❖ INTRODUCTION TO VALUE EDUCATION

• Understanding Value Education

• Understanding Human Values
• Self-exploration as the Process for Value Education
• The Basic Human Aspirations – Continuous Happiness and Prosperity
• The Program to Fulfil Basic Human Aspirations
❖ UNDERSTANDING THE HARMONY AT VARIOUS LEVELS
• Understanding the Human Being as Co-existence of Self (‘I’) and Body
• Harmony in the Self (I) – Understanding Myself
• Harmony with the Body – Understanding Sanyama and Svãsthya
• Harmony in the Family – Understanding Values in Human Relationships
• Harmony in the Society – From Family Order to World Family Order
• Harmony in Nature – Understanding the Interconnectedness and Mutual Fulfilment
• Harmony in Existence – Understanding Existence as Co-existence

MEANING OF HUMAN VALUES:

“Human values can be defined as the belief, principles, followings, set standard
that individuals follow as their guidelines in daily activities.” These human
values are an important part of human nature. Without these values human beings
are like flowers without
fragrance. Professional ethics are mainly built on the basis of these principle
human values.
From the societal point of view, these values are a set of behavioural practices
that individuals choose to practice in the light of maintaining interpersonal
relationships. In the present era, human values play a pivotal role in maintaining
peace and protecting society. Establishing human values into practical form
contributes towards maintaining morality within the society. By correlating
human values with personal relations, human beings can live in harmony with
others.
NATURE OF HUMAN VALUES

I. Human values are universal:

Human values are universal in nature. These values are mutually shared by all
human beings, no matter to which religion, caste, creed, culture, nationality or
history they belong to.

Some of the eminent human values can be grouped as follows:

● Imbibe civility in nature. Giving respect to others.

● Having honesty in behavior.

● Developing a habit of sharing among individuals.

● Develop loyalty, solidarity and fairness in behavior.

● Establish a feeling of brotherhood, friendship, empathy, love and compassion

for others.

● Inculcating openness, listening, welcoming, acceptance, recognition and

appreciation in nature.

II. Human values and culture:

Human values are specifically concerned with culture. Each persisting culture has
its own value system, ethics and ethos. In countries like India and Japan, the value
system occupies the centre stage in all activities, including those in business
enterprises. Behaviors that exert a positive relation with other human beings are
rewarded and having empathetic behavior for others are highly valued. On the
other hand, behaviors which are anti-social are always condemned and punished
by society. Therefore, culture promotes cultivating positive values in human
beings.

III. Implantation of Human values:

The initial process of implanting human values begins with the childhood of
human beings. These values are passed on by parents to their child and are further
implanted throughout the child's upbringing. As the child grows through its life
phases, they learn more about these values from their friends groups, teachers,
elders, leaders and society. The values

CONCEPT OF HUMAN VALUES

which are learnt include honesty, discipline, love, peace, justice, trust, civility,
loyalty, appreciation and openness for the environment. In addition to this,
subordination of individual interest before the larger interest is more desirable
human values. People who hold outstanding human values are usually regarded
as well as admired. It is generally visible in society for the individuals who are
encouraged in professions like teachers, doctors, lawyers which are viewed as
persons holding high moral and ethical code of conduct for them profession.
These kinds of noble human values are highly encouraged in society and on the
other hand negative values are discouraged.

IV. Human values encourage peace:

If there is peace in the environment it encourages prosperity and this is attained

by inculcating finer human values. It is by implanting such finer human values;
people can better appreciate and give respect for the peaceful relationship among
individuals. By putting human values into practice, it ultimately leads to bringing
prosperity. Thus, these values can prove to be an encouraging factor for peace.
Also, by putting these values into human relationships, it will surely enhance
better mutual understanding among individuals.

V. Human values encourage individual growth:

From the point of view of encouraging individual growth, human values are of
great importance. The basic thing is to focus on self personality development.
Complete knowledge regarding oneself is the first and foremost thing that needs
to be taken care of. Today, there are many situations, where many people rely on
others to follow their ideas to be successful, which is completely fair because for
the simple reason that we all have role models which influence our thinking. But
still there exists a thin line discrepancy between individuals' perspective of doing
things. Human values which follow the basic features of Indian education focus
on growth and advancement of individuals. The Indian education system, which
is the oldest system in the world, has such qualities that do not exist anywhere in
the world.

1.Value Education:

Value Education is a process of educating/instructing morals, ethics, and humane

values in Individuals through structured and planned learning. The basic
guidelines include: creating supportive learning environment, integrating values
into daily activities, using role-models and real-life examples, and promoting
reflection and self-awareness.

• Focuses on what is universally valuable to all of us/Human Being is called

Value education.
• Promotes individual and collective happiness sustainably.
• Crucial for harmonious living and professional success and with rest of
nature at large. (Harmony within ourselves, with other human beings and
with rest of nature).

❖ Need For Value Education:

All of us consider something or the other to be valuable. We set our goals, our
aims on this basis, and then set out to work towards achieving them. While the
need for determining what is valuable to us may seem evident, let us investigate
into this a little more to understand the need for value education. Let us look at
the following aspects to appreciate the need for value education.

1.Correct identification of our aspirations: All human beings have aspirations.

You may aspire to become a doctor or engineer or a lawyer, or a film star or
something else. You must have made various plans for your future, be it
immediate or long term. The planning may include your personal life, your
family, your profession, your participation in the society and other such domains.
But before you invest your energies to actualize your plans, it is important that
you find out what you basically aspire for. Thus, you need to identify your basic
aspiration. Based on the correct identification of this basic aspiration, you can
frame your goals and sub-goals appropriately and working for these, you may
hope to fulfil your basic aspiration.
2 Understanding universal human values to fulfil our aspirations in continuity:
Just identifying one’s aspiration is not enough. We need to know how to fulfil
our aspirations, how to go about actualizing our goals. Generally, we tend to
pursue our goals in variety of ways as per our appraisal and beliefs. We keep on
making experiments, learning from these and accordingly improving our
understanding.
This is how human beings have been moving on, right from the primitive ‘Stone
age’ to the present-day world of modern science and technology. Complete
understanding of human values gives us a definite way to fulfil our aspirations.
Basically, all of us are aspiring to be happy and whatever appears conducive to
our happiness becomes valuable to us. Values form the basis for all our thoughts,
behaviour and actions. Once we have known what is valuable to us, these values
become the basis, the anchor for our actions. We know what we are doing is right
and will lead to the fulfilment of our basic aspirations. Values thus become the
source for our happiness, our success, our fulfilment. Without an appropriate
value framework, we will not be able to decide whether a chosen action is
desirable or undesirable, right or wrong. Hence there is a prime need for correct
understanding of the value domain.- Value Education is the input necessary to
fulfil this need. When we live with the correct understanding of values, we are
happy in continuity, otherwise we feel deprived, frustrated and unhappy. What
are the values that you hold worthy in your life? Have you verified them to be
conducive to your happiness? It is important to explore the value domain in
sufficient detail through value education. We also need to understand the
universality of various human values, because only then we can have a definite
and common program for value education. Then only we can be assured of a
happy and harmonious human society.
3 Complementarity of values and skills: In the endeavour to fulfil our aspirations,
two
things are essential:
(a) First and foremost, one has to know what really is conducive to human
happiness
- i.e. happiness for one and for all, and happiness at all times. This is what
becomes universally valuable to human beings. This is the ‘value’ domain, the
domain of wisdom. This helps us to identify and set the right goals and to proceed
in the right direction.
(b) Secondly, it becomes essential to learn methods and practices to actualize this
goal, to develop the techniques to make this happen in real life, in various
dimensions of human endeavour. This is the domain of ‘skills.
5
Thus values and skills have to go hand in hand. There is an essential
complementarity between values and skills for the success of any human
endeavour. For example, I want to lead a healthy life. I understand that health is
the basic requirement for a human being. I then learn skills to judge what food
will keep my body healthy, what physical practices will keep the body
functioning properly, what would be the possible ways to do certain kinds of work
with the body. All these falls under the domain of skills. Thus, both (values and
skills) are important and these are complementary. Only wishing for good health
will not help me keep my body fit and healthy and without having understood the
meaning of health, I will not be able to choose things correctly to keep my body
fit and healthy.
4. Evaluation of our beliefs: In absence of a correct understanding of universal
human values, we are driven by our ‘ad-hoc’ values and beliefs. If we look deep
into ourselves, we find that each one of us believes in certain things and we base
our ‘values’ on these beliefs, be they false or true which may or may not be true
in reality. For example, someone may believe that “A corporate job is the best
kind of job”, “IIT is the best college to go to”, “Metro cities are the best places to
live in” and so on. We can also have beliefs such as “I want to become a famous
person. Being a world-famous person will make me happy”, “Money will make
me happy”, “Success is the ultimate thing, by hook or by crook”, “If I study
longer, I will have better grades” etc. All of us live with such beliefs. These beliefs
come to us from what we read, see, hear, what our parents tell us, our friends talk
about, what the magazines talk of, what we see on the TV etc. i.e. there is a whole
body of belief-system that we live with at any given time and these together
constitute our worldview. These beliefs spread out far and wide into all our realms
of living. The interesting thing about beliefs is that they usually change with time
and we can trace examples of these by looking at our life in the past. We might
have thought at one point of time that getting into a good college is the most
important thing and now that may have changed to being able to get a good job.
Once we get into a good job, doing well in that job and earning a lot of money
may be important. Once we have the money, getting into a good position may
become important – i.e. what we believe is to be important, may keep changing
with time. Many times, we may even find ourselves trapped in conflicting beliefs.
Another thing about beliefs is that they are usually not the same for everybody.
Beliefs could be held by a small group or a large group of people but they are not
universal. For example: getting good grades may be important to you, but being
able to earn money may be important for your friends. You may think being
environmentally - friendly is important, your friend may think that it is okay to
pollute the environment. This is not only true for ourselves, but largely true for
most people around us: the beliefs keep changing from person to person. What I
may believe to be of ‘value’ to me may not be of ‘value’ to your belief-system so
when we interact, it may lead to conflicts and unhappiness. We face this problem
today because the conditioned beliefs and values we hold today are usually
contradictory, conflicting and unstable and not based upon the right
understanding of values we are not very sure of their correctness. Living our lives
based only on beliefs can not ensure happiness for us. This is very important for
us to understand. Do we want to live with such shaky beliefs? Or do we want to
know things for sure, for ourselves? We can either blindly follow our beliefs and
assumed values, towards making our choices or we can base our choices upon
values which are based on understanding of reality and we can ourselves validate
them as well. What would you prefer?
5. Technology and Human Values: Technology is only a means to achieve what
is considered “‘valuable”’ for a human being in an effective and efficient manner.
It is not within the scope of technology to decide what is valuable. This decision
lies outside its scope. It thus becomes primarily important to know correctly what
is ‘valuable’. Without this decision, technology can be aimless, directionless and
can therefore be put to any use, either constructive or destructive. It is thus with
the understanding of values that we can decide on the appropriateness of
technology and its application. Both the structure and use of technology is are
decided by values. For example: if we value the relationship with the
environment, we will work to create environment-friendly technologies (the
structure of technology) and also put it to right use (use of technology), say, for
the enrichment of environment, replenishment of natural resources etc.
Conversely, if the relationship with the environment is something we do not
value, things could be the other way round. As students of technology and
management, we will be studying, creating, implementing and managing
technologies which will affect the lives of a large number of people. Getting
trained on technology without deciding what is valuable, could even prove
counter-productive as our technical skills are likely to be misused. Therefore, it
is essential that we understand how technology relates to us as individuals and to
human society and nature at large before we attempt to put it into practice. Thus,
there is a need to supplement technical education with value education. This will
enable a human being to decide and pursue what is really ‘valuable’ i.e. conducive
to human happiness, human welfare, what is of ‘value’ to him.
To conclude, Value Education enables us to understand our needs and visualize
our goals correctly, and also indicate the direction for their fulfilment. It also
helps remove our confusions and contradictions and enables us to rightly utilize
the technological innovations. Value Education is a crucial missing link in the
present education system which must be adequately replenished. It must be
remembered that to become an excellent professional, the excellence of values
along with the excellence of requisite professional skills is required.

❖ Basic Guidelines for Value Education

Given below are broad guidelines to decide on what would qualify as an
appropriate input in value education:

• Universal
Whatever we study as value education has to be universally applicable to all
human beings and be true at all times and all places. In addition, it need not restrict
itself to a certain sect, creed, gender or nationality etc. So, it has to deal with
universal human values.

• Rational
It has to be amenable to reasoning and not based on dogmas or blind beliefs. It
cannot be
a set of sermons or Do’s and Don’ts.

• Natural and Verifiable

We want to study something that is natural to us. Being natural means, it is
acceptable in a natural manner to all human beings. When we live on the basis of
such values that are natural to us, it leads to fulfilment, leads to our happiness and
also is conducive to other people we interact with, as well as with nature. We also
would like to verify these values ourselves, i.e. we don’t want to assume
something just because it is being stated here or written in a book, rather, each
one of us will want to verify these to find out whether they are true for us. This
has to be done by both checking for validity within ourselves, as being naturally
acceptable as well as something which we can implement in our living and
observe its outcome to be fulfilling.

• All Encompassing
Value education is not merely an academic exercise. It is aimed at transforming
our consciousness and living. Hence, it has to permeate into all dimensions of our
living, namely, thought, behaviour, work and understanding/realization; as well
as all levels, namely, individual, family, society and nature.

• Leading to Harmony
Finally, value education has to enable us to be in harmony within and in harmony
with others. Hence, when we live on the basis of these values, we start
understanding that it will lead to harmony in us, and harmony in our interactions
with other humans and the rest of nature.

❖ The Content of Value Education

• To understand myself, my aspirations, my happiness
• To understand the goal of human life
• To understand the other things in nature, their inter- connectedness and
co-existence and role of human being in nature
• To understand harmony at the levels of human living (individual, Family,
society& Nature).

❖ The Process of Value Education

➢ Self-Exploration: Verify concepts personally. Proposal should acceptable
naturally. Not just imposed externally.
➢ Dialogue: Interactive discussions/(verification) leading to internal
dialogue. (With teacher and students and with Students himself/herself.)
➢ Transformation: Change in understanding and in our
consciousness/improve awareness and our living.
This process of self-verification needs to be applied to all the proposals. In
this way, we will proceed forward, one proposal at a time. Life is a laboratory
and we will work on the proposals and verify their truthfulness in ourselves
and in our living.

❖ Summary
➢ Value education facilitates self-exploration and authentic understanding of
self and goal.
➢ Focuses on proposals for students to verify in their own lives.
➢ It changes the thinking of Students, in terms of their vision about Happiness
and Prosperity, the clarity about life-goals, improvement in human
relationships, Self-confidence, commitment to learning, feeling more
responsible towards the profession etc.,
 ❖ Classification of Values:

1. Individual Values:
Development of Personality. It protects Honesty, loyalty, and honor.
2. Collective Values:
concerned with the society at large. Values connected with the norms of equality,
justice, solidarity, and sociability are known as collective values.
3. Intrinsic/Fundamental Values:
fundamental values to life and are directly related to the core goal of life. In the
hierarchy of human values, these values stand at the highest place and are superior
to all other values of life. These values help to determine the intensity of human
rights and duties.
4. Instrumental/ Influential Values:
facilitate to achieve an individual’s intrinsic/fundamental values can be classified
as instrumental values. These values come after the intrinsic values and are more
focused on personality behaviors and character which help to achieve the goals
of life. This includes honesty, sincerity, ambition, courage, competitiveness,
ambition, independence and also some negative behaviors as well.
5. Terminal Values:
The end goals that an individual desires to achieve in his life are known as
terminal values. This includes values like happiness, self-respect, social security,
harmony, personal excellence etc. These values are the most desirable one in
one’s life and individuals work towards them to achieve in their life.
6. Dominant Values:
Values that are on priority in one’s own agenda can be identified as dominant
values. These are the stronger and are more present in a person than other values.
In every human being, there are different sort of values which are present, but all
values are not present to the same level or to the same extent. The values which
a person possesses to the highest level can be considered as dominant value.
7. Personal Values:
➢ Being deeply connected with a person is known as personal values.
➢ Personal values are considered as an essential principle on which we build
our life and relate with other people.
➢ One can consider these values as a mixture of family as well as socio-
cultural environment values together with one’s individual experience
➢ These values can be considered as the basic principles and guidelines for
human behavior in the family as well as in the society.
8. Socio-Cultural Values:

➢ The very foundation of our society is based upon some sort of socio-
cultural values and hence it survives on these accepted values only.
➢ These can also be categorized as fundamental values in our society, which
often change with time or on the other way coincide or not with our family
or personal values.
➢ society collectively represents a complex mixture of several values and
sometimes it contradicts with one another.
➢ For example, if work is not valued socially as a means of personal
fulfillment, then the society is indirectly fostering anti-values like
dishonesty, irresponsibility, and crime.
9. Material Values:
➢ Material values call for the needs of human beings regarding things
required for human survival and existence.
➢ These values allow us to survive and are related to our basic subsistence
needs as a human being such as food, clothing and protection from the
environment.
 ➢ These can also be categorized as fundamental needs, part of complex web
that is created between personal, family, and socio-cultural values.
10. Spiritual Values:
➢ Spiritual values are connected purely to the non-material aspects in our
lives, that is, these are concerned with spiritual hunger and growth.
➢ They are a part of inner human needs and allow us to observe the minimum
level of value system expected in our society.
11. Moral Values:
➢ These values constitute attitudes and behavior that society considers
essential for co-existence, order, and general well-being.
12. Theoretical Values:
➢ This kind of value typically focuses on adopting a critical and rational
approach to any problem.
➢ These are related to the basic system of truth and rational conduct of
individuals.
13. Aesthetic Values:
➢ Softer values of goodness are termed as aesthetic values.
➢ All these come from grace, dignity, and harmony and emphasize the artistic
aspect of one’s life.
14. Economic Values:
➢ Basic foundational ethical conducts in the field of economics or commerce
are called economic values.
➢ These are utility and practicality which emphasize more on standard of
living.
15. Social Values:
➢ Values that are generated as well as minimally expected by society can be
classified as social values.
➢ These include acceptability, cooperation, and love for human beings.
16. Human Value:
 ➢ Values that basically targets and promotes human growth and development
are known as human values e.g. simplicity, forgiveness, charity,
transparency, humbleness, gratitude etc.
17. Dis-Value:
➢ Values which demoralize and undermine the human growth and
development can be termed as dis-value.
➢ This includes jealousy, bitterness, selfishness, anger, revenge, etc.

2. Hierarchy of values: definition

➢ A value hierarchy is a system or structure in which a person organizes and
prioritizes his or her personal values at multiple levels, according to their
importance and relevance.
➢ Values are principles or beliefs that guide an individual's behavior and
decisions, and reflect what a person considers meaningful and fundamental
in life.
➢ A hierarchy of values helps a person understand their motivations, make
decisions consistent with their beliefs, and live a more authentic and
satisfying life.

❖ The importance of a hierarchy of values

A hierarchy of values is fundamental in the personal and emotional development
of an individual. It defines what is important to a person, what gives meaning to
their life and guide them in making decisions. By being clear about their values
and ranking them, a person can align/arrange their actions with their beliefs,
which provides internal consistency and authenticity/validity in their way of
living.
 ❖ Benefits of having a hierarchy of values
1. Clarity and direction:
A hierarchy of values provides clarity about what is truly important to oneself. It
helps establish goals and priorities based on those values, allowing you to direct
your life toward a meaningful and coherent/clear purpose.
2. Decision Making:
When faced with difficult decisions or complicated situations, having a clear
hierarchy of values serves as a guide. It allows each option to be evaluated based
on whether it is in line with the most important values, facilitating ethical and
consistent decision-making.
3. Authenticity and consistency:
Living in accordance with our values helps us to be authentic and consistent in
our actions. It allows us to act honestly and true to ourselves, which strengthens
our confidence and self-esteem/worth.
4. Emotional well-being:
By living in coherence/consistency with our values, we experience a greater sense
of inner peace and emotional well-being. We feel more satisfied with our choices
and actions, which contributes to a fuller and more satisfying life.

❖ How to create a hierarchy of values

Creating a hierarchy of values requires self-knowledge, reflection and honesty
with oneself. It is a personal process that involves identifying and evaluating the
values that are most relevant and meaningful to each individual.
1. Identify your core/Fundamental values
The first step is to reflect on your deepest beliefs and principles. What is really
important to you in life? What values guide your decisions and actions? It may
be helpful to make a list of possible values and then review which ones resonate
most with you on a personal level.
2. Prioritize your values
Once you have identified your core values, it is important to assign them an order
of importance. Think about which values define you the most and are essential to
you. What values guide you in making important decisions? This will help you
establish a clear and coherent hierarchy.
3. Reflect on your past choices
Reviewing your past choices and how they have been associated with your values
can give you clues about which values are most relevant to you. What decisions
have made you feel more authentic and satisfied with yourself? When have you
experienced internal conflict due to a lack of arrangement with your values?
4. Integrate your values into your daily life
Once you have identified and prioritized your values, it is crucial to integrate
them into your daily life. Reflect on how you can live by these values in your
daily actions. What changes can you make to ensure that you are honoring your
values in your daily behavior and decisions?
5. Review and adjust your hierarchy of values
The process of creating a hierarchy of values is dynamic (Self-motivated) and
evolutionary. It is important to periodically review your values, as they can
change over time as you grow and experience new situations. Stay open to
adjusting your hierarchy of values according to your personal learnings and
evolutions.

• Conclusion
A hierarchy of values is a powerful tool to guide us in making decisions, living
authentically and achieve greater satisfaction in life. By identifying and
prioritizing our core values, we can guide our actions toward a meaningful
purpose consistent with our essence. Through reflection and self-knowledge, each
individual can create their own unique and personal hierarchy of values, which
serves as a opportunity on the path of life.

3.Self- Exploration/Investigation
• Self-exploration as a process for value education, empowers individuals to
develop a strong sense of self, ethical awareness, and the ability to make
choices that reflect their values.
• It is a dialogue process between “what you are” and what you really want
to be”.
• It is a process of self-evolution/development through self-investigation.
• It is a process of knowing oneself and through that, knowing the entire
existence.
• It is a process of being in harmony with oneself and harmony with entire
existence.
• It involves deep self-examination and reflection to understand one's own
values, beliefs, strengths, weaknesses, and aspirations/ambitions.
• Self-exploration allows individuals to gain clarity about their identity and
their principles.
• How self-exploration contributes to value education:
1.Awareness of Personal Values:
Self-exploration helps individuals identify and understand their personal values.
By reflecting on their experiences, beliefs, and priorities, individuals can gain
clarity about what matters most to them. This awareness enables them to align
their actions and choices with their core values.
2. Reflection on Ethical Problems:
Engaging in self-exploration encourages individuals to reflect on ethical
problems and moral challenges they encounter. By examining different
perspectives and considering the consequences of their decisions, individuals can
develop their own ethical framework and make principled choices.
3.Recognition of Strengths and Weaknesses:
Self-exploration involves an honest assessment of one's strengths and
weaknesses. This process helps individuals understand their areas of
improvement and work towards personal growth. By acknowledging their
weaknesses, individuals can attempt to cultivate virtues and qualities that align
with their values.
4. Developing Emotional Intelligence:
Self-exploration fosters emotional intelligence by encouraging individuals to
recognize and manage their emotions effectively. It involves understanding one's
emotional triggers, developing empathy for others, and cultivating healthy
relationships based on respect and kindness.
5. Setting Personal Goals:
Through self-exploration, individuals can identify their aspirations and set
meaningful goals aligned with their values. By understanding their passions and
interests, individuals can pursue paths that bring them fulfilment and contribute
to their personal growth and well-being.

❖ Steps in the Process of Self-Exploration

1. Observing Inside
Reflecting on personal thoughts, feelings, and desires.

2. Observing Outside
Understanding the world and how one interacts with it.

3. Dialogue Between "What You Are" and "What You Want to Be"
Resolving internal contradictions.

It is a process of Identifying our;

• Swatva (Innateness) The true nature or essence of a person.
 • Swarãjya (Self-Expression, Self-extension) Expressing one's innateness in
harmony with others.
• Swatantratã (Self-Organization) Being self-organized: harmonious within
oneself.

❖ Content of Self-Exploration
• What is my basic aspiration (Desire)?
• What is the process to fulfill this aspiration (Program)?

• Proposal: Presenting ideas as proposals without assumption.

Self-Verification:
• Through natural acceptance.
• Experimental validation in real-life behavior and work.
• Avoid Assumptions: Don't assume proposals/Ideas to be true or false
without verification.

Verification Methods:
Verify it on your own right-self investigation
don’t just accept or reject it on basis of:
• On the basis of scriptures/what is written.
• On the basis of instruments
• On the basis of others
Don’t try to verify on the basis of scriptures/ what is written”:
By this we mean, let’s not compare what is being proposed here with what is
written in some book, something that you have read or are reading i.e. we think
we know certain things, because we have read about it somewhere, and remember
it now. However, we are not talking about a comparative study between what we
have read and what is being proposed here. Rather, we are talking about
verification of these proposals directly within yourself.
“Not on the basis of instruments”:
Don’t assume these proposals as being true or false based on the conclusions
somebody
might have given after conducting experiments with physical instruments. The
instruments only give information about some physical phenomena, but the
conclusions we make are based on our own perception about the phenomena.
Such perceptions also need to be subjected to self-verification.
“Not on the basis of others”:
Again, you may have heard something that some great person has said. You may
believe what this person says to be true, and hence end up comparing what is
being proposed here with what you remember as being stated by that personality.
This would not mean verifying in your own right; it would mean accepting on
those great personalities’ right!
“Firstly, verify the proposal on the basis of your natural acceptance”
Natural acceptance is a faculty that is present in each one of us. It is intact and
invariant.
We only have to start paying attention to it, to start “seeing” it.
But verify the proposal on the basis of Your natural acceptance

❖ Natural Acceptance:
▪ Definition: A natural ability that helps guide decisions in alignment
with one’s true nature.
▪ Characteristics:
✓ Invariant with Time/it does not change with time (trust or respect)
✓ It does not depend on the Place
✓ Independent of Beliefs/ does not depend on our belief
✓ Constant Presence of Natural Acceptance. (Cheating, disrespect).
 ✓ It is the same for all of us: it is part and parcel of every human being it
is part of human-ness.

❖ Summary:
❖ The content of self-exploration is exploring into two fundamental
questions: what our basic aspiration is; and the program to fulfil this basic
aspiration.
❖ Process of self-exploration involves two things, firstly, verifying on the
basis of natural acceptance, and secondly, validating experientially by
living accordingly. When the proposal is verified on both the bases, it leads
to realization and understanding. Understanding is assuring, satisfying and
universal with respect to time, space and individual.
❖ Outcomes of Self-Exploration:

▪ Inner Harmony: Living without internal contradictions.

▪ Authentic Living: Being true to oneself and consistent in actions.
▪ Harmonious Relationships: Improved relationships through better
understanding and expression.
▪ By understanding our self-better, individuals can develop qualities,
make positive contributions to society, and lead a meaningful life based
on your own unique set of principles.