Requirements to Go Back to Basics

Driven by greed & intolerance, we disclaim the right of others. We forget that the
leaves of a tree once separated cannot survive on their own. No one can be happy
context of material progression when others are unhappy. No one can enjoy
prosperity when others are dying owing to poverty. The need for value education has
become all the more important in context of globalization, consumerism, and
fundamentalism. Success & talent are defined in. The brutal & dehumanised practices
of self centeredness, competitiveness, indiscipline & acute insensitivity are on display
day in & day out.

The movement of our life is a search for our true self. The evolution process covers
physical, moral, mental & spiritual levels. Mostly our focus is centred on physical
evolution only. Physical evolution has a limit however moral & spiritual evolution
has no limit. Survival of the fittest is relevant till a certain point; beyond that it is
developing reason coupled with love & compassion duly supported & fuelled by self
sacrifice & controlling our faculties, which matters. Socrates believed that people
will naturally do what is good, if they know what is right. Evil or bad actions, are
the result of ignorance. Any person who knows what is truly right will automatically
do it, according to Socrates. While he correlated knowledge with virtue, he similarly
equated virtue with happiness. The truly wise man will know what is right, do what is
good, and therefore be happy.

Values & morality ought to be core & integral to any education system. In last decade
or two, the education system has been tempered with due to phenomenal social &
political developments & so got divorced from values & ethics which happened to
be twin pillars of education & social system.
The world is, at the macro level, galloping towards increasing terrorism, strife,
struggle and war- between nations and within nations; and at the micro level
manifesting strives between family members. Infact the technological advancement
without spiritual advancement has facilitated conflicts & disharmony to demonic
propositions due to sophisticated form of powerful weaponry at the macro level and
desire to acquire more sophisticated gadgets and facilities than the ‘other’, at the
individual and family level.

Environmental degradation and resource depletion are major problems which

the world is facing for which technology does not seem to have any answer.
Increasing sophistication in technological advancement only seems to increase the
magnitude of the problem. If we solve one problem today, it merely gives rise to a
bigger problem in the future

Science & technology infused with values & ethics can be great server to
humankind; without it, the same may be notorious servant who plots killing of
masters. Instead of reaping benefits out of it, we chose to be on the path of conflicts
between the economically developed & economically underdeveloped nations,
between generations, between reasons & dogmas, between human beings & nature.
The world is already agog with shrill war cries. We as society enmasse have
surrendered to the vicious course of materialism & individualism & deviated from the
enshrined teachings of our learned sages under the influence of short lived,

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temporary & pleasure oriented western culture which can boast for scientific
temper but also devoid of morally & spiritually.

Can We Ever Achieve Peace? Human are susceptible to more & more physical
orientations. The irony is that more you get, more you crave for material
possessions as they can bring only temporary succour. True peace & fulfilment
depend upon the knowledge of our true self. The urge of human individual is desire
for unbounded joy, unrestricted awareness & eternal life. This desire is the driving
force behind all evolution, struggle & efforts for peace & happiness.

The ways to ensure peaceful & universal existence is to comprehend & follow
spiritual democracy, spiritual humanism & bond of world unity. Spiritual
democracy offers infinite ways of appropriate ideals & paths to reach the same
destination. Spiritual humanism offers loving service to the divine, feeling his
presence everywhere & bringing the great connectivity all over the universe. World
unity based on political considerations, economic considerations & cultural ties
remain fragile to withstand the vicissitudes of artificial diversities. Unity of the world
body ought to be organic.

The unity of religions is based on direct perceptions of ultimate reality. The reality is
that God is sum total of all souls. When this reality is ignored, it brings only
conflicts & despair. Even if the whole world is converted to one religion, it will not
solve the problem which have been created by material approach. Unity in diversity
is the plan of universe.

Realization of the spiritual unity of humankind begins within ourselves. To realize

world as good, we got to be good, we are effective means to bring that effect. We got
to realize divine presence within ourselves before we perceive it outside. We got to
take certain postulates as thumb rules.

Ethics & Values: Ethics is related to issues of proprieties: right or wrong. What is
right is ethical & what is wrong is unethical. Issues of right or wrong are decided by
values. Values are our standard of right or wrong. Values determine what is
right or what is wrong. They are our standards of propriety. Values decide our
behaviour pattern & response to situation. Whether something is right or wrong is not
a matter of fact but a matter of opinion. Values find expressions in matters of social &
interpersonal behaviours. We may not be aware of our values but still act under the
influence of a value system.

Significance of Values: In our country we are witness to growing menace of

commerce through corruption, administration through bribery & politics through
blackmail. We are witness to the evolving generation particularly the one which
breathed after 80’s growing away from joint families maturing without Panchtantra
stories, grandma’s homely tips. We are concerned for the generation which opened
eyes with the cable network having already invaded the houses & replaced the
parental & elderly sermons/discussions & Chin Cartoon channels having replaced
Panchtantra,Chadamama & Mulla Nasiruddin tales. We are concerned for
tremendously fast paced technology driven advancement which has galvanized the
world spectrum but also introduced robotic & mechanised influences threatening the
existence of human kind as such. Imagine human without emotions & feelings.

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Business Practices : Desire for accumulation has set the rules of games in our
society. Business management is infected by consumerism. Consumerism &
production defy spiritual teachings of prophets & sages who taught us to consume as
little as required for survival in order to ensure long term continuity of natural
resources & also equitable distribution & access of resources for all. Technology has
become more important than human being. The index of material progress is based on
material growth & prosperity. The balance sheet of human values is increasingly
overshadowed by balance sheet of profits & losses purely in terms of
materialism. Ethics & values are blatantly compromised due to ends emerging
stronger than means. The entire thesis of business management is based on profit
maximisation. How? It is nobody’s concern. The result is that most unethical
practices – bribery, cheating, selfishness, disloyalty.frauds, artificiality & cosmetic
human relation having taken deep entrenched roots in business environment causing
& setting deterioration in human values. The capitalistic & materialistic management
has injected affluence to selected few & turned majority as mere wage maker. Profit
maximisation is the official & most recognised objective of any business. No where
any book has inserted ethical & reasonable profit maximisation qualified with ethical
& reasonable way. The practice of frowning upon matters of corruption, bribery,
fraud & incidents related to unethical practices is completely missing in today’s
business & social environment. It only consolidates the belief that if you repeat a lie
hundred times, it becomes truth & similarly if you practice unethical repeatedly, it
appears ethical to most of us as we are all affected by definitions of business practices
having short term implications. The wealth generation is not unethical but
amassing wealth through profiteering with inhuman approach is not only
unethical but dangerous to the body, mind & spirit of the person. Science &
technology coupled with human approach & values would have done wonders to the
mankind. Today life appears comfortable but only at the peripheral physical levels.
What we required was modern technological unravelling juxtaposed with human
values & professional & social ethics which could have ensured physical & spiritual
contentment & well being.

Moral Revolution: The western model of management considers intelligent as the

ultimate tool of running a system whereas we require wisdom to adhere to values.
Japanese system unlike the US system is much closer to human approach as it pays
more attention to social & spiritual means. Values help us to distinguish between long
term & short term. Education is more germane to values whereas training is closer to
skills. Management by values highlights the following ideas:-
a. Self has to embrace the spiritual dimension beyond his physical, social &
economic dimensions.
b. Managerial decision making requires interplay of analytical & holistic
facilities.
c. Key to teamwork & cooperation lies in the fact that all souls are tiny pats
of a bigger soul.
d. Intrinsic motivational strategy need to be based on giving model rather
than needing model.
e. Effective leadership requires understanding of three ingredients:
- Sattwa - purity
- Rajas - strong living
- Tamas - lazy & ignorant

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 f. All managerial decisions are subjective & their effectiveness depends
upon purity of mind.

The actual effectiveness of managers depends upon understanding of two channels of

actions. One is the channel of training –skills –policies –knowledge & the other is
channel of wisdom- education-values-principles-wisdom. The later called wisdom
worker will enhance the effectiveness of knowledge worker. The primacy of
consumption over creation is alarming & has set the process of disintegration of
society & finally the families.
The value based leadership requires personality development & evolving belief that
the individual is a goal in himself than a mean.
The wide social & economic chasm has engulfed the whole society in distinct
diversified alienated brutalised & dehumanised groups which doesn’t augur well
for the progressive & evolving world. Free market dynamics, economic
liberalisation & globalisation are furthering the gaps between the poverty stricken
class & affluent class. We have to address the disequilibrium.

Industrial revolution though eradicated many discomforts of life but also introduced
the relentless process of profit making at every place for everything by all means &
equated with happiness. The ends became more important than means. Material
possession has become the index of ultimate contentment. The rising graph of
violence & crime in society is proof enough of social division fraught with
dissatisfaction & frustration.
Our legal instruments are found wanting in resolving the issues concerning those who
are at the bottom of hierarchy & needed it the most. Surely we can legislate against
crime but we cannot legislate for good citizenship. We of course could not enforce the
directive principles elaborating fundamental duties of a citizen enshrined in our
constitution.
The values enshrined in ancient Indian philosophy, culture, heritage, ethos &
literature need to be propagated & nurtured.

We have to make conscientious & deliberate efforts to inculcate desire & anxiety to
rekindle & reenergize the value system through integrated education curriculum as
well as our social & corporate practices. We have to spread & apply value system
throughout with the technology as the most potent tool. The values in education,
practices & living will lead to right understanding, prosperity & coexistence of all in
society.