INDIAN VALUES

HUMILITY IS THE GREATEST VIRTUE

Humility, which is the greatest among all virtues known to mankind. Humility in
L atin is humilis, means low. Humility is b eing low outside while high inside. I t is self -
ef f acing and the denial of self -imp ortance. Humility is the antithesis of arrogance and
f alse p ride. I t is the law of the nature that p eop le who are strong and virtuous inside
always remain low outside. W e have ex amp les of J esus C hrist, G authama B uddha
and M ahatma G andhi, and B asaveshwara nearer in our own state. T hey are all
called as great souls b ecause of their humility.

Humility is the antithesis of arrogance and f alse p ride. A rrogance and f alse
p ride are the worst evils of the mankind and sure ways of destruction. R avana in
the R amayana saw his end b ecause of his arrogance. D uryodhana in the
M ahab haratha carved out his destruction due to his f alse p ride. N earer in time,
unlimited arrogance destroyed b oth Hitler and S addam Hussain.

Humility is a rare and the greatest virtue mankind has ever known. P eop le
with this great virtue in ab undance stand out and shine like the S un. A ll likes
them. E veryb ody hates arrogance and the arrogant p eop le. M ythology and
History are f ull of stories that show how the f orces of humility triump hed over the
f orces of arrogance.

O nly a p ure soul can have humility. A nd the humility b rings ab out all other
virtues including simp licity, honesty, p atience, love, kindness and ab ove all self -
conf idence. Humility sp routs f rom the heart. I t is never p ractised f or ef f ect or
b enef it. T heref ore, everyb ody trusts p eop le who are f illed with humility. Humility
saves the world f rom all evils like decep tion, greed, hatred, anger, comp etition,
susp icion and discontentment. I t sp reads simp licity, p eace, harmony and
contentment in humankind.

J esus C hrist sp read the doctrine of showing the right cheek as well, when
someb ody slap s you on the lef t cheek. He also said that if anyb ody sues you f or
your shirt, let him have your coat as well. He died on the cross f or the sins of the
humanity at large. R amayana is the story of the clash b etween the f orces of
humility rep resented b y R ama and the f orces of arrogance rep resented b y
R avana, and the ultimate triump h of humility over arrogance. M ahab haratha is
the story of the clash b etween the f orces of humility rep resented b y the P andavas
and the f orces of arrogance rep resented b y the K auravas, and the ultimate
triump h of humility over arrogance. M ahatma G andhi vowed not to wear a shirt or
travel f irst class in train until all the p eop le in I ndia could af f ord it. He discarded all
the lux uries of the lif e and willingly lived the p oorest of the p oor lif e. T his is
humility. B asaveshwara, the P rime M inister of the king of B ij j ala of K alyana called
himself a servant of the servants of the nob le p eop le. I t is humility.

Humility is not easy to come. I t needs cleansing of the soul f rom the evils
of arrogance and f alse p ride. A nd the S atan of the arrogance and f alse p ride
has strong hold on our lif e and cannot b e shed easily. O nly great souls with
ex tra-ordinary strength inside can reach the higher levels. T hey are called as
great souls. W e can only try towards that end. I f we succeed to any degree,
we can b e called as great. Humility is the true p ath towards p eace, harmony
and advancement to the divine end.

Humility is civility. Humility is utility. Humility is humanity. Humility is

divinity.

T he b e st a r e t ho se w ho liv e in humilit y ,
T ha t b r in g s t o lif e g r e a t n e ss, e a sy f e lic it y ;
T ho se w ho ha v e t his a p le n t y a r e b le sse d ,
 A n d a lw a y s st a n d o ut a s t he v e r y b e st .
HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY

Honesty is the b est p olicy; so it was, is and will b e. D ishonesty always

leads to the doom of the p erson who p ractices it. O n the other hand, honesty
leads to greatness. M any great p eop le were honest. P eop le who are notorious
are usually dishonest. W e must b e honest if we want to p rosp er. S o, f riends, we
must b e honest.

W hat is honesty? Honesty is truthf ulness, honesty is integrity, and honesty

is f airness. Honesty b asically is op enness. I t is b eing truthf ul to oneself . Honesty
is honour. T he word honesty is derived f rom the F rench root “ honeste” and the
L atin root “ honestus” , meaning honour.

Honesty makes p eop le great. G andhij i is called M ahatma or G reat S oul

b ecause he was an honest p erson. G andhij i f ought f or truth and b ecame an
ap ostle of honesty and p eace. He ref used to cop y the sp elling of the word “ kettle”
even on the suggestion of his teacher during an insp ection of his class and this
shows that G andhij i was honest f rom his childhood.

D ishonesty may b ring temp orary relief . B ut, it certainly harms in the long
run. I t darkens our soul and b reeds f ear in our hearts. I t shakes our conf idence
and hurts our self -resp ect. O n the other hand, honesty b reeds conf idence and
nourishes self -resp ect. I t makes us up right and honorab le. Honesty b rings its own
glory and j oy.

Honesty b egets honesty. O thers trust honest p eop le. E ven cruel animals
b ehave dif f erently with honest p eop le. Honesty imp lies p ure and simp le heart and
a great soul. Honest p eop le are nearer to the nature and to the G od.
S ome may wonder when it is said that honesty sometimes may involve lies also.
B ut it is true. A lie said with a good intention like saving an innocent lif e f rom a
gang of thieves as in a story of M ahab harata ep ic amounts to honesty. T he test of
honesty is doing well to others. S uch acts endear us to all. S imp licity and
kindness are the lif e-b lood of honesty. O nly honesty with its simp licity and
kindness makes us true human b eings.

Honesty means b eing true to one’ s conscience. W hile f ollowing the p ath of
honesty, one must not tell lies and must not b e f alse in any resp ect.

D ishonesty may help f or the time b eing b ut it harms our interests in the
long term. F or ex amp le, if one tells lies now, he may save himself f rom b eing in
troub le. B ut then, if his lie in uncovered, than, he is in doub le troub le f or doing the
wrong and then on top of it telling the lie to cover the wrong. S o one must not tell
lies.

Honesty makes all the p eop le to like him and thus gives him a good name
in the society. I t is nice to tell the truth as our conscience will not b e af f ected and
it will also give p eop le a f avourab le imp ression and thus lessen our heavenly
p unishment.

A ll great p eop le including M ahatma G andhi, G eorge W ashington and

many others have f ollowed it. A ll great p eop le have f ollowed honesty as they
have the desire not to tell lies. O nly good p eop le f ollow honesty, as other p eop le
do not have the self -control to resist the evil temp tation to tell lies.

Honesty makes the world a hap p ier p lace to live in as everyone trusts
each other and there is goodwill everywhere.

WILL AND DETERMINATION

 W ill and determination is the sp ice of lif e. W ithout this q uality, none can
b ecome great. W ill and determination is the p ower b ehind talent and intelligence.
W ithout will and determination, the talent and intelligence j ust wither.

T here are ump teen ex amp les of will and determination p ushing a p erson
to greatness. Helen K eller S udhachandran and L ouis B raille are j ust a f ew
instances of such p ersons. Helen K eller who was b orn in A merica was b lind, deaf
and dumb . B ut, she learnt to talk and write in a very short time. S he also wrote
b ooks.

S udhachandran is a dancer who lost her legs in an accident. S he used

artif icial legs and continued with her dance career.

L ouis B raille was not b orn b lind. He b ecame b lind b ecause of an awl he
was p laying with in his f ather’ s workshop when he was j ust f our years old. L ater,
he devised the B raille system of language f or the b enef it of b lind p eop le.

T here are many such ex amp les as these wherein sheer will and
determination took f ar ahead in lif e f or great accomp lishments. W ill and
determination do raise a p erson to greater heights. Humans in themselves must
develop such a q uality.

W ill a n d d e t e r min a t io n , t r uly c r o w n in g p a ssio n ,

B uilt a n d p ulle d d o w n c r o w n s a n d n a t io n s;
T he in w a r d st r e n g t h, t r uly un p a r a lle l’ d w e a lt h,
H o ist e d z e a lo t s t o lif e ’ s un sur p a sse d z e n it h.

LEADERSHIP

A leader is endowed with certain ex tra p owers and this b rings additional
resp onsib ilities to him. T his with time changes the character of the b oss. A leader
must b e one in his group while dif f erent all the same. I t is easily said than done.
O f ten, the needs of a leader to b e dif f erent f rom the group while one remaining as
one in the group is seen and ab horred as arrogance

A good leader relentlessly tries to insp ire those under him towards goals
set f or them. He encourages them to live up to his ex p ectations out of them. F or
success to b e gained b y the leader and the p eop le who work f or him, all of them
must work as a team and must go through each b arrier with resolution and self -
conf idence to succeed and accomp lish. A leader insp ires risk-taking and also
leads b y setting an ex amp le f or those who work f or him. T hen only can a leader
b e a true leader.

WAR IS DESTRUCTIVE

“ W a r is a d r e a d f ul t hin g ,
D e a t h a n d d e st r uc t io n , it d o e s b r in g ;
B e it f o r la n d o r r ic he s, w a r is w r o n g ,
A sw e ll o f w a st e s, w a r is a d e v il’ s so n g . ”

W ar with its lieutenants, disease and death, tries to destroy human kind
when there is disagreement b etween countries. W ar has p roven its strength in
the f irst and second W orld W ars. I n these W orld W ars, altogether seventy million
p eop le died. F orty-f ive p ercent of them were soldiers and the remaining f if ty-f ive
p ercent were civilians. I n that century, altogether one hundred million p eop le died
in wars and seventy p ercent of them in W orld W ars alone. A nother interesting
f act is that 1 5 0 wars were f ought since 1 9 4 5 . S o it is imp ortant to stop another
W orld W ar as, if another W orld W ar is f ought, all the p eop le on the f ace of the
E arth will b e wip ed out due to the advanced technology.
 I f p eace gets a chance, all nations and all countries p rosp er. B ut, if war
b ef alls on the world, I f oresee that b y the nex t century, there may b e almost no
one living on the watery p lanet, the E arth.

D uring the K argil war, A f ghanistan war and I raq wars, p eop le in thousands
died due to the use of advanced technology. W e must take these ex amp les to our
mind and ask ourselves whether we want p eop le to die.

N ob ody understood the evils of war and the b lessings of p eace more than
the M auryan E mp eror, A soka, the G reat. How K alinga war transf ormed him to an
ap ostle of p eace is a legend now.

“ P e a c e b uild s b r id g e s a n d t r ust
A n d le a d s t he r e , w he r e a ll is r ig ht . ”

GANDHIAN THOUGHTS

G andhij i led I ndia to f reedom. He was a great man of p rincip les and high
goals in lif e. He p ractised what he p reached and that made him a great leader
and M ahatma, or G reat S oul. He was a very simp le man of minimum needs. His
thoughts, ideals and p rincip les are codif ied as G andhian thoughts.

T he p rincip le that he valued the most was truth. He f ought f or truth. He

b elieved that truth always p revails. He tried out some ex p eriments with truth.
T hey generally turned out to b e successf ul.

He sup p orted non-violence. He with this method def eated the mighty
B ritish. He wanted no one to hate another p erson. He wanted everyone to f orgive
and f orget. A nd he diligently p ractised it in his lif e. He had no enemies
 He p rop agated the imp ortance of cottage industry in a rural economy like
I ndia. He wanted the p eop le of I ndia to b e self -suf f icient. He valued simp licity in
lif e.

G andhij i strived f or the up lif tment of all. He strived f or the up lif tment all
sections of p eop le. Harij an up lif tment, women’ s emancip ation, resp ect to all
religions were his p riorities. He was the messenger f rom G od to this world.