The Foundations of Value Education and Human Harmony

Posted on Dec 2, 2025 in Communication

Understanding Value Education

The Concept of Value Education

Defining Human Values

  • Goodness that guides human interaction:
    • Respect
    • Acceptance
    • Empathy
    • Love
  • Enabling ethical practice:
    • Justice
    • Integrity
  • A tool for achieving harmony and peace.

Core Human Values

  • Right Conduct
    • Self-help skills
    • Social and ethical skills
  • Peace
    • Calmness
    • Contentment
    • Self-control
  • Truth
    • Honesty
    • Integrity
    • Quest for knowledge
  • Love
    • Acceptance
    • Care and compassion
    • Generosity
  • Non-violence
    • Benevolence
    • Harmlessness

Factors Influencing Human Values

  • Assertiveness
    • Expressing opinions without anxiety.
    • Earning respect from others.
  • Self-Monitoring
    • Adapting behavior to suit external factors.

Values vs. Skills

  • Values
    • Define ‘what is important’ (the domain of wisdom).
    • Help set the right goals.
  • Skills
    • Qualities and capabilities acquired through training.
    • Help actualize goals.
  • Complementary Example:
    • Value: The desire for good health.
    • Skill: Learning about proper diet and exercise.

The Role of Value Education

  • Definition: The process of learning ‘what is valuable’ to achieve lasting happiness.
  • Importance:
    • It explores the source of inner happiness.
    • It removes ignorance and clarifies beliefs.
    • It helps build strong, meaningful relationships.
    • It clarifies life goals and purpose.
    • It fosters harmony and reduces feelings of jealousy.
    • It enhances perception and strengthens character.
  • Need:
    • Current education is primarily skill-based.
    • Science and technology often lack value-based guidance.
    • It helps prevent crises at the individual, societal, and environmental levels.

Basic Guidelines for Value Education

  • Universal: It applies to all people, regardless of time or place.
  • Rational: It appeals to reason and avoids blind belief.
  • Natural & Verifiable: It is naturally acceptable and can be verified through experience.
  • All-Encompassing: It covers thought, behavior, and work at the individual, family, societal, and ecological levels.
  • Harmony-Oriented: It promotes harmony within oneself, in society, and with the environment.

Content of Value Education

  • Dimensions: Its dimensions include thought, behavior, work, and realization.
  • Levels: It applies at the individual, family, society, nature, and existential levels.
  • It emphasizes the inter-relationships and underlying harmony among all things.

The Process of Value Education

  • The process is one of self-exploration, not rote learning from lectures.
  • Verification: Proposals are tested against one’s natural acceptance.
  • It involves a dialogue between ‘what you are’ and ‘what you truly want to be’.
  • Outcome: The outcome is knowing oneself, recognizing relationships, and living in harmony.

Self-Exploration as the Process

The Nature of Self-Exploration

  • Discovering ‘what is valuable’ through inward inquiry.
  • It is judged by oneself, not by external authorities.
  • Understanding one’s relationship with family, society, and nature.

Basic Contents of Self-Exploration

  • Desire/Goal: What do I truly want?
  • Program: How can I fulfill that goal?

Process Steps for Self-Exploration

  1. Propose: Consider ideas without prejudice.
  2. Verify: Rely on your natural acceptance.
  3. Live: Validate the proposals through experience.
    • Behavior with people leads to mutual happiness.
    • Work with nature leads to mutual prosperity.
  • The result is realization, understanding, assurance, and universal applicability.

Overcoming Preconditioning

  • Preconditioning stems from external influences, such as sensations and societal norms.
  • This can lead to confusion, conflict, and stress.

Key Mechanisms

  • Natural Acceptance: The unconditional acceptance of oneself, others, and the environment.
  • Experiential Validation: Learning through direct, personal experience.

Understanding Harmony in the Human Being

Human Being as Co-Existence of ‘I’ and Body

Happiness (Sukh) vs. Physical Facilities (Suvidha)

  • Sukh (Happiness): A state of inner harmony or a state of mind.
  • Suvidha (Physical Facilities): Physical comforts and conveniences.
  • Both are necessary but are not interchangeable.

The Needs of the Self and Body

  • The Self (‘I’): Needs are qualitative and continuous (e.g., respect, trust).
  • The Body: Needs are quantitative and temporary (e.g., food, clothing).

The Co-existence of Self and Body

  • The ‘I’ (Self): This is the conscious entity that handles desires, thoughts, and decisions.
  • The Body: This is the material entity that carries out functions and actions.
  • There is a continuous exchange of information between the Self and the Body.

Activities of the Self and Body

  • In the ‘I’: Imagining, thinking, feeling, and deciding.
  • In the Body: Automatic functions like breathing and digestion.
  • Joint Activities: Actions chosen by the ‘I’ and executed by the Body.

Understanding the Body as an Instrument of ‘I’

The Body as an Instrument

  • The Self decides, and the Body executes (e.g., the decision to study versus the physical act of sitting down to read).

Sensations vs. Imagination

  • Sensations: Input received through the five senses (e.g., seeing a bicycle).
  • Imagination: A combination of desires, thoughts, and expectations.

The Influence of Preconditioning

  • These are assumed desires influenced by culture, media, and peers.
  • One must verify true desires through natural acceptance.

The Self as Seer, Doer, and Enjoyer

  • Seer (Drasta): The observer and analyzer.
  • Doer (Karta): The executor of actions.
  • Enjoyer (Bhokta): The experiencer of outcomes.

Harmony and Activities of the ‘I’

A Four-Step Process to Inner Harmony

  1. Acknowledge the co-existence of the ‘I’ and the Body.
  2. Recognize the Body as an instrument of the ‘I’.
  3. Examine desires, thoughts, and expectations through the lens of natural acceptance.
  4. Realize the state of universal harmony.
  • The outcome is a clear flow of thought and action, leading to continuous happiness.

The Powers of the ‘I’

  • Desire: The power of imaging.
  • Thought: The power of analyzing.
  • Expectation: The power of selecting and tasting.

Realization and Understanding

  • Realization: Gaining clarity on the ‘what’ and ‘why’.
  • Understanding: Seeing the interconnection at all levels of existence.
  • This leads to self-organization (svatantrata).

Overcoming Mental Bondage

  • Test all mental activities against your natural acceptance.
  • Align your desires with universal harmony.

Knowing vs. Assuming, Recognizing, and Fulfilling

  • Assuming (Mannana): Based on belief without knowing.
  • Recognizing (Pahachana): The act of identification.
  • Fulfilling (Nirvaha): The act of taking action.
  • Knowing (Janana): The true understanding that guides all other activities.

The Importance of Self-Introspection

  • This is crucial for achieving clarity of desires and taking effective action.

Harmony of ‘I’ with the Body: Sanyam and Svasthya

Sanyam (Self-Control)

  • The responsible nurturing, protection, and right utilization of the Body.
  • It implies control over the mind, desires, and urges.

Svasthya (Health)

  • The Body’s optimal functioning, with the Self as its anchor.

Programs for Body Care

  • Nurturing: Proper intake of food, air, and water.
  • Protection: Adequate clothing and proper hygiene.
  • Upkeep (Vihar): Proper rest and posture.
  • Labor: Engaging in physical work.
  • Exercise: Physical activities, including asanas and pranayama.
  • Treatment: Seeking healing methods that are free from harmful side effects.
  • Right Utilization: Using the Body for purposeful activities, not just for sensory enjoyment.

Understanding Harmony in the Family & Society

Family Harmony and Foundational Values

The Path to Social Harmony

  • Right understanding leads to family harmony, which in turn leads to social harmony.
  • Discerning true needs leads to prosperity and trust.
  • This fosters the concept of a world family.

Four Proposals for Relationships

  1. Relationships exist between one Self and another Self.
  2. The Self has inherent feelings.
  3. These feelings are definite and can be known.
  4. Fulfilling these feelings correctly ensures mutual happiness.

Values in Human Relationships

The Role of Justice in Relationships

  • It involves recognizing, fulfilling, and evaluating values in relationships.
  • It is the basis for mutual happiness and social order.

Core Feelings for Excellence

  • Care: The feeling of nurturing and protecting (e.g., a parent’s care for a child).
  • Guidance: The feeling of sharing wisdom and right understanding (e.g., a teacher’s guidance for a student).