COURSE INTRODUCTION - NEED, BASIC GUIDELINES, CONTENT AND

PROCESS FOR VALUE EDUCATION

1. Purpose and motivation for the course, recapitulation from Universal Human
Values-I
2. Self-Exploration–what is it? - Its content and process; N̳ atural Acceptance‘ and
Experiential Validation- as the process for self-exploration
3. Continuous Happiness and Prosperity- A look at basic Human Aspirations
4. Right understanding, Relationship and Physical Facility- the basic requirements
for fulfilment of aspirations of every human being with their correct priority
5. Understanding Happiness and Prosperity correctly- A critical appraisal of the
current scenario
6. Method to fulfil the above human aspirations: understanding and living in harmony
at various levels.

Include practice sessions to discuss natural acceptance in human being as the

innate acceptance for living with responsibility (living in relationship, harmony and
co-existence) rather than as arbitrariness in choice based on liking-disliking.

NOTES –

Firstly,

l Thiscourse is not about memorizing some information and reproducing it in the

exams to get marks, but about understanding issues that are important to our lives!
What we are covering in this course is applicable to every human being - we are
talking about our own lives, about living – so it is not ‘some theory that you have to
memorize’!

l You may find that some statements and concepts have been repeated in the book –
this is to bring them to your attention time and again

l The contents of this book are not meant to be disruptive or to bring about in you a
criticism for yourself or of others around. It is not intended to give some directive
prescriptions or do’s and don’ts. It is merely asking you to explore and investigate
within yourself - honestly, gently and perseveringly.

l Theclassroom lectures covering this course are a space for collective dialogue, where
we shall explore a couple of things together. These are things you can self-verify. Only
accept it if you find it true, else do not accept it.

l Theprocess that will get started in you during this course will be useful for you not
only during your current education program, but also in your life ahead.

l The success of this course would depend on how attentively you listen to what is
being stated in the classroom and how sincerely and authentically you evaluate the
same within yourself. So, this is not something you have to “learn”. This is something
you have to start paying attention to and understand in your own right. As you
understand, it comes in your living – and leads to your improvement as a person!

On self-investigation, we find out that we want to be in harmony at all levels of our

living:
l Harmony in myself (resulting in happiness and a feeling of prosperity)
l Harmony in family (resulting in mutual fulfilment in relationship and prosperity in
the family).
l Harmony in society (resulting in a trustful, undivided, universal society).
l Harmony in nature/existence (resulting in being in harmony with nature,
understanding the inherent co-existence)

Need for Value Education

Value education is required to correctly identify our basic aspirations, understand the
values that enable us to fulfil our basic aspiration, ensure the complementarity of
values and skills, and to properly evaluate our beliefs. It also facilitates the development
of appropriate technology and its right utilization for human welfare.
Any course content on value education needs to be universal, rational, natural, verifiable,
all- encompassing and leading to harmony.
l The value of any unit in this existence is its participation in the larger order of which
it is a part.
l The content of value education is expected to include all dimensions of a human
being and all levels of one’s living.
l The process of value education adopted here is that of self-exploration which includes
two things: verification at the level of natural acceptance and experiential validation in
living.
1. Correct identification of our aspirations:
2. Understanding universal human values to fulfil our aspirations in continuity:
3. Complementarity of values and skills:
4. Evaluation of our beliefs:
5. Technology and Human Values

What is Self-exploration? What is its Purpose?

Let us ponder over the following points to appreciate self-exploration and its purpose.
1. It is a process of dialogue between “what you are” and “what you really want to be”.
2. It is a process of self-evolution through self-investigation.
3. It is a process of knowing oneself and through that, knowing the entire existence.
4. It is a process of recognizing one’s relationship with every unit in existence and fulfilling
it.
5. It is a process of knowing human conduct, human character and living accordingly.
6. It is a process of being in harmony in oneself and in harmony with entire existence.
7. It is a process of identifying our Innateness (Swatva) and moving towards Selforganization
(Swatantratã) and Self-expression (Swarãjya).

7. It is a process of identifying our Innateness (Swatva) and moving towards

Selforganization
(Swatantratã) and Self-expression (Swarãjya): When I identify my
innateness, what I really want to be and establish a dialogue with it, it enables me to
become Self-organized, i.e. I attain harmony in myself. This is Swatantratã. When I
start living with this harmony, it starts expressing itself through my harmonious
behaviour and work, and it naturally extends to my participation with the surroundings.
This is working towards Swarãjya.
Swatantratã : Being self-organised : Being in harmony in oneself
Swarãjya : Self-expression, Self-extension : Living in harmony with others, and
thus participation towards harmony in the whole existence
Ask yourself this question: Are you self-organized right now? Are you able to be in
harmony with others?
If you are living in contradiction, then it means you are not self-organized. If you are
living with pre-conditionings, wherein you have assumed certain things, have
accumulated desires without having first evaluated them, then it means you are
partantra (enslaved). If you ask this question: whether we are swatantra or partantra,
what is the answer? Till there is a difference between what we are and what we really
want to be, we are not swatantra, because we will always be in conflict. Hence, since
we ourselves are not in self-organization, our expression in living: be it in behaviour
with other humans or in our interaction in the form of work - the outcome is going to
be one of conflict.
So, through this process of Self-exploration I begin by identifying my innateness
(Swatva), what I really want to be. Then, living accordingly enables me to being in
harmony within myself (Swatantratã) and finally being in harmony with the whole
existence (Swarãjya).

Summary
l We need to undergo Self-exploration because we want to find out what is valuable to
us, and secondly we want to understand our relationship, our participation with the
things around us.
l Self-exploration is
⮚ a process of dialogue between “what you are” and “what you really want to be”.
⮚ a process of Self-evolution through self-investigation.
⮚ a process of knowing oneself and through that, knowing the entire existence.
 ⮚ a process of recognizing one’s relationship with every unit in existence and
fulfilling it.
⮚ a process of knowing human conduct, human character and living accordingly.
⮚ a process of being in harmony in oneself and in harmony with entire existence.
⮚ a process of identifying our Innateness (Swatva) and moving towards Selforganization
(Swatantratã) and Self-expression (Swarãjya).
l
The content of self-exploration is exploring into two fundamental questions: what our
basic aspiration is; and the program to fulfil this basic aspiration.
l Process of self-exploration involves two things, firstly, verifying on the basis of natural
acceptance, and secondly, validating experientially by living accordingly. When the
proposal is verified on both the bases, it leads to realization and understanding.
Understanding is assuring, satisfying and universal with respect to time, space and
individual.
l Natural Acceptance does not change with time, individual or place and is not tainted
with our pre-conditionings. It is innately present in each one of us and we can always
refer to it.

The Basic Human Aspirations .

Continuous Happiness and Prosperity
There are two basic aspirations of every human being: continuous happiness and
prosperity. These are at the root of all our aspirations and the efforts that go towards
achieving
these. We will understand the correct meaning of these two terms now.
We can thus understand Happiness as
“The state/situation in which I live, if there is harmony/synergy in it, then I like to be
in that state or situation.”
i.e. “To be in a state of liking is happiness.”
We can thus state unhappiness as:
“The state/situation in which I live, if there is conflict/contradiction in it, then I do
not like to be in that state or situation.”
i.e. “To be in a state of disliking is unhappiness”
Thus, we can define happiness and unhappiness as
“To be in a state of harmony is happiness.”
“To be in a state of disharmony or contradiction is unhappiness”
It is important to point out that we do get an impression of happiness through our
sensory interaction also such as while eating tasty food, seeing a beautiful picture, smelling
a sweet fragrance, etc. However, these impressions of happiness are always short-lived and
their continuity can never be ensured.

A Look at the Prevailing Notions of Happiness and Prosperity

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 summarised below:

l Atthe level of the individual – rising problems of depression, psychological disorders,

suicides, stress, insecurity, psycho-somatic diseases, loneliness etc.

l Atthe 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.

l Atthe level of the Society – growing incidences of terrorism and naxalism, rising
communalism, spreading casteism, racial and ethnic struggle, wars between nations,
attempts of genocide, fear of nuclear and genetic warfare, etc.

l Atthe 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.

It therefore, calls for an urgent need for human beings to correctly understand happiness
and prosperity as well as the sustainable way to achieve these. This theme will be gradually
unfolded in the following chapters.

Summary
l Continuous happiness and prosperity are the basic human aspirations. This can be
verified to be true by each one of us.
3

l Happiness may be defined as being in harmony/synergy in the states/situations that

I live in. Unhappiness is a lack of this synergy or harmony.

l Prosperity is a feeling of having or producing more than required physical facilities.

Prosperity is a feeling; it is not just physical facility. It is to be distinguished from
wealth.
In order to be prosperous, we need to (a) identify how much is required
(b) have/produce more than the requirement.

l Lack of right understanding of happiness and prosperity has led us into a variety of
problems at different levels of our living, be it at the level of individual, or family, or
society or nature.

l We need to evaluate various questions and confusions that we are having on the issue
of happiness.