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Human Aspiration and their
Fulfilment through Right
Understanding Recap………. In the previous class, we explored into the need, guidelines, content and process of value education, followed by the details of self-exploration. Self exploration is a process of understanding human values, first by exploring within, on the basis of our natural acceptance; and then by validating it experientially, by exploring outside (by living accordingly and observing the outcomes). We have also discussed about natural acceptance, and how it forms the basis of self-exploration. While discussing self-exploration, we mentioned that there are two issues to be explored: first, what is the basic aspiration of a human being, and second, what is the process to fulfil this basic aspiration. What is meant by Basic Human Aspiration? Whatever we think, whatever we do is with some end in mind. We may be going to school to learn and be eligible for college. We may be doing engineering in order to get a job. We may be working in a job for the salary. We may be shopping with that salary. Like that there is a chain of thoughts and actions. You can observe that when we achieve one of these, we tend to move on to something else. After school is completed, we start preparing for entrance exams. When we get admission into a college, we become concerned about the assignments, grades and the rank. Once that is done, placement becomes our target. Like that we keep doing something which we consider to be important at a given point in time. Out of these which is our basic aspiration? Is it learning what is taught in school or getting that engineering degree or the job or the salary from the job or the shopping? Let us ask ourselves: what will make us fulfilled? Let us find out if there is an end goal which we want to achieve through all this. Is there an end state that we want to reach and then we want the continuity of that state? That end state is our basic aspiration CONTNOUS HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY AS BASIC HUMAN ASPIRATIONS.. The basic human aspirations are happiness, prosperity and its continuity.
We may, of course, have different notions of happiness and
prosperity, but we do want to be happy and prosperous. We may, at times, even feel that their continuity is not possible, but still we want to be always happy and always prosperous.
There is no moment when we want to be unhappy or when we
want to be deprived. This is what we are trying to confirm here by referring to our natural acceptance. CONTNOUS HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY AS BASIC HUMAN ASPIRATIONS.. CONTNOUS HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY AS BASIC HUMAN ASPIRATIONS.. Let us find out if our effort is for: — Continuity of happiness and prosperity? or — Just for accumulation of physical facility? When we reflect on all the effort we are making, we can easily see that we are generally working for accumulation of physical facility! We are expecting happiness and prosperity, but the effort is for physical things. We don’t even find out if we have enough physical facility or not; will it actually ensure happiness and prosperity or not; but we go on accumulating more and more. We are making this effort with the assumption that we will get happiness and prosperity out of the physical things. Find out if you have assumed that happiness and prosperity will automatically come when you have enough physical facility? Right Understanding, Relationship and Physical Facility – All Three are Required for Fulfilment of Human Being Priority – Right Understanding, Relationship and Physical Facility Now, the next question is that if all three of them are required, what is going to be the priority? Priority indicates what is fundamental, what is the relative importance. Working on the higher priority facilitates the fulfilment of the lower priority. It does not mean that we can do away with the lower priority. To identify the priority order, find out what is fundamental, what is going to facilitate the other. We can ask this question about priority directly to ourselves to get the answer. Take some time and think it over. All three of them are required. Right understanding in the Self is a priority because only with right understanding we can ensure fulfilment in relationship; and we are able to make out how much physical facility is required. Therefore, right understanding is the first priority EXPLORING THE MEANING OF HAPPINESS
Happiness is something we are all interested in. All our efforts are for being in a state of happiness. However, there is generally no single notion for it! Is it something subjective which can’t be defined or is it something real which can be objectively defined? This is what we have been trying to explore We are in harmony within (between ‘what I am’ and ‘what is naturally acceptable to me’), we are in a state of happiness. We had asked you to explore whether this holds good for you or not. EXPLORING THE MEANING OF HAPPINESS EXPLORING THE MEANING OF HAPPINESS
“The state or situation, in which I live, if there is harmony / synergy
in it, it is Naturally Acceptable to me to be in that state / situation”. “To be in a state / situation which is Naturally Acceptable is Happiness”. i.e., “To be in a state of Harmony / Synergy is Happiness”. i.e., Happiness = Harmony. EXPLORING THE MEANING OF HAPPINESS
Further, we can see that not only do we want to continue to be in a
state of harmony, we would like to share it with others, and to extend it as far as possible. For example, when we have a feeling of affection for someone in the family, it leads to a state of harmony within and we want to continue with it. We also want to extend it to the others in the family. Ultimately, we want to ensure this feeling of harmony with everyone PROGRAMME FOR CONTINOUS HAPPINESS Now, for the continuity of happiness, we have to look into the total possibility of our being. Ensuring harmony in every aspect of living would lead to continuity of happiness. Let us find out – as a human being what is the total expanse of our living? We live at several levels, starting with ourselves. Then, we live with other people in our family, in the larger society and we are embedded in the nature. Whether we are aware of it or not, the expanse of our living is at four levels: 1. As an Individual human being 2. As a member of a family 3. As a member of society 4. As a unit in nature/existence PROGRAMME FOR CONTINOUS HAPPINESS As an individual human being: Each one of us is engaged in ourselves much of the time – in our desires, thoughts, beliefs, imaginations, memories, future plans, etc. No one else is involved.
As a member of a family: We are born in a family, we are nurtured and
educated in the family. We live with our brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins and so many people. The family tries to ensure mutual happiness among the members, it takes care of their physical needs, it takes care of the young children, the old and all members in between. PROGRAMME FOR CONTINOUS HAPPINESS As a member of the Society: Our family, together with other families is part of a larger group of people. We interact with many people outside of our family. In the society we produce, use and exchange things like food, clothing, housing, etc. There are systems for education, health, justice, production and order in society. Our village, town or city is a part of a larger society.
As a unit in Nature/Existence: We are a part and parcel of a large
interconnected, interdependent eco-system along with the air, water, soil, plants, trees, birds and animals which we call nature. We are inhaling the oxygen rich air and exhaling carbon dioxide laden air, which the trees consume. HAPPINESS v/s EXCITEMENT Happiness is not the same as Excitement… The question is whether the feeling that we got is happiness or something else. Was what we got from the favourable sensation = happiness? Was the favourable feeling we got from the other = happiness? What we got in both cases is a sort of momentary happiness. We are calling it excitement. There is a confusion between excitement and happiness (a harmonious state within). Excitement is short lived, not sustainable, while a harmonious state within is something which can be continuous and sustainable. You have an expectation, say for a particular sweet, and if that expectation is fulfilled, you feel happy. However, since you are looking for continuity of happiness, you try to continue, in this case eating the sweet. EXPLORING THE MEANING OF PROSPERITY Prosperity is related to material things or what we have been referring to as physical facility. If you list out all the things that you use, it will probably be a long list. It will include food to eat, clothes to wear, shelter for protection, a mobile phone, a two-wheeler and so many other things. These things are required. When we are able to see that we have more than adequate physical facility, we feel prosperous. Prosperity is the feeling of having more than required physical facility. There are two basic requirements: 1. Right assessment of the need for physical facility, along with its required quantity. 2. Ensuring the availability/production of more than required physical facility. EXPLORING THE MEANING OF PROSPERITY Prosperity is related to material things or what we have been referring to as physical facility. If you list out all the things that you use, it will probably be a long list. It will include food to eat, clothes to wear, shelter for protection, a mobile phone, a two-wheeler and so many other things. These things are required. When we are able to see that we have more than adequate physical facility, we feel prosperous. Prosperity is the feeling of having more than required physical facility. There are two basic requirements: 1. Right assessment of the need for physical facility, along with its required quantity. 2. Ensuring the availability/production of more than required physical facility.
