HUMAN VALUES AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

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.

CHAPTER IX: Harmony In The Society – From Family Order To World Order

HUMAN VALUES AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

LECTURE NOTES

UNIT –III : CHAPTER IX

CHAPTER IX: Harmony In The Society – From Family Order To World Order

Extending Relationship from Family to Society

Right Understanding at the individual level leads to harmony in the family. This leads to harmony in the society.

· Understanding relationships in family, recognizing the feelings in these relationships and living according to these feelings leads to mutual happiness and fulfillment.

· Slowly we become aware of our relatedness to all the human beings beyond the confines of our family such as friends, colleagues, people in the neighbourhood and even strangers.

Try to answer this question:

“ Do I want to live in harmony inly within a limited set of people or with everyone?”

· Try to observe some most sought-after public figures. Also observe how famous personalities like Buddha, Mother Teresa, Vivekananda etc. established their connectivity with a vast majority of people – It is because they did not remain confined to the harmony with a limited set of people. They developed a relatedness with all the human beings.

· The more you feel connected/ related to more and more number of people, the more you feel relaxed and satisfied. This helps to develop a feeling of assurance, trust and fearlessness in the social web.

Trust--------->Fearlessnes (Trust is the basis of Fearlessness, Peace and Harmony.)

· Our Natural Acceptance extends from the level of Individual to the levels of Family and then Society and finally into a feeling of World Family. This forms the basis of an undivided society (Akhanda Samaj) a feeling of relatedness for all (we are all one family).

Thus, when we expand into a world family, we realize our responsibility in the society and participate in it.

Identification of Comprehensive Human Goal:

For the fulfilment of the basic human aspirations of all human beings, the following Comprehensive Human Goal should be understood:

The Comprehensive Human Goal comprises of four constituents namely:

1. Right Understanding (Samadhana) In every individual

2. Prosperity (Samriddhi) In every Family

3. Fearlessness / Trust (Abhaya/Vishwas) In Society

4. Co-existence (Sah-astitwa) In Nature

All the above four constituents form the Comprehensive Human Goal in the same sequence as above.

Where are we today?

Right Understanding (in individuals) – We have only information and skills, no right understanding, no true happiness.

Prosperity in Families – We forgot that the need for physical facilities is limited and are trying to generate only more and more wealth.

· Our economy, education, market is all luring us to generate more wealth.

· We are interested in the lists of millionaires and trillionaires in our society and not in the lists of prosperous people.

· We give importance to sensory enjoyment and are forgetting that wealth is needed only for keeping our body healthy.

Fearlessness/Trust in Society – We are working for strategic power and not fearlessness (In the name of defence, we are misusing the valuable resources of nature to make weapons and ammunition). Thus, we are becoming more fearful (of wars, fights etc.). We have organizations like the UNO, but we don’t have programs to ensure trust among people.

Co-existence (with Nature) – We are not giving importance to co-existence with nature and are figuring out ways to exploit Nature.

(The goal of our technological development is to get victory over Nature, to subjugate the entities in nature and to disrupt nature’s cycles for our whims and fancies.

Conclusion: We have missed the core things in life and are unable to understand the harmony at all levels of our living.

· The problem is that, the very first step towards change i.e. the Right Understanding is missing.

· Right Understanding is the only route to prosperity and social harmony.

Programs needed to achieve the Comprehensive Human Goal: The five dimensions of Human Endeavour

In order to achieve the Comprehensive Human Goal, the following five dimensions of Human Endeavour are to be shaped and implemented in the society:

1. Education – Right Living ( Siksha – Sanskar)

(leads to Right Understanding, Right Feelings and an all compassing solution,Samadhana)

Education = To understand Harmony at all four levels of living)

Right Living = Commitment and Preparedness to live in harmony at all four levels of living

The goal and objective of education is to ensure Right Understanding, Right Feelings and An-encompassing Solution(Samadhana) in every individual through Right Living.

2. Health – Self Regulation (Svasthya – Sanyama)
(leads to Prosperity)
Health = Harmony among the parts of the body and having a fit body which acts according to the needs of the Self “I”
Self-Regulation = A feeling of responsibility for nurturing, protecting and rightly utilizing the body.
Self-regulation is the basis of Health.

3. Justice – Preservation ( Nyaya – Suraksha)

(leads to Fearlessness and Co-existence)

Justice = Human-Human Relation (relationship between human beings) – its recognition, fulfilment, evaluation – leading to mutual happiness

Preservation = Human – Rest of the Nature Relation – its recognition, fulfilment, evaluation – leading to mutual Prosperity

Preservation involves ensuring the following three aspects:

1.       Enrichment – (I cultivate wheat; this enriches wheat as the quantity grows)
2.       Protection – (I protect it so that it is fit to eat)
3.       Right Utilization – (I use it for the nurturing of the body and do not let it get wasted)

Production – Work ( Utpadana – Karya)
(leads to Prosperity and Co-existence)
Production = Things obtained out of work
Work = Labour that a human being does on the rest of the Nature

Two important questions come to our mind when we talk of Production – Work :
1.       What to produce?
2.       How to produce?

We should decide what to produce depending on the right identification of needs for the right utilization of the body.

How to produce refers to the technology or systems we use for production.
In Nature,
1.       The systems are cyclic and not open ended. For eg. Water cycle, Nitrogen cycle, Food chain etc.
2.       The systems are mutually fulfilling and mutually enriching. For eg. When birds, animals or humans eat guavaswhich come from nature, finally they go back to nature(soil) itself through excreta.
Hence we should design our production systemsinsuch a way that the mutual fufilment in nature is ensured and not disturbed.

5. Exchange – Storage (Vinimaya – Kosa/ Kosh)

(leads to Prosperity and Fearlessness)

Exchange = Exchanging of produce for mutual fulfilment and not for madness of profit
Storage = Storing of produce after the fulfillment of needs with a view of right utilization in future and not for hoarding.

What is our state today?

·         Our programs of education are based on literacy, training and information transfer and do not have anything to do with the study of Self
·         We are looking for new sources of sensual pleasures and losing control over self-regulation. We are producing new diseases through irresponsible living.
·         Today, we have the court of law to get justice. Yet in spite of thousands of courts and lawyers, the judgements passed and punishments given are unable to ensure real justice. Family values are deteriorating, communal violence and conflicts between people and communities are on the rise and nations have rising fears of destructive wars. Misusing the growth in Science and Technology has adversely affected the three aspects of Preservation namely Enrichment, Protection and Right Utilization.
·         Although Nature is cyclic and enriching, human production processes are largely Acyclic or Open-ended. For eg. We are carelessly using the fossil fuels like coal, petrol, diesel etc. which not only pollutes the atmosphere but also results in their depletion over a period of time. Several things produced by man are acyclic in nature and cannot be decomposed by Nature such as plastics, foams etc. These are very harmful to the atmosphere and are leading to the extinction of many species of plant and animal life.
·         Today man has developed from the early barter system to using currency for the sale and purchase of goods. With the greed to increase his income and profits, man is hoarding currency and other things, exploiting mankind and nature as well.

Harmony from Family Order to World Family Order: Universal Human Order

·         Once we understand the Comprehensive Human Goal and the five dimensions of Human Endeavour, in the light of Right Understanding, our Natural Acceptance extends from the level of Individual to the levels of Family and then Society and finally into a feeling of World Family. This forms the basis of an undivided society (Akhanda Samaj) a feeling of relatedness for all (we are all one family).

Thus, when we expand into a world family, we realize our responsibility in the society and participate in it.

Undiveded Society (Akhanda Samaja) – feeling of being related to every human being
Universal Human Order (Sarvabhauma Vyavastha) – feeling of being related to every unit including human beings and other entities of nature.