well as complete– whereas for human
beings it is necessary but not complete.
 Working only for physical facilities is living with Animal Consciousness
 Working for right understanding as the first priority followed by relationship and
then physical facilities is living with Human Consciousness.
There is need for transformation from Animal Consciousness to Human Consciousness. It
can be accomplished only by working for right understanding as the first priority.

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 Presently, as we look around, we find most of the people in the following two categories:
SVDD – Sadhan Viheen Dukhi Daridra
SSDD – Sadhan Sampann Dukhi Daridra
While the natural acceptance of all human beings is to be
SSSS- Sadhan Sampann Sukhi Samriddha

Let us explore the above suggestion. Is it true?

• One can assess, in which of these three categories one lies, SVDD, SSDD or SSSS?
• If we are working only for physical facilities, the maximum achievement that one could
have is that one could shift from SVDD to SSDD. But the goal is to be SSSS. And this can
be accomplished only by working for right understanding and relationship.
What is the prevailing notion about happiness and its continuity?
Explore and analyze what is the present perception about happiness and its continuity.
Indicate how fulfilling the present perception has proven to be.
• A common notion among people is that continuous happiness can achieved through
maximization of pleasant sensory interactions.
 Explore the truthfulness of the above by verifying at the level of your natural acceptance.
Also, investigate it by studying the consequences of such a notion in the present scenario.
Is it possible to ensure continuity of happiness through sensory interactions, through
maximization of pleasant interactions? Is it not self-defeating? Analyze discuss some case
studies.
What is the prevailing notion about attaining prosperity?
• Analyze what is the prevailing notion about prosperity--maximization of physical
facilities? - struggling to meet unlimited wants with limited resources?
• In such a situation, is it ever possible to be prosperous? Is it possible to maintain harmony
with Nature, to maintain ecological balance in this way?
• And if the above balance is increasingly disturbed, can human survival be at all sustained
on this planet? Again, with unlimited wants and limited resources, exploitation and strife
among human beings becomes inevitable. In such a situation, are peaceful and harmonious
co-existence of human beings ever possible?

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Possible Questions

1. What are the basic requirements to fulfill human aspirations? Indicate their
correct priority.
2. “Physical facilities are necessary and complete for animals, while they are
necessary but not complete for humans.” Comment.
3. Critically examine our state today in terms of fulfillment of relationships and
physical facilities. What has gone wrong according to you? What is the
solution?
4. What do the abbreviations given as SVDD,SSDD and SSSS signify? Explain
the reason for the state SSDD?
5. “Right understanding + Relationship = Mutual fulfillment;
Right understanding + Physical facilities = Mutual
prosperity” Illustrate the above with two examples for each.
6. What is the program to fulfill the basic human aspirations? Name the different
levels of human living?
7. What is the difference between ‘animal consciousness’ and ‘human
consciousness’? Explain with the help of a diagram.

Reference:
1. A foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics by R.R. Gaur,
R. Sangal, G P Bagaria. Excel Books Private Limited, 2015.

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 ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad
VALUE EDUCATION CELL

Notes:Unit-2

EXISTENCE IS CO-EXISTENCE

Universal Human Values and Professional Ethics

(UHVPE)
(RVE- 301)

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 CHAPTER FIVE

Understanding the Human Being as Co-existence of Self

(“I”) and Body

5.1 Understanding the human being as co-existence between the self and material body.

Human Being Self (I) Body

Need Happiness (e.g. Respect) Physical Facility

(e.g. Food)
In Time Continuous Temporary
In Quantity Qualitative (is Feeling) Quantitative
(Required in Limited
Quantity)
Fulfilled By Right Understanding & Physio-chemical Things
Right Feeling
Activity Desire, Thought, Eating, Walking…
Expectation…
In Time Continuous Temporary
Response Knowing, Assuming, Recognising, Fulfilling
Recognising, Fulfilling

Type Consciousness Material

 Human being is the co-existence of I and the Body, i.e. ‘I’ and Body exist together and
are related. There is a flow of information from ‘I’ to the body and from body to the ‘I’.

 An example of the need of I – say, respect, while the need of the body is a thing like
food. The two things are qualitatively different.






 All the needs of I, can be called as happiness, while the needs of Body are physical
facilities.

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  The need of I is continuous, while the need of Body is for a limited time. There is no
need of body which is continuous!

 There is no talk of quantity for the need of I as it is qualitative, while the needs of body
are quantitative, and they are limited in quantity.

 The activities of I are activities like, desiring, thinking, selecting, while the activities of
body are activities like eating, breathing.

 The mode of interaction of I includes knowing, assuming, recognition & fulfilment.
The fulfilment depends on recognition, recognition depends on assumption and
assumption depends on knowing or not knowing (belief).

 If assuming is based on knowledge, then recognition will be correct & fulfilment will
be correct. If assuming is not based on knowledge, then things may go wrong.

 The mode of interaction of body is only recognizing and fulfilling.

5.1.1 The need of I is happiness (Sukh), while the need of the body is physical
facilities (Suvidha)
Feelings like respect, trust give happiness. Examples of physical facilities are
food, clothing, etc.
5.1.2 The need for Sukh is continuous, need for Suvidha is intermittent.

Example: Need for respect is continuous, need for food is temporary

(intermittent). Even air in breathing is required by the body intermittently. There
is no need of the body which is continuous.
5.1.3 When we try to perpetuate Suvidha, the following pattern results. With time it
successively changes from Necessary and tasteful => Unnecessary but tasteful =>
Unnecessary and tasteless =>Intolerable
Example: Let’s take the example of any delicious food. In the beginning it satisfies my hunger
and I find it delicious. Here it is necessary and tasteful. But once my stomach is full – I find it
difficult to eat though I still enjoy the taste .Now it is unnecessary but tasteful. If I still continue
to eat – I do not enjoy the taste anymore. At this point it is unnecessary and tasteless. If I still
go on, it becomes intolerable.

5.1.4 To every need in the category of Sukh, the following applies:

If it is naturally acceptable, I want it continuously. If not acceptable, I do not want it any
moment.

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 Any feeling in me is either naturally acceptable or not acceptable at all. If naturally
acceptable (like respect), I want it every moment, and if not acceptable (like disrespect), I
do not want it any moment! One point to be noted here is that a feeling and its expression
are two different things. We want the continuity of any naturally acceptable feeling but not
the continuity of its expression. For example– when I visit a friend, he treats me with
respect by shaking me by my hand. But what if he does not let go off my hand after
sometime?! Shaking hands is only an expression of respect and not respect in itself.

5.1.5 Sukh is qualitative whereas Suvidha is quantitative.

Example: The notion of quantity does not apply to Sukh. For example, one cannot say
that they need 5 Kg of trust or 2 metres of respect. But one does quantify the food,
clothes, means of transport etc.
5.1.6 Sukh is ensured by Right Understanding and Right Feelings, while Suvidha is
ensured by appropriate physico-chemical Things.
Example: Imagine that you are sitting in an air-conditioned room on a big sofa with a
friend with whom you have the feeling of opposition. How do you feel? – happy or
unhappy? You have enough Suvidha here, but not the right feeling. Hence Sukh is not
ensured. Imagine that you are seated alone in an air-conditioned room, but
tense/depressed. How do you feel? –happy or unhappy? You have 19 again enough
Suvidha here, but not the right understanding. Hence Sukh is not ensured.

5.1.7 Human being needs both – Sukh and Suvidha. One cannot replace the other.

Example: If I visit a friend – my desire is that he treats me with respect as well as provides
food/water for my hungry/thirsty body. Imagine – I visit a friend and he provides me with
lots of delicious food but treats me with contempt. How would I feel? There is another
friend who treats me with utmost warmth but does not even ask me for water. How would I
feel in this situation? A common mistake is that we mix the two sets: Sukh and Suvidha.
Working for Suvidha, we assume that it will ensure Sukh, while we need to work for Sukh
and Suvidha, both. And the programs for the two are qualitatively different. One cannot
ensure the other. We need to find out where are we investing most of our time working for
physical facilities, or working for right understanding and right feelings?

To make it explicitly, we can write

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 5.2 Understanding the Body as an instrument of ‘I’ (I being the doer, seer and
enjoyer)

 Body is my instrument. I am the one who takes decisions, the body acts accordingly.

Example: Eating –eating involves both, me as well as my body. I decide to eat and pass
the information to body. Thus the food is picked, chewed and then swallowed. Note that

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 it is the self(I) that chooses to eat and makes a choice of what to eat and how much to eat.
The body is used just as an instrument in the process of eating.
 I want to live with continuous happiness. For the body, physical facilities are required in
a limited quantity and temporarily. For the nurture of the body, food is required. For
protection, clothing and shelter are required. For right utilisation, instruments are
 required.
 My complete program is to understand and live in harmony at all the four levels.
 Production of physical facilities is only a part of my complete program for happiness.
 I am the seer. I see through eyes, the eyes don’t see, they are just an instrument used by
me. In the eyes, different images are formed every time; it is I who is able to relate it to
 its meaning.
 I am the doer. I select to do, and use the hands or feet or other parts of the body to do the
 things.
 I am the enjoyer. When I eat, I get the taste. The body just gets in touch with the food
and sends the information to me, it is I who enjoys the food.

 Summary
 The human being can be seen as a co-existence of the Self (Jïvana) and the body.

  The ‘I’ is conscious in nature while the body is material in nature.
 There is exchange of information between ‘I’ and the Body.

  The basic need of ‘I’ is happiness (sukha), and the needs of body are physical facilities
 (suvidhã).
 Needs of the ‘I’ such as happiness, trust, respect, etc are: Qualitative (not
 quantitative) and continuous in time.
 Needs of the body like food, clothing, shelter – physical facilities, are
 quantifiable and temporary in time.
 The need of the ‘I’ for happiness is fulfilled by right understanding and right
feelings, while the need of the Body is fulfilled by food, clothing, etc.

 The activities in ‘I’ are desiring, thinking, imagining, etc. while activities in the body
 are digesting, breathing, heartbeats, etc.
 All our activities can be seen as:
(a) going on in ‘I’,
(b) those involving ‘I’ and Body, both; and
(c) those going on in the Body
 Activities in ‘I’ can also be understood as knowing, assuming, recognizing and
 fulfilling.
 The recognition and fulfilment in ‘I’ depends on assuming.
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  Assuming depends on knowing. Without knowing correctly, we only assume,
 or operate on the basis of beliefs.
 Activities in the Body are recognizing and fulfilling. The body does not have
the capacity to assume. Thus, the recognition and fulfilment in the Body is
 always definite.
 We can list out our needs and identify which needs are related to ‘I’, and which
 needs are related to the Body.
 We see that many of our needs are related to ‘I’; while some others are related
 to body.
 We see that the need for physical facilities for the body is limited and
 quantitative. It is not endless.
 When we think in terms of physical facilities, the needs turn out to be definite.
 When we think in terms of money, need for money turns out to be undefined.
 The way to work out the need for money is to thus first identify the need for
prosperity, and in order to feel prosperous, find out what the need for physical
facilities is, and then to find out how much money is needed to acquire the
 required quantity of physical facilities.
  Taking this further, we can see that v I am, the Body is. The awareness of being is in
 ‘I’.
  I want to live, and the Body is used by me as an instrument.
 Just living is not sufficient for me, I want to live with continuous happiness.
The body needs nourishment and protection, for which food, clothing, etc. are
 required. Right utilization of the body needs instruments or equipments.
 My program is to understand and live in harmony at all four levels of living.
Production, protection and right utilization of physical facilities is only a part
 of my program.
 Today, we are largely unaware of our Self (‘I’) and the needs of ‘I’. As a
 result, we are not paying attention to the needs and program of ‘I’ at all.
Instead, all our attention today is on accumulation of physical facilities, using
which, we can at the most ensure the health of the body.




 There is hence a need for us to focus on the needs and program of ‘I’, else, we
 will remain unfulfilled.
  I am the seer, doer & enjoyer. Body is an instrument.
 I am the Seer. I am the one that sees, and understands. I sometimes use the
body as an aid to see. ‘Seeing’ here means ‘understanding’. Seer is also called
 & drastˆã.
 I am the doer. I am the one that decides for doing things. Decisions, choices
are continuously being made in me. Sometimes, I may express these
 decisions via the body. Doer is also called kartã.
 I am the enjoyer of all that is done. Enjoyer is also called bhoktã.

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Possible Questions

1. "Human being is more than just the Body"- explain.

2. Distinguish between the needs of the Self and the needs of the Body.
3. What is the qualitative difference between the activities of the Self and those of the
Body? Illustrate with one example.
4. What are the consequences of confusing between Sukh and Suvidha?
5. 'I' is a conscious unit while the Body is a material unit. Examine this statement.
6. Why are physical facilities required? What do you mean by right utilization of the
Body?
7. "I am the seer, doer and enjoyer. The body is my instrument"- explain.

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 CHAPTER VI

Harmony in the Self (‘I’)- Understanding Myself

6.1 Understanding the Characteristics and Activities of ‘I’ and Harmony in ‘I’

Activities of ‘I’:

 Start observing – What am I doing? What is going on in me and what is going on in my

 Body?
 Desire, thought, selection are activities in I, not in the body. They are collectively
 termed as Imagination. At the level of Body, activities of behavior and work are there.
 Observe that the activities of I are continuous, going on every moment, while the
activities of the body are going on intermittently.







 It is to be seen whether these activities are operational on the basis of
a. sensation, or
b. preconditioning, or
c. natural acceptance.

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  If they are operating on the basis of sensation or preconditioning, I am DICTATED BY
OTHERS (Partantra). If they are operating on the basis of natural acceptance, I am
SELF-ORGANISED (Swatantra).

 Self-exploration of harmony at all the levels of my living on the basis of natural

acceptance, and experiential validation through living accordingly, leads to Realization and
 Understanding.
 Once Realization and Understanding are activated, the other three activities (imaging,
 analyzing, selecting) get self-organized. This is happiness.
 If we operate at the level of 3, 4, 5, there is uncertainty. If we operate at the level of 1, 2,
there will be certainty (definiteness).

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 6.2 How are the Activities in ‘I’ Related?

There are two possible flows of the activities, and both keep taking place:

From outside (the body) to inside (in ‘I’)

  ‘I’ receives sensations from the Body and this is tasted in ‘I’ (activity #5).
  Based on this taste, thoughts could be triggered (activity #4), and
 Based on these thoughts, desires may be set (activity #3).

A desire may be set in me through the above
process. For example,

 we may see a car (Taste in ‘I’ from information obtained via ‘eyes’ in the Body); this
 is Selecting/Tasting or (activity #5),
  Based on this we start Thinking about the car (activity #4), and
 It slowly forms an image in us as we “leading a good life” by using a car, and in this
way, “a good life by having a car” becomes a desire in us (activity #3).

From inside (in I to outside (the body)

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 In the scenario above, we saw that selecting/tasting can lead to thoughts, and thoughts
could lead to desires. The flow is also possible the other way round: i.e. based on
desires, thoughts are formed, and we then make selections/taste to fulfil these thoughts.

Going back to the example of the car:

  we now have the desire of “a good life via the car” in us (activity #3) and
 we go about fulfilling this desire for a good life, which means we start thinking about
how to get the car, how much money it would take, how we can have that money,
 etc. (activity #4), and
 Based on that we make selections (activity #5), and actually choose the car, its
shape, colour etc. and then end up buying it.

This flow is from inside to outside.

In this way, our flow of operation is largely: outside – setting inside – in turn going
outside; and this keeps happening.

These activities of desire, thought, expecting (selecting) are discernible i.e. we can
make out they are happening. Together, we call these activities imagination. We all
imagine, and most of our activities (in the Self) today can be mostly clubbed into
imagination.

6.3 What is the problem today?

Let us take two scenarios:

Scenario 1: Desires set on the basis of pre-conditioning: When you see an advertisement
for a big bike, what happens? You pay attention to the advertisement, and then you think
about it. As you think, you start warming up to the idea, it plays on you, and slowly, you
decide that you ‘want’ this bike because having this bike means you will be seen as a
‘bikewalla’. Thus, you have associated the bike with some notion of greatness, speciality of
your being, i.e. it has become your Desire (Activity #3 in ‘I’). This is the meaning of a
preconditioned desire. Pre-conditioned means, we have assumed something about it on the
basis of prevailing notion about it. We have not self-verified the desire in our own right. As
a result, we are not clear about what we will get out of fulfilment of that desire. In fact, we
may not even be aware that such a desire exists in us!

What is the problem with that, you may ask? Well, the simple answer is, unless you verify
your desires, you may not even know whether they are yours! You may end up spending an
entire lifetime accumulating desires that are not yours, and in running about trying to fulfil
them! Which means, your entire lifetime’s goals and activities may be ‘borrowed’…with
the result that you would never know whether you did the right thing.

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 Scenario 2: Expectations set on the basis of sensation: In the example of the bike in the
earlier section, suppose you had seen the bike, and not associated it with “greatness”;
rather, you only liked the way it ‘looked’ – then this is based on the sensation. That is,
the looks alone of the bike, the ‘taste’ of the bike is what is appealing, and there is no
notion of greatness associated with it as in the previous case. This is an example of
‘expectation being set on the basis of sensations’.

This is largely the case with us today: either we are operating on the basis of
preconditioned desires (set from outside), or on the basis of sensation (coming from the
body). As long as we are operating on the basis of pre-conditioning or on the basis of
sensation, we cannot be sure of ourselves, and it may also lead to contradictions in us.

Effects of the problems

Desires are in conflict

 Example: You want to become a great man, but have both desires: to be great by having
a very large, fashionable house, for which you might have to use the wrong means, and
at the same time, be great by having the trust of the people with you, by not cheating
them.

Thoughts are in conflict

 Example: You are designing the rooms in your house and feel on the one hand that it
must look better than your neighbour’s house, and on the other hand, it should be like a
house you saw in some magazine.

Expectations are in conflict

Example: You are not able to decide the colours of the walls in the house – whether it
should be bright, or whether it should be dull.

These desires, thoughts and selections are in conflict. Since the desires are in conflict,
the thoughts they give rise to are also in conflict and in turn, the selections from the
thoughts are also in conflict:

Let us summarize the problems we face today due to these pre-conditioned desires,
thoughts and selections:

Wavering aspirations: Since our desires are being set on the basis of pre-conditionings
and are inputs from the outside (they are borrowed, or from external influence, they are
not our own), our goals keep shifting as the inputs from the outside also keep changing
(the influence from the TV may be different from the influence from the magazine;
different magazines may say different things!).

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Lack of confidence: Since our desires are shaky, we are not sure about them, and don’t
know what it is that we ultimately want. As a result, we lack self–confidence, in the true
sense. Our confidence seems relative i.e. we keep comparing ourselves with others in order
to feel confident. For example, I feel confident of my torn jeans when I feel others
appreciate it or I feel confident of myself if I can speak English as well as the others. My
source of self-confidence is not in myself (i.e. it is not absolute). Rather, my source of self-
confidence is outside, as long as others feel I am fine, I feel good (i.e. it is relative).

Unhappiness/ Conflict: since our desires, thoughts and expectations are in conflict, it
becomes the cause for our unhappiness, leading to stress and tension. Moreover, such
desires will also be in conflict with our natural acceptance, thus guaranteeing our own
unhappiness. For example: we may strongly believe that the only way to succeed is by
cheating the other person – and thus, have a program of cheating for our entire life. But
when we try to cheat, when we try to exploit, it creates conflict in us at that very instant
– since exploiting the other is not naturally acceptable to us, thus leading to conflict and
unhappiness in us.

Lack of qualitative improvement in us: this is because, we get conditioned to ignore

theneed of the ‘I’ and focus largely on fulfilling the needs of the body. As a result, we
live with a sense of lack of fulfilment. We are doing many things, accumulating a lot,
progressing on paper, but we don’t feel that we have improved, that we have become
better. It seems that only the things around us are changing! For example, I now have a
great job, a good title, a doctorate degree, many research papers to my credit, a big
house, plenty of money, but I am still the same i.e. there is little or no QUALITATIVE
improvement in me, only QUANTITATIVE changes in the external world.

What is the Solution?

The solution is to start verifying our desires, thoughts and expectations on the basis of our
natural acceptance. We have already seen that this natural acceptance there in each one of
us, and it is invariant and unchanging. It is the basis for us to verify what we really want to
be. As we start verifying our desires, thoughts and expectations, if we find that

they come from pre-conditioning or from sensation and they are something we don’t
really want, they get dropped by themselves. On the other hand, if we find them
naturally acceptable, then we know they are right for us.
Let us take the same example that we took earlier. Ask yourself this question. Is trust
acceptable to me in relationship, or mistrust? Now observe yourself in daily life. You shall
see that very often, we end up having a feeling of mistrust for people, and since this is not
in alignment with our natural acceptance, at that very instant, we become unhappy.
Similarly, we can find numerous such examples where our desires, thoughts and
expectations are not in alignment with our natural acceptance, and cause us unhappiness.

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 In addition, as we have seen earlier, there is also conflict amongst desires, thoughts and
selections, and this only adds to the problem. So, how does the accessing of natural
acceptance resolve this situation?

 As we access our natural acceptance, it becomes possible for us to have the right
understanding of the harmony at all levels of our living (remember our program!).

 When we have the right understanding, we are able to see our “true nature”, and what
we truly want. We are also able to see and understand the harmony at all levels of our
living. Our desires thus start getting set on the basis of this right understanding instead
of being driven by pre-conditioning/sensations.

 Since our natural acceptance or right understanding is based on “reality”, on the

harmony at all levels of our being, which is definite, our desires, thoughts and
selections get aligned with this understanding of the harmony at all levels of our being.
They become definite and they are in harmony among themselves.

 This puts us at ease. We are no longer struggling or are in conflict at the various levels
of our living. This leads to harmony within, and in our living: with the body, family,
society and nature/existence.

 Further, we can see on investigation that this natural acceptance turns out to be the
same for everyone.

Summary
 The basic human aspiration is to have continuous happiness and prosperity. Happiness
 is a state/situation in which there is synergy, there is harmony.
  We are unhappy when there is a state of conflict in us.
 We see that this conflict is primarily inside us. To understand why these conflicts arise
 and how we can get rid of them, we need to understand ourselves, the activities in our
 Self (‘I’).
 Activities of imaging (desire), analysing (thought) and selecting/tasting (expectation),
 are constantly taking place in ‘I’.
 These activities are related. They are together called Imagination. We are largely
unaware of these activities in ‘I’ today. (This is because we are not paying attention to

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 ‘I’ at all, leave alone the activities in ‘I’, since we are operating on the assumption that
‘I’ = Body!)
 Today, our desires, thoughts and expectations are being set either on the basis of some
pre-conditioning or on the basis of sensation – i.e. from the ‘outside’ – these are not
 self verified by us on the basis of our natural acceptance.
 As long as our desires are being set by the outside (from a sensation or a
preconditioning), there is a chance that we may be in conflict. If our desires are being
set either by a pre-conditioning (manyatã), or by some sensation from the body, we are
 enslaved (partantra).
 In this state, not only are our desires, thoughts and expectations in conflict amongst
themselves, they are also in conflict with our own natural acceptance and this creates
unhappiness in us. This is the basic issue. The basic issue is that our imaginations are
 in conflict with our natural acceptance.
 Through the process of self-exploration, the activities of realization and understanding
get activated. Once we start operating at the level of [1] and [2], our desires, thoughts
and expectations get aligned with [1] and [2] (our own natural acceptance), and we are
svatantra (self-organized). There is self-organization in my activities, leading to
 continuity of happiness. This is harmony in the self (‘I’).
 It is possible to have this Realization and Understanding by starting this process of
self-exploration on the basis of our natural acceptance and exploring into the proposals
being put forth so that we are able to see the reality, see the harmony at all levels of
our living. This Realization and Understanding of the harmony at all levels of our
being and living accordingly becomes the basis of continuous happiness - the basic
human aspiration.

Review Questions
1. Why is it important to study yourself? How does it help in your day-to-day life?
2. Explain the activities of imaging, analyzing and selecting/tasting with a diagram. With
the help of an example, show how are they related.
3. Are the activities in ‘I’ continuous or temporary? Justify your answer
4. “The problem today is that the desires, thoughts and expectations are largely set by
pre-conditionings or sensations” - examine this statement.
5. How do we go into conflicts when our activities are not guided by our natural
acceptance?
6. What are the problems that we are facing today because of operating on the basis of
pre-conditioned desires?
7. “The pleasures that we derive from sensations are short lived and the efforts to extend
them lead to misery” -examine and illustrate this statement with an example.
8. What is the difference between Svatantratã and Partantratã? What is the program to
become Svatantra? Relate this with your own experience.
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9. Explain the activities of realization and understanding. How do they lead to harmony
in the activities of “I”? Illustrate with an example.
10. How does realization and understanding lead to definiteness of human conduct?

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 CHAPTER VII

Harmony with the Body – Understanding Sanyama and Svasthya

7.1 Understanding the Harmony of 'I' with the Body: Sanyam and Swasthya,
correct appraisal of Physical needs, meaning of Prosperity in detail.
Harmony of ‘I’ with the Body

Now in this lecture, we will proceed to understand the salient aspects of harmony
between ‘I’ and the Body which manifests as Sanyam on the part of ‘I’ and Swasthya in
the Body. In the light of this harmony, we will also revisit the issue of prosperity, i.e.
the appropriate assessment of physical needs and the way to their fulfillment.

Need for Physical facilities is limited in quantity.

 Swasthya (Health) =

1. The Body acts according to I.
2. There is harmony among the parts of the Body.

 Sanyam is the feeling of responsibility in ‘I’ towards the body for its nurture, protection
and right utilization.

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  Swasthya has two elements- the body acts according to me, and there is harmony in the
 body. The two go together.
 Explore, what is more basic: Sanyam or Swasthya? If there is Sanyam, health can be
ensured. But if Sanyam is not there, a good health can also be lost. So, what is more
basic? And, where are we investing most of our energy and resources today- in ensuring
Sanyam or in treatment of the unhealthy body?
7.2 Programs to ensure Sanyam and Swasthya
7.2.1 Sanyam ensures Swasthya
As we discussed in the last lecture, Sanyam is the feeling of responsibility in the Self (I)
towards the Body. With right understanding, I get self-organized and I take care of the Body
properly. With lack of right understanding, I am not able to do it and the body becomes
unhealthy. Another important thing here is that with right understanding and right feelings, the
body gets favorably affected. Example: When I am happy, the temperature and pressure in the
body are natural, when I am angry or tensed, they get upset.
7.2.2 Programs of Sanyam
 Nurturing of the body (Poshan)
I need to arrange for food (Ahar) for the body for its proper nurture. The various elements
which make a complete food need to be included so that the food gives proper energy to the
body. Here, the following need to be taken care of:

 Ingestion (Grahan): The food needs to be chewed well before swallowing. If chewed
 well, the work of the lower parts of the body is simplified.
 Digestion (Pachan): This is done by the body itself. It needs to be facilitated by eating
only when feeling hungry ,choosing the food which is easily digestible, choosing the
 proper posture while taking food, eating the right quantity of food, etc.
 Excretion (Nishkasan): The stomach needs to be emptied well every day and only then
the fresh food can be taken in. The undigested food needs to be removed from the body
after a given time or it starts spoiling the body.

 Protection of the body (Sanrakshan)
I need to arrange for clothing (Vastra) and shelter (Awas) for the body to protect it. The
clothes and shelter need to be such that they ensure proper interaction of the body with the
environment. The right amount of exposure of the body to the air, water and sun is required to
ensure its proper functioning.

Along with this, I need to ensure the following:

 Proper upkeep (Vihar) of the body: This includes proper rest and movement of the
body.

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  Labour (Shram): Labour means employing the body physically for production and
 maintenance of physical facilities.
  Physical Exercises (Vyayam)
 Asan-Pranayam: The systems of the body have to be kept running properly through
Asanas (giving the body proper postures by sitting or lying) and Pranayam (breathing
 exercises).
 Treatment (Upchar) of the body: The body may get unhealthy at times. Then I need
to treat the body to make it healthy again. For this, I may go without food for some
time, or arrange for only specific kinds of food for the body which are fit to use in that
period. I may treat the body with air, water, sun, soil, herbs or medicines. Here one
thing to understand is that, the systems of the body work in a self-organized way and I
only need to facilitate the self-organization of the body. At times, I may need to go for
surgery (Shalya) of the body too.

 Right utilization of the body (Sadupyog)
I need to arrange appropriate equipments/ instruments (Sadhan) for right utilization of the body.
They increase the efficiency and capacity of the body. Another thing here is that when I employ
my body for right behavior and work, it has favorable effects on the body, and if I use it for
acting in opposition with other human beings or nature, like quarrelling, fighting, hitting, it has
adverse effect on the body.

Summary
 Human being is co-existence of the Self (‘I’) and the Body. There is exchange of
information between ‘I’ and the Body. ‘I’ is sentient entity while the Body is material
 entity.
 I have the feeling of Sanyama for the Body and the Body has Svãsthya. Sanyama is
 basic to Svãsthya.
 Sanyama is the feeling of responsibility in the Self to ensure the nurturing, protection
and right utilization of the Body. Svãsthya has two elements, one that the Body acts
according to the Self, and secondly, there is harmony between the parts of the Body.

 The need for physical facilities for nurture, protection and right utilization of the Body
 is limited.
 When we evaluate our state today, we find that we are not quite responsible towards
taking care of the Body today. We tend to go for medication in place of ensuring the

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 health of the Body. Even the air, water, food, etc. that we consume are no more fully
suited to health.
  We need to understand and live with Sanyama to ensure health.
 Clarity of the needs of the Body, paves way towards ensuring prosperity.

Possible Questions
1. In what way can we say that the human body is a self-organized unit?
2. Define Sanyama and Svãsthya. How are the two related?
3. What is our present at titude towards the Body? What are its consequences?
4. What are the programs to take care of the body? Explain.
5. “The state of harmony or lack of it in the Self has a strong influence on the health of the
Body” - comment on this statement and illustrate with an example.
6. How does the feeling of Sanyama facilitate the correct appraisal of our physical needs?
7. Suggest any two programs that you can undertake to improve the health of your body.

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 ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad
VALUE EDUCATION CELL

Notes:Unit-3

Existence is Co-existence

Universal Human Values and Professional Ethics (UHVPE)

(RVE- 301)

Page 1 of 21
 CHAPTER EIGHT

Harmony in the Family – Understanding Values in Human

Relationships

Family is the basic unit of human interaction

The family is a natural laboratory and learning ground
1. To understand the harmony in relationship with human beings &
2. To practice it in terms of its fulfillment, evaluation & ensuring mutual happiness before we
extend this to every unit in the Society and then to Nature.
• We naturally live in a family. In family we have relationships where we interact with other
human beings.
• A child starts interacting with mother, father and other members in the family, and starts
understanding relationship.
• Family is the foundation of society, and provides the basis of continuity of human tradition
on the earth.
• Human being gets the opportunity to interact, understand, fulfill, share and work in mutual
relationships living in a family.

Harmony in the family

1. Relationship is – between ‘I’ & ‘I’
2. There are feelings in relationship – of one ‘I’ with the other
3. These feelings can be recognized – they are definite
4. Their fulfillment and evaluation leads to Mutual Happiness

Relationship IS, and it Exists between Self (“I”) & Self (“I”)
Have you created the relationships in your family, or were you born into them? It is not
possible to create the relationships that are existent in a family. We are naturally born into
this. In a similar way, the family has not invented the social dependencies in which it exists.
The family exists naturally as a part of this social web of interdependency. So, we are

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embedded in relationships, they are there and all that we need to do is to recognise them
and understand them.
Relationship is between “I” & “I”
We saw that we inherently are in relationship with each other. Little exploration will reveal
that it is the person’s self which is primarily related to the other person’s self. The Body is only
a means to express or receive our relationship. As we discussed earlier, the human being is
coexistence of the Self (‘I’) and the Body. From our previous discussion, we can make out that
it is the Self (‘I’) that understands and has feelings. The Body is incapable of understanding as
well as having feelings. It is the Self (‘I’) that recognizes the relationship. Thus a relationship
exists between the Self (‘I’) and the other Self (‘I’). The relation to the Body is through the
Self (‘I’). For example, a mother feels related to the child she has given birth to. The body of
the child has its source in the body of the mother. But neither mother’s body nor the child’s
has feelings. It is the Self of the mother and the child who feel connected.

The Self (“I”) has Feelings in a Relationship. These Feelings are between “I”
and “I”
There are feelings in relations naturally. They do not have to be created, nor can we remove
them. In the examples we took earlier, we can see that in each case, feelings are involved. We
may try to suppress them, or argue against them, or undermine them, but they are very
much there. These feelings are fundamental to the relationship and can be recognized.
Now let’s ask some questions:
Question : Who has these feelings? ‘I’ or Body?
Answer : ‘I’.
Question : With whom does ‘I’ have these feelings? With the other ‘I’ or the other Body?
Answer : With the other ‘I’.
Here’s another question: Who wants trust in relationship? You or the Body?
The answer is, I want trust.
Again, from whom do you want this trust? The other ‘I’ or Body?
Answer is, from the other I.
This is something you can easily verify yourself, that it is ‘I’ that wants trust. There is
no part of the body that wants trust, no part of the body that wants respect. When you
respect someone, you respect the person, ‘I’, and not their body organs! When you ‘trust’
someone, it is the person, and not the body. Trust is something to do with the person, the
Self (‘I’). That is to say, the feelings in relationship are between ‘I’ and ‘I’.

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These Feelings in the Self (“I”) are Definite. They can be Identified with
Definiteness

We have already seen that relationship is naturally there between humans, that this relationship
is between ‘I’ and ‘I’ and that there are feelings in the relationship. The feelings in relationship
are to be identified with clarity.
With little exploration, we can see that feelings in relationships are actually definite,
and not vague. These are the values characterizing relationships – e.g. Trust, Respect, Affection,
etc. – We shall explore them in the next section. Living with these values, we are able to
participate in the right way with other human beings.

Recognizing and Fulfilling these Feelings Leads to Mutual Happiness in a

Relationship

Once we have recognized the existence of human relationships, we are subsequently able to
identify the feelings (values). When we work and behave according to these feelings, it leads
to fulfilment of both sides in the relationship, i.e. it leads to mutual fulfilment. Evaluation
is a natural process when we live in relationships and we are constantly evaluating ours’ and
the other’s feelings in the relationship. For example, trust is wanted in a relationship and if
there is a mutual feeling of trust, then it leads to mutual fulfilment and there are no
complaints. But if there is doubt on the other, the happiness in relationship is missing.

Justice(Nyaya)
In the light of the discussion above, we can understand ‘justice’. Justice is the recognition of
values (the definite feelings) in relationship, their fulfilment, the right evaluation of the
fulfilment resulting in mutual happiness (Ubhay-tripti). Thus there are four elements of justice:
recognition of values, fulfilment, evaluation and mutual happiness ensured. When all the four
are ensured, justice is ensured. Mutual fulfilment is the hallmark of justice. And justice is
essential in all relationships, be it with the small kid in your house, your old grandpa, the maid
in the house, your fast friends or your distant relations. We need to grow up in relationships to
ensure continuity of justice in all our relationships.

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 Values in Relationships
These are the following:
1. Trust (Vishwas) → Foundational Value
2. Respect (Samman)
3. Affection (Sneha)
4. Care (Mamata)
5. Guidance (Vatsalya)
6. Reverence (Shraddha)
7. Glory (Gaurava)
8. Gratitude (Kritagyata)
9. Love (Prem) → Complete Value

Trust
To be assured that the other human being wants to make me happy & prosperous. This is to be
explored within oneself if the other wants to make me happy or unhappy. The assurance that
the other wants to make me happy is trust.

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Exploration about Trust (Vishwas)
To be assured that the other wants to make me happy & prosperous is Trust (Vishwas).
Verify the following:
1a. I want to make myself happy.
2a. I want to make the other happy.
3a. The other wants to make himself/ herself happy.
4a. The other wants to make me happy.
What is the answer? Also verify the following:
1b. I am able to make myself always happy.
2b. I am able to make the other always happy.
3b. The other is able to make himself always happy.
4b. The other is able to make me always happy.

The first four questions are related to our Natural Acceptance i.e. Intention and the next four
to our Competence.
It is very Important to differentiate between these two Intention (Natural Acceptance) & Competence.

To be assured that the intention of the other is always correct is Trust.

We generally evaluate ourselves on the basis of our intention and others on the basis of their
competence!
• We seldom look at our competence and others’ intention.
• If we have trust on Intention, we have a feeling of being related to the other & we start helping
the other to improve his competence, if he does not have.
• If we do not have trust on Intention, we have a feeling of opposition with the other which
ultimately leads to fighting, struggle and war.
Respect (Samman):
Respect = right evaluation.
Disrespect (Apman):
Over Evaluation (adhi-mülyana) – To evaluate more than what it is. v e.g if you are wrongly
flattered you feel uncomfortable.
Under Evaluation (ava-mülyana) – To evaluate less than what it is. v e.g if you are
condemned, you feel uncomfortable.

Otherwise Evaluation (a-mülyana) – To evaluate otherwise than what it is. e.g if you are
evaluated as something else , you feel uncomfortable. Example of over evaluation: You are
sitting at home and there are guests around. Your father says ‘my son is the greatest scholar in
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India!’ Check for yourself: do you feel comfortable, or do you feel uncomfortable? Example of under
evaluation: You are still at home, but this time your father says ‘My son is good for nothing. He must
be the laziest person in all of India!’ You obviously feel uncomfortable, you don’t find this acceptable.
Example of ‘otherwise’ evaluation: You are at home, and there are guests around, and your father says,
‘You donkey! Can’t you even understand this much?’ You feel offended by this. This is evaluating you
otherwise, as you are a human being and not something else
The Basis of Respect
We have seen that human being is a co-existence of Self (‘I’) and Body. “Right evaluation”
of a human being is on the basis of acceptance of this co-existence, and can be understood as follows:
When it comes to respect a human being, will you respect a human being on the basis of ‘I’ or Body?
What is your natural acceptance? If you respect a human being on the basis of ‘I’, following things are
true for every human being-

1. I want continuous happiness and prosperity.

The other too wants to be continuously happy and prosperous!

2. To be happy, I need to understand and live in harmony at all four levels of my living.
The other also needs to understand and live in harmony at all four levels of his/
her living!
3. The activities in me (‘I’) are continuous, we can check this for our desire, thought and
expectation.
 It is the same for the other ‘I’ as well. The activities are continuous there as well,
and the other too has continuous desires, thoughts and expectations
When we see the above, what can we conclude? The other person also feels quite like me! There
are so many similarities! Let us put down these similarities, in order:
1. We both want to have continuous happiness and prosperity
 Our basic aspiration is the same.
2. We both need to have the right understanding: which is to understand and live in
harmony at all four levels of our living.
 Our program of action is the same.
3. The Activities and Powers of the self are continuous and the same in both of us – at the
level of ‘I’.
 Our potential is the same.
Based on these three evaluations we can conclude that the other is similar to me
when we are able to see that the other is similar to me, we are able to recognize the
feeling of respect in the relationship. If not, we either hold ourselves, more or less
than the other and this only leads to differentiation.

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Assumed basis of Respect today.

Our basis for respect today is largely quite contrary to our discussion above. Instead of
respect being a basis of similarity or one of right evaluation, we have made it into something
on the basis of which we differentiate i.e. by respecting you mean you are doing something
special, because you are special or have something special or are in some special position.

Thus, all of us are running around seeking respect from one another by trying to become
something special! Let’s explore this a bit more. So, today, we are differentiating in the name
of respect. We either differentiate people on the basis of their body, on the basis of their wealth
and possessions or on the basis of their beliefs. There is no notion of respect in terms of right
evaluation. Thus, there is no real feeling of relationship, only one of differentiation.

On the basis of Body

Sex/Gender: We have such notions as, respect males more than females, or even the other way
round in some societies! We ignore the fact that being male or female is an attribute of the body,
and not an attribute at the level of ‘I’. In many countries, people even prefer a male child to a
female child, and in some other societies, the other way round!
Race: If the person is of the same race as oneself, then we treat them differently. For example,
we differentiate on the basis of skin colour – white, brown, black, etc. or on the basis of whether
the person is of Mongolian race, Aryan race, Dravidian race, etc., or on the basis of caste, taking
some caste to be high, the other to be low. Again here, we don’t do the evaluation on the basis
of ‘I’, but on the basis of Body-the colour of the skin or the race or caste of the body, i.e. by the
features, long noses, short noses, height, etc!

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Age: We have notions such as ‘one must respect elders’. What about youngsters? Should we
insult them? Should we not respect them as well? Here, we see that we are again evaluating at
the level of the body – age is related to the body, and not to ‘I’.
Physical strength: If someone is stronger, we again treat him/her differently! This is again at the level
of the body. In fact, we think that we are respecting the other while it is fear; the fear that if we do not
treat them like this, we will be harmed. But this is quite prevalent: there are so many programmes,
awards and titles in the world based on physical strength! This has nothing to do with how the person is
at the level of ‘I’.

On the basis of Physical Facilities

Wealth: We differentiate people because some have more wealth than others. What we term as a “rich
person” gets idolized. We don’t even bother to find out whether such people are feeling prosperous, or
if they just have wealth? Are they happy, or just have wealth? – this is evaluation on the basis of physical
facilities. This way, we are over-evaluating physical facilities first, which are just meant to fulfil the
needs of the Body, and then on this basis, we are wrongly identifying our relationship.

Post: This is a very common phenomenon. We try to respect on the basis of a person’s position. Is this
post directly related to the right understanding and feelings in the Self?-we seldom verify. The post is
wrongly evaluated as the mark of a person’s excellence and differentiation sets in. The post is considered
important either on the basis that it gives more physical facilities or on the basis that certain positions
are assumed to be important! In our education, we are trained directly or indirectly to earn posts for us
to fetch respect. In due course of time, we tend to believe that respect can be availed only if we reach a
certain post. Thus, the respect that could be naturally available to us becomes a rare commodity.

On the basis of Beliefs

‘Isms’: what does this mean? ‘Ism’ means any belief in terms of a thought-system’ that we have, or
that we have adopted. There are also many modern ‘isms’ such as capitalism, socialism, communism,
etc. The people following these sets of beliefs are called capitalists, socialists, communists, and so on!
We only have to look into this today, and we shall find countless such belief systems…and the people
that have adopted them, or are following them have been exposed to them since childhood. Believing
theirs to be the right belief. However, all beliefs, as we have seen, are at the level of desires, thoughts
and expectations (selections) in ‘I’ (activities 3, 4, 5). As we have already seen, there is no definiteness
at this level, and hence, this becomes a cause for differentiation.

Sects: If you sit down to list out the number of sects, you may take a very long time. And this is quite
prevalent all over the world today. Sects are identified as having a set of beliefs which reflects itself
largely in terms of certain traditions and practices. People of one sect only consider those with a similar
belief system to be their ‘own’ and worthy of respect. Following a particular tradition, or what we call
as religion, becomes the basis of respect and disrespect in relationship.

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Difference between Attention and Respect
There is a whole lot of surplus activities that people are engaged in today, for the sake of respect. It can
be actually funny if you start observing: people are climbing up mountains for the sake of fame, eating
hot chillies and worms to be on TV, putting on all kinds of clothes, shaving their heads, letting their hair
grow long, letting their finger nails grow long, earning a lot of money (even trying to become the richest
person on the earth), working very hard to be on the magazine cover, this list is simply endless! If one
understood the simple fact that what you can get from all this is only ‘attention’ and that you cannot
ensure the feeling of being in relationship, the feeling of right evaluation and respect in the other (ask
yourself-when you wear an exclusive dress, does it create a feeling of respect in the other or a feeling of
jealousy?), then all these people will feel very much at ease! Just think about it: all the while, people are
uncomfortable inside, since they are struggling for the sake of respect. If I see my relationship with you,
I shall anyway respect you. I accept you for what you are, a human being like me. You don’t have to do
something special to earn this respect from me. The fact that you are human is enough for me to respect
you.

Affection
Affection is the feeling of being related to the other. Affection comes when I recognize that we both
want to make each other happy and both of us are similar. Then for the first time, I feel that I am related
to the other that the other is a relative of mine. This feeling is called affection.

Competition
There is a lot of talk of competition today. You will find that competition results when there is lack of
affection. When there is affection, I help the other grow. When I miss this feeling, I try to beat the other,
act as an opponent.

We want excellence, not competition. We have tended to assume that by competing, our abilities grow.
The fact is that we humans can grow only in relationships. Pursuing Excellence, makes this possible.
As we have seen in the previous sections, the family is the starting point where we understand our
relationships and recognize our feelings in these relationships. This slowly expands to include the entire
world family and we are able to see each and everyone as our relative. This feeling of being related to
everyone is called Love, which we will discuss later. Affection or sneha is the recognition of the feeling
that the other is related to me. It comes naturally once trust and respect are recognized in relationship.
The basic crisis today is that of Trust and Respect. Once we have these, affection naturally follows.

Care
The feeling of Care (mamatã) is the feeling to nurture and protect the body of our relative. We understand
a human being as a co-existence of the Self (‘I’) and the Body, and the Body is an instrument of ‘I’.
Based on this understanding, we take the responsibility of nurturing and protecting the body of our
relative.
Guidance
The feeling of ensuring right understanding and feelings in the other (my relative) is called Guidance or
vãtsalya. We understand the need of our Self (‘I’) for right understanding and feelings. We also
understand that the other is similar to me in his/her faculty of natural acceptance, desire of wanting
continuous happiness and the program of living in harmony at all the four levels. The other is also similar
to me in the potential of Desire, Thought and Expectation. Right Understanding and feelings is also a
need of the other and the other is related to me. As a result I have the responsibility to help the other.

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Based upon this, I am able to recognize this feeling of ensuring Right Understanding and feelings in my
relative. This is called Guidance.

Reverence
The feeling of acceptance of excellence in the other is called reverence (shraddhã). We understand that
we aspire for continuous happiness and to realize it, we have to understand harmony at all the levels of
our living, and live accordingly. When we see that the other has achieved this Excellence-which means
to understand and to live in harmony at all levels of living ensuring continuity of happiness, we have a
feeling of reverence for him/her. This feeling of accepting the excellence in the other is called reverence
or shraddhã.

Glory Each one of us wants to live with continuous happiness and prosperity. Each one of us has
the similar faculty of natural acceptance, has the same goal and program and we have the same potential
to realize this.
Glory (gaurav) is the feeling for someone who has made efforts for Excellence. We find that there have
been people in the history, or even around us, who are investing their time, energy and their belongings
to achieve excellence (to understand and to live in harmony at all levels of living ensuring continuity of
happiness), to make others excellent. This gives us a feeling of glory for them.

Gratitude
We understand that each one of us has the same goal of continuous happiness and prosperity. Each one
of us has to work towards increasing our competence to realize our intention and in this process, we are
helped and guided by others that have the right understanding. When we understand this and begin to
recognize the feeling in ourselves, we feel gratitude in our relationship.
Gratitude is the feeling of acceptance for those who have made effort for my excellence. Today, we find
that generally what we call as ‘gratitude’ is a feeling coming out of assistance at the level of physical
facilities. This feeling is short lived since the physical facility and the sensation we get from it, is also
short lived. But gratitude coming out of someone doing something for my right understanding is
permanent since the happiness we get from the right understanding is permanent.
We see a common complaint today that people are not having gratitude. It is incorrect to say this. Since
we are not able to give them something permanent, something lasting to
the other, the feeling of gratitude for our help does not continue. When we have the right understanding
ourselves and are able to enable others also to have it, then this gratitude is natural, it just comes by
itself, since we have helped the person make a qualitative improvement in themselves, which is lasting.
Whenever you see any help extended to you for your excellence, gratitude is a natural outcome.

Love
The feeling of being related to all is love.
This feeling or value is also called the complete value, since this is the feeling of relatedness to all human
beings. It starts with identifying that one is related to the other human being (the feeling of affection)
and it slowly expands to the feeling of being related to all human being.

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Harmony from Family to World Family: Undivided Society
Justice (recognition of feelings in relationship, its fulfilment, evaluation leading to mutual happiness)
starts from family and slowly expands to the world family. The child gets the understanding of justice
in the family. With this understanding, he goes out in the society and interacts with people. All of us are
children at some point of time and grow into adults. If the understanding of justice is ensured in the
family, there will be justice in all the interactions we have in the world at large. In the family, we learn
to recognize relationship, the definite feelings or the values and learn how to fulfil them. The evaluation
that takes place mutually in close relationships leading to mutual happiness instills a confidence in us
that we can live the right way with human beings. This confidence unless ensured, we remain shaky in
relationships. If we do not understand the values in relationship, we are governed by our petty prejudices
and conditionings. We may treat people as high or low based on their body. We may treat somebody
lowly as he/she belongs to a particular caste or sex or race or tribe, not understanding that these are the
differentiations based on the body and are a grave mistake in the recognition of relationships. Similarly,
we may differentiate on the basis of wealth one possesses or the belief systems that one follows. All this
is source of injustice and leads to a fragmented society while our natural acceptance is for an undivided
society and universal human order. Undivided Society)-feeling of being related to every human being.
Having explored the harmony in the human being, we are able to explore the harmony in the family.
This enables us to understand the harmony at the level of society and nature/ existence. And this is the
way, the harmony in our living grows. We slowly get the competence to live in harmony with all human
beings. And certainly, this is what we want basically. The feeling of being related to every human being
leads to our participation in an undivided society. With the understanding of values in human
relationships, we are able to recognize the connectedness with every individual correctly, and fulfil it.
When we understand the values in relationship with other units in nature too, we are able to recognize
our connectedness with them too, and fulfil it. This enables to participate in the universal human order.

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Page 13 of 21
 CHAPTER NINE

Harmony in the Society - From Family Order to World Family Order

Harmony in the family is the building block for harmony in the Society. Harmony in society leads to an
undivided society when we feel related with each and every human being. Today our feelings for our
society have become very limited and each one of us lives in a very small web of relationships. Even
these simple relationships in a family may appear burdensome to a lot of us, not to talk of the world
family! Our natural acceptance, however, is for relatedness with all and we can very naturally expand
into the world family. This is the basis of an undivided society, a feeling of relatedness with all. As we
begin to understand and become aware of the harmony at this level in our living, we begin to see our
responsibility and participation in it.

Identification of the Comprehensive Human Goal

In order to facilitate the fulfilment of the basic aspirations of all human beings in the
society, the following comprehensive human goal needs to be understood. This is what will
be conducive to the fulfilment at the individual level as well as sustainable prosperity, peace
and harmony in the society:

1. Right understanding is necessary for the human being, for all human beings. When one does not
have the right understanding, one remains disturbed and also acts in a manner so as to create
disharmony with other human being as well as with rest of nature.
2. Prosperity is needed in every family. Prosperity in the family means that the family is
able to identify its needs and is able to produce/achieve more than its requirements.
3. Trust in society means every member of society feels related to everyone else and therefore
there is trust and fearlessness.
4. Co-existence in nature means there is a relationship and complementarity among all the entities
in nature including human beings. This is the Comprehensive Human Goal. Now ask yourself
the following questions: Are all the four constituents required, or can we do away with any one
of them? If the above is ensured, what else would we need in the society? What else do you
desire living in a society?

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Programs Needed to Achieve the Comprehensive Human Goal: The
Five Dimensions of Human Endeavour
In the light of the comprehensive human goal, let us visualize how the following five salient dimensions
of human endeavour are to be shaped and implemented in society. It will be necessary to develop
appropriate systems and programs to cater to the above goal in order to ensure human welfare.
The five dimensions of human endeavour are:
1. Education – Right Living ( Sikshã - Sanskãra )
2. Health – Self-regulation (Svãsthya-Sanyama)
3. Justice – Preservation (Nyãya-Surakshã)
4. Production – Work (Utpãdana-Kãrya)
5. Exchange – Storage (Vinimaya – Kosa)

These five dimensions broadly cover all the activities that are necessary and fundamental
to the harmonious existence of human society. Let us look at each of these in the light of
comprehensive human goal:

Education-Right Living (Sikshã-Sanskãra )

‘Education – Right Living’ is made up of two words – Education & Right Living.
The content of education is the understanding of harmony at all the four levels of our existence – from
myself to the entire existence.
Right Living or Sanskãra refers to the ability to live in harmony at all the four levels of living.
Thus,
Education = To understand harmony at all four levels of living.
Right Living = Commitment and preparedness to live in harmony at all four levels of living.

It is important to realize that understanding of harmony is accompanied by learning to live in harmony

at all the levels and doing things that ensure harmony at all the levels. The competence gained from
understanding enables us to live in harmony.
We have to ensure the availability and continuity of Education-Right Living in our society. This
dimension of society works to ensure ‘Right Understanding’ and ‘Right Feelings’ or ‘All encompassing
Solution’ called samãdhãna’ in every individual and ensures that our succeeding generations have both
the content and the environment available to work towards achieving their goal of continuous happiness
and prosperity. This is the goal and objective of education.

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Health-Self-regulation (Svãsthya-Sanyama)
We have already discussed about sanyama and health in chapter 7. We will just recall a few points.
Sanyama refers to a feeling of responsibility for nurturing, protecting and rightly utilizing the body.
When the body is fit to act according to the needs of the Self (‘I’), and, there is harmony
among the parts of the Body, it is referred to as health or Svãsthya.
Sanyama (or self-regulation) is the basis of Svãsthya.

Justice-Preservation (Nyãya-Surakshã)
We had discussed about justice in the previous chapter. Justice (Nyãya) refers to harmony in the
relationship between human beings, while Preservation (Surakshã) refers to harmony in the relationship
between human being and the rest of nature.
Justice = ‘Human-Human relation’ – its recognition, fulfilment, evaluation
– leading to mutual Happiness.
Preservation = ‘Human – Rest of nature’ relation - its recognition, fulfilment, evaluation - leading
to mutual Prosperity.
= Enrichment, Protection, Right Utilization of nature.

Justice
We say there is justice in a relationship when there is mutual fulfilment i.e. both individuals are satisfied:
which means the values are rightly recognized, fulfilled, rightly evaluated and mutual happiness is
ensured. Mutual happiness is the goal in relationship and each one of us has a responsibility in ensuring
a continuity of justice or Nyãya in our society.

Preservation
Besides human-human relationships, we also have to work to ensure that our relationship with the rest
of nature is mutually enriching for humanity as well as for nature. This dimension of our society works
to ensure ‘Surakshã’. This involves ensuring the following three aspects –
1. Enrichment ( I cultivate wheat; this enriches wheat as the quantity grows)
2. Protection (I protect it so that it is fit to eat)
3. Right Utilization (I use it for nurturing of the body and do not let it get wasted).

Production-Work
Work refers to the physical efforts made by humans on the rest of nature, while production
refers to the output/physical produce that is obtained through these efforts.
Work – Labour that human does on the rest of nature.
Production - Things obtained out of work.

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There are two important questions that come to mind when we talk of productionwork:
1. What to produce?
2. How to produce?

What to produce The decision of what to produce depends on the right identification of needs. For
this, we have to identify the physical needs of the body, i.e. what is needed for the nourishment,
protection and right utilization of the body. When we look into this, we can see that there is a need for:
food, clothing, shelter, and various kinds of instruments (ex: means of transport,
communication, remote viewing of images, etc.) for the right utilization of the body.

How to produce
When we come to the question of how to produce, we are referring to the technology or
systems we use for production. On understanding of the harmony at all the levels of our
living, it becomes evident that there is an inherent balance, a harmony in nature. So, it is
only natural that any production system we design or implement is within the framework
that is present in nature, i.e. it does not violate the framework/harmony in nature. When
we look at the way in which nature is organized, the following becomes apparent:

1. The systems in nature are cyclic i.e. they are not open ended.
2. The systems in nature are mutually fulfilling or mutually enriching.

Thus the way to produce is: Through Cyclical (Ãvartansïla) Process, in harmony with nature.

1. It has to be Cyclic
2. It has to ensure that every unit is enriched

Example of cyclic and enriching process in nature: When a seed is planted in soil and
water is added, it grows to be a tree and in turn, bears leaves, flowers and fruits. The fruits
ripen, leaves mature and fall to the ground and enrich the soil forming manure by decaying.
Seeds are scattered from the fruit into the soil and once again these fruits form a plant and
bear fruit. This way the soil gets enriched, seeds are multiplied and tree grows. Everything
is regenerated. This is nature’s way of enriching the soil. We can see mutual enrichment in nature in this
way. This process is also cyclic. It is not that the seed grows once, and then
the whole process is over. This process continues. We can thus see that the processes in
nature are both cyclic and enriching. Numerous such examples can be taken, between
plants and soil, within plants, between plants and birds, and animals, etc. There is an
inherent balance, in the species, in the entire cycle.
We don’t notice this enough today and appreciate it. When we do start noticing, we
will be highly delighted. We are so lost in our imagination, in our own make-believe worlds
of aims and misconstrued notions of existence, that we don’t pay attention to the very
system that supports all of us. You only need to start paying attention to this yourself, and
you can see the incredibly different ways in which nature is organized. We can start noticing
this ourselves, paying attention to this, when we either walk on the road, or in the park.

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You will find that even as you begin to see this balance in nature, as you see and understand
its processes, you will feel more comfortable and more assured.
Examples of enrichment in nature: There is another interesting fact that comes up
when we start paying attention to nature. Production is already taking place in it! Once a
plant starts to grow in nature, it manages its own fertilizer, its own water. We don’t have to
“manage” anything for it, it is not that we ‘grow’ trees today. Trees and plants grow of their
own accord. We can only facilitate that process, by first understanding it, and then learning
the skills. The basic requirements for human and animal survival are already occurring in
nature. So, when we talk of production [with respect to human beings], it is not that we are
going to produce something in nature for the first time! In a sense, we are only extending
the process. Rice and wheat anyway grow in nature, we only work out how we can have
more of it, or only certain varieties in a given land mass – we call this agriculture. Even
today, most of the work in basic production is being done by nature: for example, in
agriculture, most of our effort is in sowing, collecting and storing the food. Rest of the work
is being done by nature.
Hence, when we are talking of production, it is desirable to extend this production
system that is already inherently present in nature, which is cyclic and mutually enriching.
For example, guavas are grown in nature, we eat them and finally it goes back to soil
through human excreta. We can extend this process by making jam or jelly out of guava
and eat the jam or jelly. This making of jam or jelly is production, which is essentially an
extension of the cyclic production process already taking place in nature. If we start
paying attention, it is very much possible for human being to ensure production process
which is cyclic and enriching for nature. Let’s take an example. The tress and plants are
anyway growing in nature. The amount of wood one person would require in his life time
can be obtained from four full grown trees. How many trees can a person plant in his life
time? Certainly more than four, it can even be ten, twenty or hundred. So, if aware, a
human being can be enriching for nature in a much more effective manner than an
animal can do.

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In nature, there are four different kinds of entities. One kind of entity includes materials
such as air, water, soil, metals & non-metals, etc. The other kind has plants, herbs, etc. The
third kind has animals & birds, and the fourth kind includes human beings. When you
look at their interrelationship, you find that the materials, plants and animals are enriching
for the other entities including human beings. We saw some examples above about the
interwoven cycles and enrichment in nature. Based on these cycles and mutual enrichment
only, the production is naturally taking place in the nature. Humans only have to understand
this feature of nature. The purpose of science and technology is to facilitate the cyclic
processes in nature and make human beings more and more fulfilling to the other entities.
But you will find that human beings are neither enriching (fulfilling) for humans nor for
the other three kinds of entities. If only we understand the processes in nature, we can
design our production systems through application of science and technology in such a
way that this mutual fulfilment is better ensured, rather than disturbing it.

Exchange-Storage
Exchange (vinimaya) refers to the exchange of physical facilities between the members of
the society, while storage (kos.a) refers to the storage of physical facilities that is left after
fulfilling the needs of the family.
It is important to note that exchange and storage is done for mutual fulfilment and not for madness of
profit or exploitation or hoarding. Exchange- Exchanging of produce for mutual fulfilment.
(With a view of mutual fulfilment, not MADNESS of profit) Storage – Storing of produce after
fulfilment of needs. (With a view of right utilization in future, not HOARDING).

We can now see how these five dimensions of humanistic society are able to ensure the human goal:

Education – Right living ——— leads to ———————— > Right understanding

* Having the process of education and right living leads to right understanding in the individual

Health – Self-regulation ———— leads to ————————> Prosperity

* Having the program for health and sanyam leads to well being of the body, and identification of need
for physical facilities which along with production ensures feeling of prosperity in the family.
Justice – Preservation —————— leads to ————> Fearlessness and Co-existence
(respectively)
* Ensuring justice in relationship, or mutual fulfilment in relationship on the basis of values
like Trust, Respect, etc leads to fearlessness in society, while Surakshã of nature – via enrichment,
protection and right utilization leads to co-existence in nature.
Production – Work ———— leads to ———————> Prosperity and Co-existence
* Production and work are for physical facilities, and this leads to a feeling of prosperity in the
family. Production is done in harmony with nature, and hence, this also leads to co-existence with
nature.
Exchange – Storage —————— leads to ——————> Prosperity and Fearlessness

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Harmony from Family Order to World Family Order: Universal
Human Order
Having understood the comprehensive human goal, we are able to be in harmony not only
with human beings, but also with the rest of nature. We are able to see that we are related
to every unit in the nature and ensure mutual fulfilment in that relationship. Working on
the five dimensions of human endeavour in the light of right understanding, we are able to
work for an orderly living of the human society, whose foundational unit is the family and
the final destination is the world family. Thus, a number of family units in the form of a
village and a number of villages integrate to larger clusters of human society – expanding in
this sequence finally to a universal human order on this planet. Living in this order, we are
able to plan for the need of physical facilities, the availability of natural resources and the
role of human beings in ensuring the need at the level of planet. We are able to work for
inculcation of universally acceptable human values through education, plan systems to
ensure justice for all human beings, make policies for the well-being of all.

Undivided Society ( Akhanda ˆ Samãja)- feeling of being related to every human being.

Universal Human Order (Sãrvabhauma Vyavasthã) - feeling of being related to every

unit including human beings and other entities of nature.

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Page 21 of 21
 ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad
VALUE EDUCATION CELL

Notes:Unit-4

Existence is Co-existence

Universal Human Values and Professional Ethics (UHVPE)

(RVE- 301)

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 Harmony in Nature: Understanding the
Interconnectedness and Mutual Fulfilment.

The Four Orders in Nature:

If we look around, everything that we see can be put into one of the following four ‘orders’.
a. Material Order (padãrtha avasthã) – e.g. soil, water, air, etc.
b. Plant/Bio Order (prãn .a avasthã) – e.g. grass, plants, trees, flowers, fruits, etc.
c. Animal Order (jïva avasthã) – e.g. Animals and Birds.

d. Human (Knowledge) Order ( gyãna avasthã) – Human Beings.

The big land mass of the continents, gigantic water bodies like ocean and seas, mountains and rivers,
the atmosphere above, the heaps of metals and mineral below, the dense gases & fossil fuels deep
below the surface of the earth – all fall into the Material Order or padãrtha avasthã. In fact, if we look
around beyond the earth, the material order is visible even in the form of stars, planets, moons and
several astronomical bodies.
Our land mass is covered with grass and small shrubs and they form the lining on the
entire soil. Shrubs, plants, and trees form huge forests along with the flora in the ocean. All
of this is the plant/bio order or prãna avasthã and it is the next big order on our planet.
(The material order is far greater in quantity compared to the plant/bio order)
Animals and birds form the third largest order and we call them the Animal Order or
jïva avasthã. Here again, we see that the plant/bio-order is far greater in quantity than the
animal order. Humans are the smallest order and they are referred to as Human Order or gyãna
avasthã. Animals are far greater in quantity as compared to the human order.
Each one of us can recognize all these four orders around ourselves and see that together
these four orders comprise of all the units that we see and understand around us

Interconnectedness and Mutual Fulfilment (Paraspartã aur Paraspara

Pürakatã)
*“paraspartã” means ‘interconnectedness’. “paraspara püraka” means ‘mutually fulfilling’

Let us look at the first three orders namely the Material, Plant/Bio (pranic) and Animal Order. We can
easily see that they are interconnected. Each order is connected to each other order. And the
relationship between these orders is in such a way that they all fulfil each other and coexist with each
other.

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Material Order and Plant/Bio-Order
The Material Order provides the nutrients to the Plant/Bio-Order in the form of soil,
minerals, etc while the Plant/Bio-Order decays and forms more nutrient, thus enriching
the soil. The Plant/Bio-Order also decays to substances like oil and coal, which are stored
deep within the earth as protection against the heat from the molten core inside the earth
as well as the heat from the sun (today, this is the material we are removing and using as fuel!).
Plants help move the nutrients through the various layers of the soil. The roots of the plants
hold the soil together and prevent the soil from erosion. Plants produce oxygen/ carbon
dioxide and thus help in the movement of the Material Order. Thus Pranic order and
Material Order, naturally exist in a relationship of mutual fulfilment with each other. They
also co-exist, they don’t deny the other. There is a mutual interdependency and co-existence
we can see here.

Material Order, Plant/Bio Order and Animal Order

The Material Order provides the basis for movement of all animals, birds and fishes. Water, Oxygen
and other gases are necessities for both plants and animals. At the same time, the Animal Order helps
enrich the soil with its excreta and this excreta helps the plants with nutrients. The Plant/Bio Order
provides food for animals, birds and fishes. The Animal Order helps in pollination of the flowers of
the Pranic order. The relationship across all three orders is – naturally one of mutual fulfilment. None
of these orders denies the other.

Material Order, Pranic Order, Animal Order and Human Order

It is clear that the above mentioned three orders are fulfilling to each other. When we look
at the connectedness with human beings, we find that each of these orders is fulfilling to
the human order. This we can verify looking at the multiple uses we are drawing out of
these entities. We humans also have a natural acceptance to be mutually fulfilling to these
three orders. However, we are not able to ensure this mutual fulfilment. We are dependent
on the material order for soil and minerals and metals, but only end up polluting the soil
and depleting the fossil fuels; we are dependent on plants for our food and holding together
the larger ecosystem, but we have destroyed forests and destroyed multiple species of plants
and herbs; we are dependent on animals to carry out our production and transportation

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activities, but have made many species of animals extinct, and are today known for our cruelty towards
animals.

We thus see that the three orders besides the Human Order are in harmony and are
fulfilling to the human order. However, we as humans have not yet understood and
learnt to live in relationship of mutual fulfilment with these three other orders. This is
because we have not understood the harmony that exists between these orders. We
have not even understood our own needs properly, nor have we understood harmonious
ways to fulfil our needs. Consequently, we have disturbed ourselves and also the balance amongst the
other three orders. This is evident when we see that we have pretty much
plundered the body of the earth of all the heat absorbing materials like coal and oil and
burnt these fossil fuels in our atmosphere causing a significant deterioration in the
temperature regulation of our planet. We have significantly deforested huge forest masses
and through it, altered the weather system of our planet. Our burgeoning cities and
industries have spilled huge amounts of industrial and human waste into the water
bodies and even drinking water has to be now chemically treated before it can be
consumed by humans. The air we breathe has become polluted; the food we grow has
become chemically affected. The effect of this disharmony is now affecting our lives in
the form of diseases and maladies.

On the other hand, if we explore our natural acceptance, we find that we want to live harmoniously
with nature. This is important for our own happiness. This is an undeniable and a very significant
relationship for each one of us. This is a relationship we need to properly understand.

Recyclability and Self-regulation in Nature

There are several cyclical processes that we can see in nature. For example the cycle of water,
evaporating, condensing and precipitating back to water giving the weather phenomena.
The quantity of water on the surface of earth remains conserved by itself, no need for
human intervention. You have studied cycles of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen in nature in
your school. The cycles keep these materials self-regulated on the earth. Breeds of plants
and animals are similarly self-regulated in their environment. In a forest, the growth of
trees takes place in a way so that the amount of soil, plants and animals remains conserved.

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It never happens that the number of trees shoots up and there is lack of soil for the trees! The
appropriateness of conditions for growth of both plants and animals are self-regulated in nature
keeping the population proportions naturally maintained. You will find that the
population of grass, deers and tigers remains such that all can continue. This phenomenon
is termed as self-regulation. You will appreciate that in a single breed of animals, the number
of males and females generated through procreation is such that the continuity of species is ensured by
itself. This happens with humans too, but inhuman practices have led to disproportionate numbers of
men and women. Nature exhibits self-regulation in various ways across the plant/bio, animal and
human orders, but we humans have disturbed it due to lack of understanding. We seldom see a
problem of over-population of a species in nature (some of what we see is man created!), nor do we
see any instance of some by-product from nature not being absorbed and becoming a source for
pollution (ex: nature does not produce plastic and foam).

These two characteristics namely, cyclical nature and self-regulation provide us with some clues of the
harmony that is in nature. These are visible signs we can see with our eyes, and understand. But, there
is also more to nature than meets the ‘eye’. This is something we shall explore next.

Order Material Plant/Bio Animal Human

Things Soil, Air, Plants, Animal Animal Body + 'I' Human Body + 'I'
(vastu) Water Body, Human
Body
Activity Composition/ Composition/ (Composition/ (Composition/
(kriyã) Decomposition Decomposition Decomposition, Decomposition,
+ Respiration Respiration) in Respiration) in Body +
Body + Selection in (Selection, Thought,
'I' Desire) in 'I' & need for
Realization &
Understanding
Innateness Existence Existence + (Existence, (Existence +
( dhãranã) Growth Growth) in Body + Growth) in Body +
Will to live in 'I Will to live with
happiness in 'I
Natural Composition/ Composition/ (Composition/ (Composition/
Characteristic Decomposition Decomposition Decomposition, Decomposition,
(svabhãva) + Nurture/ Nurture/Worsen) Nurture/Worsen) in
Worsen in Body, + Body +
(Noncruelty, (Perseverance,
Cruelty) in Bravery,
'I Generosity) in 'I'
Basic Recognising, Recognising (Recognising (Recognising
Activity Fulfillment Fulfillment Fulfillment) Fulfillment)
(kriyã) in body + in body + Knowing,
Assuming, Assuming,
Recognising, Recognising,
Fulfillment in ‘I’ Fulfillment in ‘I’
Conformance Constitution Seed Breed conformance Right values/sanskãra
(anu-sangitã) conformance conformance ( vansa anusangitã) conformance
(parinãma anu (bïja anusangitã) (sanskãra anusangitã)
sangitã)

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Dharana (Characteristic)—that which is innate to a unit.
--Material continues to exist.
(Material is conserved as material. It is neither created nor destroyed).
-- Pranic order has existence as well as growth.
--Animal body is like plants only. In ‘I’ there is there is the will to live.
--Human body is like plants only. In ‘I’ there the will to live with happiness (right understanding).

Swabhava (Participation) –Participation in the harmony at higher level of existence. With human it
means, the feelings which are readily acceptable in participation at higher level of existence.

-- By composing, small material structures transform into big structures and by decomposing, big
structures transform into small structures.
-- A Pranic unit enhances or worsens another pranic unit. -- The swabhava of animal body is same as
plants.
-- The swabhava of human body is same as plants. For I it is

- Dheerata (Perseverance): Being assured that the all-encompassing solution is to understand and
live in harmony at all four levels.

Veerata (Bravery): Being assured that the all-encompassing solution is to understand and live in
harmony at all four levels, and I am ready to help the other getting assured of it.

Udarata (Generosity): Being assured that the all-encompassing solution is to understand and live in
harmony at all four levels, and I am ready to help the other getting assured of it, and I am ready to
invest myself, body and wealth to help the other getting assured of it.
Kriya (Activity):
-- The material unit only recognizes and fulfills.
-- The pranic unit too only recognizes and fulfills. -- The animal’s body operates like the plants, while
in the Self (I), there is the activity of assuming, recognizing and fulfilling.

-- The human’s body too operates like the plants, while in the Self (I), there is the activity of knowing,
assuming, recognizing and fulfilling.

Other way of studying the activity is that the material unit has activities of composition and
decomposition, the plants have composition & decomposition as well as respiration. The bodies of
animals and human beings operate like the plants. In the Self (I) of animals, only selection is active,
while in the Self (I) of humans, desire, thought and selection are active.

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Innateness (Dhãranã )
Each unit in existence exhibits an innateness, an intrinsic quality that cannot be separated from it. We
refer to this principle as ‘Innateness’ also called ‘ & Dhãranã’ of that unit. This is intrinsic to the unit.
What exactly do we mean by this?

Innateness of the Material Order

Look at all the material order. It is possible to convert material things from one ‘form or a way of being)’ to
another ‘form or a way of being’. However, it is not possible to annihilate it. We cannot make it cease
to exist. The particles that make up that unit continue to exist. For example, when you burn coal and it
has finished burning and only some ash is left and smokes have gone out, it is not that the basic
material, the fundamental particles in coal, have ‘ceased to exist’ or ‘disappeared’ from existence!
They may not be visible to the eye at that moment, but they continue to exist, they still are in the form
of other matter or in the form of gases, etc.
We can see this for any material unit. This is there with all material units. You
cannot destroy matter, you can only convert it from one form to the other. Thus, “to exist”, or
‘existence’ is intrinsic to all material, it is innate to it. We cannot separate the ‘existence’ of
a thing from the thing itself!

Innateness of the Plant/Bio or Pranic Order

Because the pranic order is a development of the material order, it also has the innateness of
‘existence’. In addition, it also exhibits the ‘growth’. This principle of ‘growth’ cannot be separated
from any units of this order. If it is of pranic order, it will grow. For example, if you have a plant, you
cannot stop it from growing. It will continue to respire and keep changing in this way. The only way
you can stop it from growing is by cutting it, but when you do that, it ceases to belong to the pranic
order, instead decays and then belongs to the material order! So, as long as you have a plant, it will
grow. Further, just like in the case of coal; you cannot destroy the fundamental particles that make up
the plant. You can only convert it from one form to the other. Thus ‘existence’ and ‘growth’ together
are the innateness of the pranic order.

Innateness of the Animal Order

The Animal Body is a development of the pranic order and therefore this order inherits the innateness
of the previous order namely ‘existence’ and ‘growth’. This is at the level of the body, which is
physico-chemical in nature. In addition, all units in this order have the ‘will to live’ in ‘I’. Indeed no
unit in this order can be separated from this ‘will to live’. It is intrinsic to every unit in this order.

For example, you cannot separate this will to live from a dog. This “will to live” in the dog is in ‘I’
(consciousness) and not in the Body. Thus, on the one hand, the fundamental particles the body is
made up of cannot cease to exist (existence) and the ‘live body’ cannot stop pulsating (growth); on the
other hand, the will to live cannot be separated from ‘I’. Thus the animal order imbibes ‘existence’ &
‘growth’ in the body and a ‘will to live’ in ‘I’ as its innateness. The will to live is also called as ‘asha’.

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 Innateness of the Human Order
When we look at the human being, we find that ‘existence’ and ‘growth’ are fundamentally present in
the body, just as in the animal body. At the level of ‘I’ however, in addition to the will to live, a human
being’s innateness is the ‘will to live with happiness’. We can all see this and verify this for ourselves.
We can verify in ourselves and we can verify this in others. As long as it is a human being you cannot
separate him/her from the will to live and the need for happiness. Each one of us not only wants to live
but also wants to ‘live with happiness’. This is the innateness of the human order and it characterizes
the human order. We also say ‘mãnav sukha dharmï hai’, i.e. the will to live happily cannot be
removed from a human being.

This is what we have been discussing in this course! All along, we have been exploring
into ourselves and when we do, we find that just surviving is not enough for us; we also
desire happiness and its continuity! We don’t desire to not be happy, even for an instant. It
is our basic need. So, we have been looking into the causes of unhappiness, and when we
did, we discovered that the basic cause for our unhappiness is that we are living only with
assumptions, only at the level of desiring, thinking and selecting/tasting in ‘I’. This is
insufficient for us, since it leads to conflict and is driven by beliefs/preconditioning. Hence,
we have to exercise our need to know, which is what we started with. We said that we need
to have the right understanding, which is the knowledge or understanding of the harmony
at all 4 levels of our being [Realization and Understanding in ‘I’]. We have been trying to ensure this
through self-exploration, i.e. by establishing a dialogue between, ‘what we are’ and ‘what we really
want to be’ which is essentially the verification on the basis of our natural acceptance.

Possible Questions
1. What exactly is implied by the term - 'Nature'? Explain.
2. What are the four orders in nature? Briefly explain them.
3. What do you mean by mutual fulfilment in nature? Cite a few examples.
4. "Other than human order, the three orders are mutually fulfilling to each other." Explain with
examples. Why does human order fail to be mutually fulfilling to itself and to the other orders?
5. Write a short note on the recyclability and self-regulation in nature.
6. What do you mean by 'innateness'? What is the innateness in the four orders?
7. What is the Svabhãva (natural characteristic) of a unit? Elaborate on the Svabhãva of a
human order.
8. Explain the activities in the four orders of nature. How are the activities in the human order
qualitatively different from those of other three orders?
9. What do you mean by 'conformance'? Explain the conformance in the four orders.
10. Suggest ways to enhance the fulfilment of human order with the other three orders.
Mention any two programs you can undertake in light of the above.

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Harmony in Existence – Understanding
existence as Co-existence.

S o far we have been talking about units, be it a human being or animal or plant or any material
entity. All the units together constitute nature. All the units of nature exist in space which is an
important reality to understand. Existence is nothing but the nature in space. In this chapter,
we will explore the harmony in existence in the form of co-existence of all the units in space.

An Introduction to Space (Sünya)

We had started our exploration at our innermost level of being – with (our) Self (‘I’). Our
natural acceptance has been a key mechanism for us to explore the harmony of (our) Self and
the harmony with the Body. Exploring further, we discovered that we feel related with others
and we experience the feelings (or values) in our relationship. We then saw that this feeling of
relationship starts from our family, and then slowly extends to the world family. Beyond
humans, we explored the harmony in nature and we discovered that every ‘thing’ that we can
see around us can be understood as a part of one of the four orders of nature namely the
material order, plant/bio or pranic order, animal order and the human order. These four orders
are interrelated, in harmony, and our natural acceptance is to live in harmony with these
orders. So far, we have been discussing what are called ‘units’. We define a unit as something
that is limited in size. Like a small blade of human hair to the biggest planets we know of, they
are all limited in size, i.e. bounded on six sides. So, all the ‘things’ we have been studying so
far: the human beings, animals, lumps of matter as well as various atoms and molecules, are
all ‘units’. We can recognize them as such, they are ‘countable’. But there is another ‘reality’
we have not yet studied or explored. This is the space (sünya, or spelt as shoonya for
simplicity).

Let us try to understand the significance of this reality in order to complete our study of the
whole Existence.

If I ask you a question ‘What is between you and the book you are reading right now?’ Your
answer may be “Nothing”. If I now ask you what is between the earth and the sun, you answer
may still be ‘nothing’, or, some of you may say ‘empty space’’ or ‘space’. If I ask you where
is the earth? Where is the sun? What is the answer? That’s space. Yes, we are talking about
space! We normally don’t pay attention to this ‘reality’, because it’s not a ‘unit’. You can’t
touch it, smell it. We normally just ‘see through it’. But the fact is, because you can’t ‘touch it’
or ‘see it’ as you would see a unit like your body, your friend, or a piece of rock, doesn’t mean
it does not exist! Space exists everywhere. Note that space

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does not just exist between the earth and the sun, but is all around you. It is between you and
the book you are reading right now, it is inside you, it’s around you. When we start paying
attention to it, we can each see that what we call as space or emptiness, is actually
everywhere! We don’t really generally bother about it (except perhaps in an academic sense in
subjects like physics or astronomy), because, space does not seem to play any role in our daily
life. So why are we talking about it here then? Well, we want to understand all levels of our
living, and when we go to explore that, it turns out that what we call as ‘existence’ or ‘all that
exists’, includes space as well. We may think that space has no role in our life, but let us
ascertain this impression of ours. Let’s find out.

Co-existence of Units in Space

Units in Space

When we look at the existence around, the first thing we see is space. You may not note it, but
it is there. And then you see the units in space. Between every two units, there is space. As we
saw in the example of book and the reader, the same holds true for every other unit, be it
material, or plant, or animal or some human being. The units exist in space. If we were to
define this, we would say that there are two kinds of realities in existence and these are: Space
and Units (in Space). So, we say, Existence = Space + Units (in Space). Each unit of every
order viz., material, plant/bio or pranic, animal and human order, ‘exist in space’ or they ‘are
in space’. We also say they are ‘submerged in space’.

Since nature consists of the four orders we have been discussing, we can say,

“Existence = Nature submerged in space”.

Nature = Four orders (Material, Plant/Bio or Pranic, Animal and Human Order)

Existence

Space
Unit (Ikai)
Unlimited (asimit)
Limited (Simit)
All pervading (Vyapak)
Active (Kriyasheel)
No-activity (kriyã sünya = sünya)
Energized (Urjit)
Energy in Equilibrium(sãmya ürjã)
Each unit recognizes and Constant Energy
fulfill its relationship with
other units. Reflecting, transparent ( pãradarsï)

Self-organized Self organization is available -

(niyantran upalabdha)

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Limited’ and ‘Unlimited’
Nature has four orders and there are units in each order. Each unit is limited in size. The size ranges
from being really small (atom) to really big (galaxies). Each and every unit is finite and limited in size,
be it the smallest particle or the biggest galaxies. Space, on the other hand is Unlimited. Space has
no ‘size’, unlike units, it is not bounded. Space is not bounded on any side! So, there is no beginning
or end to space, as there is to units! For example, when you take a book, you know that it starts and
finishes. We say the book is ‘limited’ in size. When we take space, there is no such thing. For
example, there is space behind you, inside you, between you and the book, between the book and the
earth, in the book, in every page of it, inside the page, and beyond the earth….all the way till you can
imagine. Even if you say space ends <here> and there is “nothing” after that, that “nothing” is still
space or empty space as we call it! We find that space pervades; It is all-pervading. Units, on the other
hand are not all-pervading. That is how we recognize them as units!

‘Active’ and ‘No-activity’

We can understand each unit as something that is dynamic and active. Be it a physical activity,
physico–chemical activity or a sentient activity. Each unit or entity of all the four orders is active. We
already explored this in the previous chapter, “harmony with nature” where we explored activities in
the four orders like: composition/decomposition, selection/ taste, etc. For example: you can yourself
see that ‘thinking’ is an activity you do, and so is ‘desiring’.

Space on the other hand has no activity. Only units are active or in other words, when ‘something’ is
active or has activity, we call it a ‘unit’! There is empty space between you and the book right now and
it does not have any activity. The particles of gases and dust in between are active, but space is no-
activity. That’s how we come to know of it.

‘Energized’ and ‘Energy in Equilibrium’

What we normally call or consider as energy today, is the ‘transfer of energy’. For example: when you
place water in a vessel on the stove, we say the ‘heat energy from the flame was transferred to the
water in the vessel’. What about the water before we put it on the stove? Was it energized? What about
the stove before we lit it, was it energized? We may normally think ‘no, it was not’, but the fact is, it
is! Anything that is a unit, has activity. Anything that has activity, is energized. All the particles in the
water and the metal stove are active, very active, and energized. We can’t see this very easily or we
don’t see the ‘physical effects’ of the unheated water or unlit metal stove, but they are still energized!
Space, on the other hand, is not a unit, it has no activity. Hence, we don’t say space is energized but
we say ‘Space is energy in equilibrium’ or it is ‘constant energy’. All units are energized in space. This
energy is available to all units. In other words, space is equilibrium energy; all units are in space; all
units are energized and active being in space.

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‘Each Unit Recognizes ...Space is Reflecting & Transparent’
When you pour water into the soil, the soil soaks it up. We call this as, ‘the water is recognizing its
relationship with the soil and fulfilling it’. (When we use the term ‘recognizing and fulfilling’ for
ourselves, humans, we use it also in the sense that we are ‘aware’ of the ‘recognition’ & ‘fulfilment’.
Since the activity is basically the same, except
awareness, we use or extend the same words for things like soil, plants, etc.) When we look around,
we see that even in the physical world, there is a relationship between all things around us. The air
recognizes its relationship with the soil, the soil with the water, the water and
soil with the tree, etc. There is relationship and we see all around us. This
is the meaning of each unit recognizing its relationship and fulfilling it. As humans, we
have seen that we too want to recognize our relationship with the four orders and fulfil it.
We called this ‘living in harmony with all the four orders’. We can easily see this, understand
ourselves if we pay a bit of attention that each unit recognizes and fulfils its relationship with the other
unit.

What about space? Well, space is not a unit. Space is reflecting. What that means is, every unit is
reflected in the other units in space. It is due to this reflection that there is a relationship, and this is
why all units are related to each other. This is why, we as humans also feel or are related to one
another and this is the basis for our relationship with the four orders. All the units are related to each
other being in space.

Space is transparent. It is the same as saying reflecting. What this means is that in space there is no
obstruction. Hence, all these objects or units are able to recognize each other in space, are related to
each other being in space, since space is transparent.

‘Self-organized’, and ‘Self-organization is Available’

Every unit is an organization. A unit recognizes other units and combines to form a
bigger organization. Starting from the atom, to the big galaxy, this organization goes on,
as a self-organization. At every level, we get a self-organization. Sub atomic particles
recognize each other and come together to form atoms. Cells recognize each other and
form organizations like organs and a body. Planetary bodies, solar systems, galaxies are
still bigger organizations. We can see for ourselves, very easily. Take for example, a stone. It is self-
organized.
The stone maintains its own organization. Or take a piece of iron, it is self-organized.
We are not organizing it. We are not supplying it organization from outside. Think of a cow. It is self-
organized. The body of the cow is self-organized; and so is the ‘Jïvana’ of cow. It does not create
havoc for others around it. It has a definite behavior. Now take humans. When we look at it, we see
that we are self-organized at the level of the body. We are not organizing the body. We are not doing
anything for the coordination between the heart, kidneys, lungs, eyes, brain, hands, legs, etc. All these
are functioning together. Our input is needed only to provide the required nutrition, and to assist the
body when we fall sick/get injured. At the level of ‘I’, we are not self-organized, but being in

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space, self-organization is available to the Self (‘I’). That’s why we are in pursuit of happiness, which
is essentially being in harmony. Whenever we are not in harmony, we are unhappy

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 ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad
VALUE EDUCATION CELL

Notes:Unit-5

Existence is Co-existence

Universal Human Values and Professional Ethics (UHVPE)

(RVE- 301)

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 Providing the Basis for Universal
Human Values and Ethical Human
Conduct

Values in Different Dimensions of Human Living

We studied the harmony at the four levels of human living in section-II. Based on this understanding
of harmony, when we participate in the larger order, this participation at different level is our value.
The identification of values starts from the participation of the activities of the Self (‘I’) in the form of
definite conduct of the human being based on realization and understanding. Further, the participation
of the human being is seen in two forms: behaviour and work. We studied about the values pertaining
to behaviour as the nine values in relationship, - viz., trust, respect, affection, care, guidance,
reverence, glory and love.
Likewise, working with material things, we have two values:

Utility-value: The participation of a human being in ensuring the role of physical facility in
nurture, protection and providing means for the body.

Artistic-value: The participation of a human being in ensuring the role of physical facility to help
and preserve its utility.

For example, the utility value of a pen is that it aids in writing. This provides a means to the body.
Providing a cap to the pen so that the ink does not spill, a proper design for holding of the pen while
writing, etc. preserve the utility of the pen. A shirt has the utility that it protects the body. This is its
utility value. Designing the shirt so that it can be easily put on is the artistic value. Thus we provide
buttons in the front, the size of the shirt is as per the size of the body and so on. Similarly, with food,
we find that the utility of the food is that it helps nurture the body. But cooking the food in such a way,
that it can be easily chewed and swallowed, served in the dish, etc. is the artistic value. Taking the
example of a book, when we are printing a book, it adds utility to the paper. The content that is printed
helps us store it for a longer time so that we could refer to it from time to time. If you have to
memorise everything, it is going to be a huge engagement for you. But printing it on paper saves our
energy and time. This is utility value. Now keeping the font size so that the book is legible, designing
its size so that it is easy to carry it, etc. is adding artistic value to the book.

Definitiveness of Ethical Human Conduct

What is innateness of human beings? What is our humaneness in reality? As we identify a neem tree or
a mango tree by its well defined specific characteristics which always remain the same; as we identify
water or air or iron or a cow by their respective characteristics - their innateness, similarly let us also
try to identify the innateness of a human being. So as a mango tree has a definite ‘mango-ness’, iron
has a definite ‘iron-ness’, cow has a definite ‘cow-ness’; similarly let us understand our humaneness.

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The right understanding gained through self-exploration also enables us to identify the definitiveness
of human conduct which may also be called the ethical human conduct. It is the same for all human
beings. So we are also able to understand the universality of ethical human conduct which is in
consonance with the universal human values. Accordingly, all debates and confusions about what is
ethical for one may not be ethical for others etc. also lose their base. Let us now understand the salient
features of this definite human conduct i.e. the ethical human conduct. As we have already explored in
this book, each one of us wants to have a definite conduct but presently we may not be able to ensure
that. This is because we are presently living on the basis of our pre-conditionings or assumptions
which are not in consonance with the truth or the right understanding. But, this situation neither gives
satisfaction to us nor to others. We do see the human beings struggling to find out what the right
conduct is and in the process, exhibiting a wide variety of attributes. We also see people debating
endlessly about what they consider to be ethical. But unless we have the right understanding, we are
not able to identify the definitiveness of ethical human conduct.

Ethical Human Conduct

In accordance with the understanding based on Natural Acceptance, the ethical human conduct can be
characterized by Mulya - Neeti – Charitra

Values (Mulya) –
Values are a part of our ethical conduct. They are the outcome of realization and understanding, which
are always definite. As already mentioned, when I understand the reality correctly, and the underlying
harmony at all levels of existence and my participation in it, I am able to perceive the universal human
values as a part and parcel of this reality. My imaginations are now always in terms of the definite•
Policy (Neeti) –

Having been convinced about the values and about the inherent harmony in the existence, I am able to
develop an ethical sense in all my pursuits. I always think, behave and work towards nurturing this
harmony. It leads us to adopt policies conducive to human welfare – conducive to enrichment,
protection and right utilization of mind, body and wealth. This is an outcome of the definiteness of my
desire, thought and expectation (selection) as guided by right understanding.
Character (Charitra) –

The definiteness of my desire, thought and selection gives definiteness to my living. Definitiveness of
character is the outcome of the definiteness of my behaviour and work. This can be mainly
characterised in terms of the following:

Chastityin conjugal relationship i.e. chastity in husband-wife relationship- (svanarï, & sva -
purusa )
  
Rightful production acquisition and utilization of wealth (sva-dhana).
  
Humane behaviour and work with kindness (dayãpürna kãrya-vyavahãra)
This definitiveness of human conduct in terms of values, policies and character is termed as

Ethics.

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Basis for Humanistic Education, Humanistic Constitution and
Humanistic Universal Order (to ensure Holistic Development)
To facilitate the process of right understanding in the society, to create a favorable ambience for
this and to ensure a continuity of this process among human beings from generation to generation, it
is crucial to visualize and to work towards the following key elements of Manaviya Vyawastha.

Vision for Manaviya Vyawastha (Human Order)

These are the key elements of ‘Vyavastha’ which will need to be actualized, and, therefore, it is
important to gain some clarity about these:
a) humanistic education (Manaviya Shiksha)
b) humanistic constitution (Manaviya Samvidhan)
c) humanistic order (Manaviya Vyawastha)

Competence in Professional Ethics

1. Clarity about comprehensive human goal: Samadhan Samriddhi- Abhay- Sah-astitva, and its
fulfillment through universal human order.
2. Confidence in oneself based on above clarity.
3. Mutually Fulfilling Behavior: clarity and confidence in ethical human conduct and its
correlation with sustainable personal as well as collective happiness and prosperity.
4. Mutually Enriching Interaction with Nature: self-sufficiency in fulfillment of physical needs:
ability to assess the needs for physical facilities for the family and their fulfillment through
production systems ensuring harmony in the nature.

Ability to identify and develop appropriate (people friendly and eco-friendly) production
systems, technologies and management models.
By now it must have become clear that understanding of harmony at various levels along with the
appreciation of comprehensive Human goal enables us to characterize the criteria of appropriateness
(people-friendliness and eco-friendliness) of production system technologies and management models.

For example the following criteria will acquire importance

• Renewability
• Preservation of natural balance
• Utilizing local resources and expertise
• Decentralized and conducive to mass employment
• Catering to real needs
• Matching of production, distribution and consumption etc.
Salient Unethical Practices in the Profession at present
Before visualizing typical models of holistic technologies and production systems, let us first have a
critical look at the contradictions and dilemmas because of the prevailing world view in profession
today.
a. Corruption at various levels and in different forms

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b. Tax-evasion and misappropriation of funds
c. Unethical nature of advertisements and sales promotion
d. ‘Cut-throat’ competition
e. Adulteration and spurious production
f. Exploitation at various levels
g. Negligence and disregard for environment
h. Promotion of unsustainable technologies.

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Basis for the Holistic Alternative towards
Universal Human Order
Identification of Comprehensive Human Goal:
So, an important implication of the right understanding is the visualization of comprehensive human
goal which is conducive to human welfare in a holistic and sustainable manner. Presently, human
welfare is primarily perceived in economic terms only. We have already seen how such a narrow
objective leads to problems in various spheres of life and is not sustainable. Further, in the light of the
right understanding, it is possible to visualize the pattern of ‘Holistic Alternative’ to cater to the
comprehensive human goal, a model of human living which is people friendly and eco-friendly and
therefore mutually fulfilling as well as sustainable. In this process, it will be possible to visualize an
alternative set of criteria to evaluate the education, healthcare systems, technologies, production
systems and the models for commercial activity and management. As we have seen in chapter nine, the
comprehensive human goal consists of the following:

1. Right Understanding and freedom from contradictions at the individual level (Samãdhãna)- In
every individual
2. Prosperity and its continuity at the level of family (Samriddhi)- In every family
3. Fearlessness and mutual trust (Abhaya)- In the society
4. Co-existence (Sah-astitva) - In the nature
Such a comprehensive objective will be conducive to the welfare of all (abhyudaya) for all times. This
will apply to all the human beings on earth. We can also understand that facilitating and empowering
human beings towards the fulfilment of the above mentioned comprehensive human goal is real
human welfare.

Now, on this basis, we can identify the goals of any organization, system or society, either working for
production, justice, exchange... etc. We can evaluate whether the goals set by the system are humane
or not, whether these are comprehensive or having a limited
vision. Once we are able to identify the comprehensive human goal, it becomes clear to us
that in all our programs, this is going to be the primary motivation. And if any program is
not subservient to these, it is not going to be fit for the society and human welfare.
In terms of these goals, we can evaluate the inadequacies in the prevalent education
system, judiciary system, administration and governance, market policies and other such
systems. Are we working to achieve the human goal which is naturally acceptable to us, or moving
away from it? We had a brief review of our present systems in chapter nine. It
revealed how our society and societal systems have deviated from human welfare. But there
is no need to blame an existing system or trend. We only need to focus on the development
of right understanding. We have seen that nobody accepts naturally to do wrong, we just
have to provide the right direction to facilitate this.

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Vision for the Holistic Alternative
A correct appraisal of the comprehensive human goal and human welfare and the realization
of co-existence at all levels enable us to visualize and gradually evolve a viable alternative to
the prevailing pattern of human living. Thus the right understanding prepares us for moving
towards the ‘holistic alternative’ (universal human order, svarãjya) which will be sustainable
as well as conducive to fulfil the basic human aspirations for all human beings. It will be a mode of
living which is self satisfying, people-friendly and eco-friendly. Then, all human ingenuity and
creativity, all the knowledge and skills available can be harnessed to actualize such a model of living.
There is an urgent need to initiate research and development in this direction as our present model of
living is proving to be more and more problematic and unsustainable.

Basis for Humanistic Education and Humanistic Constitution

The primary step to move towards the holistic alternative is to develop the right
understanding among human beings and the commitment to live accordingly and then to
develop the requisite skills and know-how to implement the right understanding in real
life. In the first place, it calls for a change in the education system towards humanistic
education. The right understanding provides us with the vision of such a humanistic
education. As we discussed earlier, education means to imbibe the understanding of harmony
at all the levels of living. It is not just reading, writing and arithmetic, but rather a process
to enable the human being to live in accordance to the natural acceptance. It calls for a
major shift in vision and emphasis as comparison to the existing system.

Humanistic Education
Inculcation of the right understanding at all 4 levels (from self to entire existence) and development of
the competence to live in accordance with it forms the core of humanistic education. One should be
able to evaluate all the endeavours in the light of right understanding. Humanistic education will
incorporate appropriate integration of values and skills so that human beings are able to understand
their physical needs correctly and adopt suitable techniques and production systems to cater to these
needs in an eco-friendly and people friendly manner.

The humanistic education will facilitate the process of self exploration which will lead
to continuous self evolution of human beings. It will also enable the realization of one’s
innateness (svatva) as well as the universality and definitiveness of ethical human conduct. It will also
develop the conviction that only value based living can be conducive to continuous
happiness and prosperity for one and all. Adequate research effort is needed to evolve and implement
the models of such an education. To begin with, the education of a child starts at home. The child
learns and
understands things living in close relations at home. So every model will entail the right
kind of environment at home for the child to develop. When the child needs more exposure
to skills and knowledge, he/she will need a formal system, in the form of some collective
effort in the society. To start with it is necessary to introduce the required inputs of value education.
But in the longer run, the whole education system will need to be re-designed

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in the light of right understanding. It is a useful exercise for us to learn how a child can be facilitated
to have the right understanding since childhood, how it will learn languages, reading, writing and
arithmetic skills, and skills that form a part of higher education.

Humanistic Constitution
In addition, the right understanding also provides us the basis for a humanistic constitution which is
essential to provide clear guidelines and policy framework conducive to the development of an un-
fragmented human society and a universal human order. Working towards the comprehensive human
goal and developing the competence for ethical human conduct will be among the salient directive
principles of a humanistic constitution. It will safeguard the social justice in true sense.

Presently, the human society is divided into various castes, creeds, religions and nationalities whose
objectives and interests are proving contrary to those of others. Accordingly, a major part of human
endeavour is used in handling these conflicts and
contradictions. Paradoxically, the human beings are spending a substantial part of their
energies and resources in preparing themselves for war, only to ensure peace! As we can
now understand, when the parameters of human welfare are universal, i.e. commonly
applicable to all human beings, why should the human endeavour in pursuit of these
common objectives be conflicting to the interests of each other? This can only be there
because of our ignorance, because of our incorrect assumptions/beliefs about happiness
and about reality. Presently, our effort is directed towards trying to stop a wrong behaviour
by means of an equally or more wrong behaviour - a crime by executing a bigger crime, a violence by
greater violence. This can never be successful in the long run and only gives rise to a vicious circle to
perpetuate the wrong doings. Things can only be set right by developing human consciousness, by
developing right understanding and living among people and in no other way. Thus, the right
understanding also offers a satisfactory and spontaneous resolution of the prevailing human conflicts
ranging from the family level and going up to the global level.

Here again, it may be an educative exercise for the reader to visualize a model of humanistic
constitution. In the light of the right understanding, what will the fundamental rights and duties be,
what will the way be to ensure justice and protection in the society, what will the format be of working
for a universal human order, how will people connect to the world family, how will the representation
of people be ensured in maintaining order in the society, these all issues are to be addressed. To begin
with, the family will be smallest unit of order in the society. Moving from family to the world family,
the humanistic constitution will provide the basis of harmonious living. These are relevant issues in
terms of visualizing the holistic alternative to the present scenario.

Universal Human Order and its Implications

So finally, it may be concluded that it is possible to move towards a universal human order with the
help of suitable systems and policies evolved in the light of right understanding. Such a development
will be naturally acceptable to all human beings. The whole existence except the human beings is
already operating in harmony. It is for us, the human beings, to understand, to appreciate this harmony
and to play our role in this total order.

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On the basis of the understanding of harmony, we get the notion of an undivided society and universal
human order. The universal human order will comprise of:

1. The five dimensions of human endeavour (education, heath etc.) towards a fragmented society.

2. The steps of organization from family to world family, each anchored in right understanding will
integrate in the following way:

Family Family cluster Village/Community Village Cluster world family

We had listed the five dimensions in chapter nine. In each of the five dimensions, we
can visualise a humane system, be it education, health, production, exchange or justice and
conceptualize a harmoniously functioning society. The social organization can proceed from family to
world family with representative bodies of persons endowed with the right understanding at each level.

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Professional Ethics in the Light of Right
Understanding
Profession - In the Light of Comprehensive Human Goal
As mentioned earlier, any profession is a channel for participation by human beings in the larger order
in pursuance of comprehensive human goal. In the process, one is able to
contribute towards the livelihood of one’s family and also participate in the larger order
constituting the society and the nature around. All these activities do require a certain degree of skill
and are expected to be performed in consonance with the comprehensive human goal. Then only, these
will be conducive to the sustained welfare of the individual as well as the society. The excellence or
the success of any professional activity is to be judged from this comprehensive point of view only and
not in terms of just wealth generation.
Accordingly, the profession is not only a means of earning one’s livelihood but a means of
one’s evolution by appropriate participation in the larger order. It is an important activity
to authenticate one’s understanding, whereby we interact with other human beings and
with rest of nature in a mutually fulfilling manner. Thus, profession is a ‘service’.
Having understood the above notion of profession, let us pause a while to investigate
how we are presently looking at the profession. What is in our mind when we try to choose a professional
career? What do we consider as a good profession? What is the general view of the parents in regard
to an appropriate profession for their children? In what way do the people in society give value to
various professions? This is very important for us to find out.
The general perception in which the professions are presently looked at, is in terms of being
able to earn more and more money, getting more power, getting more perks or comforts
etc. Isn’t it? Verify this yourself.
Such a view which is widely prevailing inherently comes in conflict with the expectations
of professional ethics to ensure the sustained welfare of all. These aspects will be discussed
subsequently when we will have a look at the current scenario in detail. Here, it may suffice to sum up
that the real way to ensure ethical conduct of profession is to have a correct understanding of
profession, a correct understanding of happiness and prosperity and then to develop the competence to
fulfil this notion. The whole purpose of value education is to enable the development of this
understanding and competence which is essential to ensure professional ethics.

Ensuring Competence in Professional Ethics

Having understood the profession in right perspective, let us clearly demarcate what we mean by
developing ethical competence or the value competence of an individual which is the only effective
way to ensure professional ethics. In absence of such a competence, administering oaths and
prescribing codes of conduct etc. become mere formalities. Before proceeding further, let us also try to
visualize as to why a person acts unethically. It is primarily because of lack of correct understanding
about happiness and prosperity. If a person views happiness in terms of maximization of sensory
enjoyment and prosperity in terms of accumulation of physical facilities, then the motivation naturally
becomes that of

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wealth maximization. In this pursuit, all other considerations become secondary. Therefore, it leads to
more and more unethical practices as these seem to cater well to the above misconceived notion of
happiness. Immediate attractiveness of the outcome of such pursuits tends to make people adhere to
this wrong notion firmly. As many other people seem to be following the same path and apparently
‘gaining’ from it, this is believed to be the only pragmatic way of living. In this context, the ethical
considerations are considered to be too idealistic to follow in real life.

As already mentioned, the development of ethical competence is a long-term process to be achieved

through appropriate value education. As profession is only a subset of the life activities, the
competence in profession will only be the manifestation of one’s right understanding.

Competence in Professional Ethics

1. Clarity about the comprehensive human goal: Samãdhãna-Samriddhi- Abhaya- Sahastitva and its
fulfilment through universal human order from family to world family.

2. Confidence in oneself as well as confidence in the harmony, co-existence and selfregulation

prevailing in entire existence based on the right understanding of oneself and the rest of existence.
3. Competence of mutually fulfilling behaviour, clarity and confidence in ethical human
conduct and its correlation with sustainable personal as well as collective happiness
and prosperity.
4. Competence of mutually enriching interaction with nature, ability to assess the needs
for physical facilities for the family and their fulfilment through production systems
ensuring harmony in the nature.
5. Competence of actualizing one’s understanding in real life.

Issues in Professional Ethics - The Current Scenario

The issues in professional ethics are becoming very complex in the current scenario. The unethical
practices are rapidly increasing and their impact is also becoming far-reaching.
Corruption in multifarious manifestations is afflicting all the professions like a virus.
Similarly, other unethical practices are also proliferating and getting out of control. It
appears as if human ingenuity is being increasingly harnessed to devise newer and subtler
ways to thwart the ethical conduct of profession, to twist the laws and to beat the system.
A good number of people have started nurturing the feeling that with money, everything
can be accomplished, any person can be ‘purchased’, and any system can be bent to one’s
advantage. As a result of this ‘epidemic’ of unethical practices, we are frequently coming
across serious scams, major economic offences and kickbacks in large scale purchases.
These are also manifesting in the form of hawãlã and benãmï transactions, in fact, leading
to a parallel black market economy. Lapses on the part of big organizations in ethical
conduct of profession have led to large scale disasters, such as Bhopal Gas Tragedy, the Chernobyl
Disaster, etc., endangering public life and property, and causing serious degradation to environment

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 Vision for Holistic Technologies, Production
Systems and Management Models

The Holistic Criteria for Evaluation

The modern technologies and systems are all human inventions in response to the needs visualized
under the influence of the prevailing worldview. Accordingly, they have been designed and optimized
to the objective functions best suited to this world view. In order to facilitate the development of
holistic technologies and systems, it will be necessary to visualize alternative objective functions and
to formulate appropriate criteria for evaluation compatible with comprehensive human goal.

Generally speaking, there are three broad criteria to guide the development of such technologies and
systems, viz.,
(a) Catering to appropriate needs and lifestyles,
(b) People-friendly, and
(c) Eco-friendly.
In addition, these have to promote local self-sufficiency and optimal utilization of local resources and
expertise. In accordance to the above general considerations, the specific criteria for judging the
appropriateness of technologies, production systems and management models may be identified as
follows:

Criteria for Technologies

The above mentioned general criteria can be itemized into more specific form as follows:

  Catering to real human needs

  Compatible with natural systems and cycles
  Facilitating effective utilization of human body, animals, plants and materials
  Safe, user-friendly and conducive to health
  Producible with local resources and expertise as far as possible
  Promoting the use of renewable energy resources
  Low cost and energy efficient
  Enhancing human interaction and cooperation
  Promoting decentralization
 Durability and life cycle recyclability of products

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 For Production Systems
In determining the type of production systems, the key questions to be answered are:
l What to produce?

l How to produce?
l For whom to produce?

lAnd how much to produce? All these will be decided in the context of availability of local natural
resources and the needs of the people for any given community. Of course, the needs are to be
characterized in consonance with the comprehensive human goal. The specific criteria to judge the
appropriateness of the production systems may include the following:

  Optimal utilization of local resources and expertise

  Economic viability and sustainability
  Priority for local consumption
 Matching the pattern of production with the availability/ producibility in the local
 environment and the pattern of consumption
  Decentralized systems capable of meaningful employment of people in the community
 Facilitating production by masses and not mass production in a centralized mode
 Promoting individual creativity and sense of accomplishment l Using people-friendly and eco-
friendly technologies l Ensuring requisite quality of production
 Safe and conducive to the health of persons involved in production as well as others

For Management Models

The management needs to focus at the fulfilment of the people involved in the production
system as well the users of the produce and not to profit-mania. The following criteria can be
chosen for a humanistic management model:
  The whole unit working as a well-knit family
  Cooperative and motivational
  Ensuring correct appraisal of human labour
  Targeting employer-employee as well as consumer satisfaction and not profit maximization
  Sharing of responsibility and participative mode of management
  Continuous value addition of the persons involved
 Effectively integrating individual competencies and complementarity

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