Module-1

Introduction to Value Education

1. Right Understanding
2. Relationship and Physical Facility (Holistic Development and the Role of Education)
3. Understanding Value Education
4. Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education

5. Continuous Happiness and Prosperity – the Basic Human Aspirations, Happiness and Prosperity
– Current Scenario, Method to Fulfil the Basic Human Aspirations

Text book: The Textbook A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics, R R Gaur, R
Asthana, G P Bagaria, 2nd Revised Edition, Excel Books, New Delhi, 2019. ISBN 978-93-87034- 47-1

Page:
 Understanding Value Education
Need for Value Education

• What is my aspiration? (What to do?)

• How to fulfil my aspiration? (How to do?)

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
 Understanding Value Education
Basic Guidelines for Value Education

• Universal
• Rational
• Natural and Verifiable
• All Encompassing
• Leading to Harmony
 Understanding Value Education

Content of Value Education

• The value of an entity is its participation in the larger order of which it

is a part
 Understanding Value Education
The Process of Value Education
• Human Values can be understood by an appropriate process of self-discovery, because they are potentially
there in each and every human being. There is already a natural acceptance for values in a human being. It is
only that we have to discover them or become aware of them. Thus, the process for Value Education has to
be that of self-exploration, and not of giving sermons or telling dos & don’ts.
• Whatever is found as truth or reality may be stated as a proposal and every student is to be encouraged to
verify it on his/her own right. You can check if you want to be able to decide on your own right or you want
somebody else to decide for you? This somebody may be a group of people; it may be the society or the
education system, etc.
• If you are not able to decide on your own right then:
1. Someone else is programming you (deciding what is valuable and what is not valuable for you)
2. Unconsciously you keep accepting those things as values
3. You get busy with how to implement them, how to realise them and materialise them
• This process of Self-exploration has to be in the form of a dialogue – a dialogue between the teacher and
student to begin with; and finally, within the student – between ‘what I am’ and ‘what I really want to be’,
which is the innate natural acceptance
 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education

What is Self-exploration

It is a process of seeing the reality on our own right, by our own

investigation, observation and analysis. Through this process, we are
trying to understand the reality that exists and our participation with it;
this participation is what we are calling values.
The first step is to verify the given proposal on your own right, by
referring it to your ‘natural acceptance’. If the proposal is naturally
acceptable to you, it is right for you. If it is not naturally acceptable to
you, it is not right for you.
 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education

Purpose of Self-exploration

It is a process of
• dialogue between “what you are” and “what you really want to be”.
• self-evolution through self-investigation.
• knowing oneself and through that, knowing the entire existence.
• recognizing one’s relationship with every unit in existence and fulfilling it.
• knowing human conduct, human character and living accordingly.
• being in harmony in oneself and in harmony with entire existence.
• identifying our Innateness (Swatva) and moving towards
Selforganization(Swatantratã) and Self-expression (Swarãjya).
 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education

Self-exploration is a process of dialogue

Through this, we:

1. Discover our natural
acceptance
2. Become aware of “what I
am”
3. Can make effort to ensure
harmony and happiness
within by ensuring that
“what I am” is in line with
my natural acceptance.
 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education
It is a process of identifying our Innateness (Swatva) and moving towards Self-
organization(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
 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education

Content of Self-exploration

The content of Self-exploration can be visualized in terms of finding answers

to the following fundamental questions of all human beings:
1. Desire: What is my basic aspiration?
2. Program: What is the process to fulfil this basic aspiration?
 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education
Process of Self-exploration
• “Whatever is stated is a proposal”.
- Don’t start by assuming it to be true
or false.
• “Verify it on your own right”
• “Don’t just accept or reject it-
– on the basis of scriptures
– on the basis of instruments
– on the basis of others”
• verifying in your own right; it would mean
accepting on those great personalities’
- “Firstly, verify the proposal on the basis of
your natural acceptance”
- “Secondly, live according to the proposal to
validate it experientially.”
• To verify the proposals, I need to live
accordingly in my interactions with the world
around. This involves two things: behaviour
and work. If the proposal is true,
(a) In behaviour with other humans,
(i) it will lead to mutual fulfilment
(b) In work with the rest of nature,
(ii) it will lead to mutual prosperity.
 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education

Process of Self-exploration
 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education

Natural Acceptance

the following observations about natural acceptance:

• Natural acceptance does not change with time
• It does not depend on the place
• It does not depend on our beliefs or past conditionings
• This natural acceptance is ‘constantly there’, something we can refer to
• Natural acceptance is the same for all of us: it is part and parcel of every
human being, it is part of human-ness
Natural acceptance is there in all of us. It is within us, all the time and we can refer to it,
access it to know what is right for us. We only have to start referring to it. Each proposal
in this book needs to be evaluated on the basis of your natural acceptance.
 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education
What is the state today?
• Neither are we verifying our assumptions/ proposals put to us on the basis of our natural acceptance,
• Nor are we verifying what we think we know, in our living!

What is the way out? What do we need to do?

Realization and Understanding: This means, knowing something to be “true”, for sure, within ourselves.
The answers we get on having realization & understanding are:
(a) Assuring: “I am assured of the answer or understanding in myself ”
(b) Satisfying: “I am satisfied that the answers are fulfilling for me.
(c) Universal: “I know or realize that the answers I have got are the same for everyone.

They are invariant with respect to:

(i) Time: These answers are the same at all times: past, present and future
(ii) Space: These answers are the same at all places or locations
(iii) Individual: The answers are the same for every human being

If the answers we get do not fulfil any of the criteria of being assuring, satisfying and universal; it means the
answer is most likely coming from your past beliefs/conditioning and not from your natural acceptance.
 Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education
What is the way out? What do we need to do?
 Continuous Happiness and Prosperity
The Basic Human Aspirations, Happiness and Prosperity

When you ask yourself:
⚫ Do I want to be happy?
⚫ Do I want to be prosperous?
⚫ Do I want the continuity of
happiness and prosperity?
Being happy implies being free from
contradictions, being in consonance with our
natural acceptance, being in harmony.
Physical facilities are the material things we
use to fulfil the needs of the body.
Thus 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.
 Continuous Happiness and Prosperity
The Basic Human Aspirations, Happiness and Prosperity –
Current scenario
Happiness:
• Meaning of happiness -feelings such as trust, respect, being confident about
your future etc.
These feelings are naturally and effortlessly acceptable to each one of us.
• 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.”
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”
 Continuous Happiness and Prosperity
The Basic Human Aspirations, Happiness and Prosperity –
Current scenario
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).
Evaluate it for yourself.
1. See if there is a limit to the need for physical facilities that you have listed for yourself.
2. See whether you feel prosperous at the moment.
Accumulating more and more wealth while feeling deprived
OR
Having requisite wealth and feeling prosperous.
 Continuous Happiness and Prosperity
The Basic Human Aspirations, Happiness and Prosperity –
Method to Fulfil the Basic Human Aspirations
List of wants
• Physical
• Non-physical
 Continuous Happiness and Prosperity
The Basic Human Aspirations, Happiness and Prosperity –
Method to Fulfil the Basic Human Aspirations
Question 1: “Is the unhappiness in my
family today more due to lack of Physical
facilities, or due to lack of Relationship”?

Question 2: “How much time am I

spending today working to ensure
Relationship, and how much time do I
spend working for, or preparing to get
Physical facilities”?
 Continuous Happiness and Prosperity
The Basic Human Aspirations, Happiness and Prosperity –
Method to Fulfil the Basic Human Aspirations

1. Right Understanding
2. Relationship
3. Physical facilities

Working with this order, we are able to ensure mutual fulfilment with human
beings and mutual prosperity with the rest of nature.

Right understanding + Relationship = Mutual fulfilment

Right understanding + Physical facilities = Mutual prosperity

 Continuous Happiness and Prosperity
The Basic Human Aspirations, Happiness and Prosperity –
Method to Fulfil the Basic Human Aspirations
END