CHAPTER X: Harmony In Nature - Understanding The Interconnectedness And Mutual Fulfilment 

HUMAN VALUES AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

LECTURE NOTES

UNIT –IV : CHAPTER X 

Nature: Natural/ Physical / Material world (or) entire Universe

Four orders in Nature:

Everything around us can be placed under the following 4 orders –

1.       Material order – Padartha / Vastu avastha

It includes the soil, metals, compounds, liquids, gases etc (on earth) and the stars, planets, moon etc(beyond earth)

2.       Plant/ Bio order – Prana avastha

It includes all flora such as grass, trees, seeds, fruits, flowers, parasitic plants, carnivorous plants

3.       Animal order – Jiva order

It includes all the animals, birds and insects (from unicellular to complex animals)

4.       Human / Knowledge order – Gyana avastha

It includes all the human beings (Body + I)

Interconnectedness and Mutual fulfilment between the four Orders ( Parasparata and Paraspara Purakata):

Material Order, Plant Order, Animal Order:

Material Order helps the Plant and Animal Order by providing soil, water, oxygen, sunlight, nutrients, minerals etc. and also provides the basis for movement.

Plant Order helps the Material Order by preventing soil erosion, producing Oxygen, absorbing CO2 etc. It helps the Animal Order by providing food.

Animal Order helps the Material Order by enriching the soil through excreta. It helps the Plant Order in Pollination.

Thus all the three orders are mutually interdependent and co-exist with mutual fulfilment.

Material Order, Plant Order, Animal Order, Human Order:

All the first three orders help the Human Order to have the Natural Acceptance to be mutually fulfilling with the three orders. But human beings are not able to ensure this fulfilment.

The Material Order helps the Human Order by providing soil, minerals, metals, oxygen etc. but Human beings in return are polluting the Material Order and depleting the fossil fuels.

The Plant order helps the Human order by proving food, oxygen and by absorbing Carbondioxide. In return, the Human beings are destroying forests and many species of plants and herbs.

The Animal order provides the Human order with food, wool, leather, means of labour and transport etc. The Human beings in return have made several species of animals extinct.

Thus, except the Human order, all the other three orders are in harmony with each other and are also fulfilling the Human order. It is high time that the human beings learn to live in harmony with the other three orders.

Recyclability and Self-regulation in Nature:           

Cyclical/Recyclability and Self-regulation are the two characteristics of Nature.

Cycles such as Food chain, Water cycle, Nitrogen and Carbon cycles help in regulating –

·      
   pollution (through decomposition of dead organisms in forests etc)

·         changes in seasons to promote birth and death and regulate overgrowth of plants etc.

·         food chain controls over population of plants as well as animals

·         balance in male and and female species disturbed by the Human Order

·         compensating for the loss of nutrients from soil through decomposed matter.

Salient aspects of the Four Orders:

ORDER	MATERIAL	PLANT/BIO	ANIMAL	HUMAN
Things (Vastu)	Soil, Air, Water	Plant Body	Animal Body + “I”	Human Body + “I”
Activity (Kriya)	Composition/ Decomposition	(Composition/ Decomposition + Respiration) in Body	(Composition/ Decomposition + Respiration) in Body + (Selection) in “I”	(Composition/ Decomposition + Respiration) in Body + (Selection, Thought, Desire) in “I” + (Need for Realization & Understanding)
Innateness (Dharana)	Existence	(Existence + Growth) in Body	(Existence + Growth) in Body + (Will to Live) in “I”	(Existence + Growth) in Body + (Will to Live with Happiness) in “I”
Natural Characteristic (Svabhava)	Composition/ Decomposition	(Composition/ Decomposition + Nurture/Worsen) in Body	(Composition/ Decomposition + Nurture/Worsen) in Body + (Non-cruelty/Cruelty) in “I”	(Composition/ Decomposition + Nurture/Worsen) in Body + (Perseverance, Bravery, Generosity ) in “I”
Basic Activity (Kriya)	Recognising, Fulfilment	Recognising, Fulfilment	(Recognising, Fulfilment) in Body + (Assuming, Recognising, Fulfilment) in “I”	(Recognising, Fulfilment) in Body + (Knowing, Assuming, Recognising, Fulfilment) in “I”
Conformance (Anu-sangita)	Constitution conformance	Seed conformance	Breed conformance	Right Values conformance

The above table explains the following salient aspects in each of the four orders:

A.      Things (Vastu):

1.       Material order – Padartha / Vastu avastha

It includes the soil, metals, compounds, liquids, gases etc (on earth) and the stars, planets, moon etc(beyond earth)

2.       Plant/ Bio order – Prana avastha

It includes all flora such as grass, trees, seeds, fruits, flowers, parasitic plants, carnivorous and aquatic plants

3.       Animal order – Jiva order

It includes all the animals, birds and insects from unicellular to complex animals(Body+I)

4.       Human / Knowledge order – Gyana avastha

It includes all the human beings (Body + I)

B.      Activity (Kriya):

The Material order consists of lifeless things. Hence, the activities involved in the Material order are only Composition and Decomposition while in the Plant order and the other two orders, another activity called Respiration is also involved in the body. In Animal order, Selection occurs in “I”, while in Human order, Selection, Thought and Desire occur in “I” along with the need for Realization and Understanding.

C.      Innateness (Dharana):

While Innateness consists of mere ‘Existence’ in the Material order and ‘Existence+Growth’ in the Plant order, it consists of ‘Existence+Growth’ in the Body and ‘Will to live’ in the “I” in Animals and ‘Will to live with happiness’ in the “I” in Humans.

D.      Natural Characteristic (Svabhava):

The Natural Characteristics of the Material order are Composition and Decomposition and of the Plant order is Composition/Decomposition and Nurture/Worsen in the Body. The Animal order also has the  same natural characteristics in the body along with non-cruelty or cruelty in the “I”. In the Human order, the cruelty/non-cruelty of animals is replaced by Perseverance, Bravery and Generosity.

E.       Basic Activity (Kriya):

The Basic activities in the Material as well as Plant order include Recognising and fulfilment. The same activities occur in the body in Animal and Human orders. Assuming, Recognising and Fulfillment occur in the “I” of both Animal order and Plant order along with Knowing in the Human order.

F.       Conformance (Anu-sangita):

The Conformance in the Material order is essentially Constitution Conformance  and in the Plant order it is Seed Conformance. In Animals it is Breed Conformance and in the Humans it is Right Values Conformance.

Conclusion:

All the things in the Material order are lifeless and are composed of smaller units(atoms) coming together to form bigger units. Such combining is referred to as Composition and the splitting up of these units is referred to as Decomposition.  The Material order simply Exists and has no Growth, Nurturing or Worsening. Its Conformance (continuity in nature) takes place through physical and Chemical processes.

The Plant order is made up of units called cells which have life. These cells are responsible for various Physico-chemical activities in the Body. Hence along with Composition/Decomposition, plants also Grow, Nurture/Worsen depending on the availability of nutrients, climatic conditions etc. However they don’t possess any Consciousnees or “I” as in Animals or Humans.

Difference between I and Body of Animals & Humans:

The Body of Animals and Humans have the same activities. However there is a great difference between  the conscious activities of the Self in both of them.

‘I’ of Animals Vs Humans:

 The “I” in the Animals is confined only to the Selection/taste process, Will to live and Characteristics such as cruelty/non-cruelty. For example, a cow is satisfied if it is given some fodder. It doesn’t think of where the fodder came from, who grew it etc. it needs food just to keep itself alive unlike the humans who crave for different tastes as they possess the will to live in happiness.

Animals have the faculty of Assuming, Recognising and Fulfilling, but they have no Reasoning/Knowing. A dog barks at a stranger assuming that he is a thief.  But it doesn’t bark at a person it sees daily irrespective of whether he is good or bad because it lacks reasoning/knowing power. 

Animals have the breed conformance ie they act according to their lineage. For instance, A puppy doesn’t behave like a cub. A calf doesn’t eat meat.

In Humans, the activities such as Desiring / Thinking / Selecting / Tasting occur leading to Understanding and Realization.  Like the Animals, the Humans possess the Will to live but the will to live in happiness. Instead of cruelty/non-cruelty, the humans possess the characteristics of Bravery, Perseverance and Generosity. They possess the reasoning skills and hence have an additional activity of Knowing which is absent in animals. A human beings’ Conformance is largely based upon his Values and not his breed as in animals.   A doctor’s son need not think or behave like his father.

Human Beings : Our State today

ORDER	ANIMAL	HUMAN
Things (Vastu)	Animal Body + “I”	Human Body + “I”
Innateness (Dharana)	(Existence + Growth) in Body + (Will to Live) in “I”	(Existence + Growth) in Body + (Will to Live with Happiness) in “I”
Natural Characteristic (Svabhava)	(Composition/ Decomposition + Nurture/Worsen) in Body + (Non-cruelty/Cruelty) in “I”	(Composition/ Decomposition + Nurture/Worsen) in Body + (Perseverance, Bravery, Generosity ) in “I”
Mode	Reaction	Response
Needs	Physical Facilities	Physical Facilities + Relationship + Right Understanding/ Knowledge

According to the above table, what is written for “I” on the right side marks the basic needs for us as human beings. Surviving alone is not sufficient for us, our need for continuous happiness is our innateness. We cannot live alone with cruelty or non-cruelty, we need to live with perseverance, bravery and generosity. Our basic need is not just physical facilities, we also need relationships and right understanding.

Unfortunately we as human beings are living as in the left side column (animal consciousness) in the above table. On the other hand, our Natural Acceptance implies that we should live according to right side column (Human consciousness) in the table. We are not making use of our knowledge to differentiate between the right and the wrong methods of living and are living in ignorance with animal consciousness forgetting that Human order means Knowledge order.

What is the way out?

It is high time that mankind moves from animal consciousness to human consciousness and develop the Right Understanding so that the human order becomes fulfilling to all the other orders of nature.