CHAPTER NINE

Harmony in the Society – From Family

Order to World Family Order

W e studied the harmony at the first two levels of existence, i.e. the individual and the
family. In this chapter we will study about harmony in the society.

Extending Relationship from Family to Society

As we begin to understand our relationships in the family and live harmoniously in these
relationships, we become aware of our relatedness to all human beings. Family is the first
place to understand our relationships, recognize the feelings in these relationships, live
according to these feelings and attain mutual happiness. As we begin to understand that
relationship exists between my Self (‘I’) and the other’s Self (‘I’), we begin to see that
relationships are not limited in the family but extend to include all human beings.

Ask yourself the following-

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

Our natural acceptance is to feel related to everyone. We can easily explore this within
ourselves. We find that in reality we not only want ourselves to be happy but also want to
make others happy, even beyond the confines of our family. We see this with our friends,
our colleagues, our co-workers, our teachers, people in the social web that we live in and
even the stranger on the road! Whoever we come in contact with, our natural acceptance is
to be in harmony, to co-exist with them. Our competence might be limited at the moment
and we might feel we are unable to do so but we spontaneously accept that we wish for their
happiness as well, along with ours; this is our intention. We expect the same from the other.
We feel relaxed when we are with people who we feel related to us and we enjoy a feeling of
assurance and trust when we live in this social web. Do we not want this satisfaction, trust
and fearlessness to exist at all times and at all places on this planet?
 162 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

Harmony in the family is the building block for harmony in the Society. Harmony in
society leads to an undivided society when we feel related with each and every human
being. Today our feelings for our society have become very limited and each one of us lives
in a very small web of relationships. Even these simple relationships in a family may appear
burdensome to a lot of us, not to talk of the world family! Our natural acceptance, however,
is for relatedness with all and we can very naturally expand into the world family. This is
the basis of an undivided society ( Akhandaˆ Samãja*), a feeling of relatedness with all. As
we begin to understand and become aware of the harmony at this level in our living, we
begin to see our responsibility and participation in it.

Identification of the Comprehensive Human Goal

In order to facilitate the fulfilment of the basic aspirations of all human beings in the
society, the following comprehensive human goal needs to be understood. This is what will
be conducive to the fulfilment at the individual level as well as sustainable prosperity, peace
and harmony in the society:

1. Right Understanding 2. Prosperity 3. Fearlessness(Trust) 4. Co- e xistence.

(S am ãdhãna*) (S am riddhi) (A bhaya*) (S aha-astitiva*)

In E v ery In d ivid ua l In E v ery F a m ily In S o cie ty In N a tu re

1. Right understanding is necessary for the human being, for all human beings. When one
does not have the right understanding, one remains disturbed and also acts in a manner
so as to create disharmony with other human being as well as with rest of nature.

2. Prosperity is needed in every family. Prosperity in the family means that the family is
able to identify its needs and is able to produce/achieve more than its requirements.

3. Trust in society means every member of society feels related to everyone else and
therefore there is trust and fearlessness.

4. Co-existence in nature means there is a relationship and complementarity among all

the entities in nature including human beings.

This is the Comprehensive Human Goal. Now ask yourself the following questions:

Are all the four constituents required, or can we do away with any one of them?

If the above is ensured, what else would we need in the society? What else do you
desire living in a society?

* Can be spelt as Akhand Samaj, Samadhan, Abhay, Sah-astitva respectively too.

 Harmony in the Society – From Family Order to World Family Order 163

With little exploration, we find that all four are required for human society. We are not
satisfied with anything less than this. This is the basic minimum requirement to ensure
sustainable happiness and prosperity. We can’t cut down any of them. This is the minimum
level that each one of us wants, and also the maximum we can think of. We can’t think of
anything more than this. This is the target for each one of us, the whole human race and
the human tradition. The moment we leave anyone of them out, there will be loss of
continuity, and the goal cannot be achieved.
We will find that the above mentioned goal is not only comprehensive but also universal
i.e. equally applicable to all human beings and for all times. It includes all our aspirations
and this is the goal for each one of us. As our understanding and awareness deepens (our
competence increases), we begin to take responsibility that spreads beyond the confines of
ourselves and our family and begin to include the entire human society in working towards
the above goal.
Let us revisit the above to verify them. Ask yourself these questions and you will be able
to explore each of the above goals in detail:

1. Do I want right understanding for every human being or do I want that some should
have this right understanding and others may follow them?
2. Do I want every family to be prosperous or do I want only some families, or only my
family to be prosperous and the rest to live in a state of deprivation?
3. Do I want to work for a society in which I can be assured, in which there is trust or
fearlessness or am I okay with a society in which we have mistrust, suspicion and fear
all around? Am I comfortable living with a sense of fear?
4. Do I want to live in co-existence with all of nature or do I want to be in opposition
with nature? Do I want to exploit nature or do I want to enrich it? Do I want prosperity
for both myself and nature?
These are quite relevant questions pertaining to our well-being. We need to explorer
and answer these to ourselves, before we go to make any program for the society.

Thus, this becomes the goal of human society, or the basic need of human civilization.
Now, how are these related?
You will find the following when you look for the relation in the above:

1. The harmony in the society begins from the individual. We need to ensure right
understanding in the individual as the foundation of harmony in the society.
2. With right understanding, the need for physical facilities in the family can be
ascertained. By assessing our needs correctly and by producing more than required,
the family can be prosperous.
 164 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

3. Assurance of right understanding in the individuals and prosperity in the families,

understanding of human relationships leads to harmony and trust (fearlessness) in
the society. When every individual is able to live harmoniously in relationship, and
the needs of all the families are ensured, fearlessness (mutual trust) in society will
naturally follow.

4. When human beings with right understanding interact with nature, it will be in
consonance with the co-existence and will be mutually enriching.

We may also understand it in the following sequence.

1. Right Understanding Æ 2. Prosperity Æ 3. Fearlessness (trust) Æ 4. Co-existence

Where are we Today?

Now let us evaluate the current situation in this context. Where are we with respect to the
above goal? How do we fare presently?

Right understanding in individuals? - Are we really working for this? You will find that
we are talking so much about information and skills, but we are ignoring the need for right
understanding, we are ignoring the need to understand happiness correctly. We are ignoring
the need to understand and be in relationship.

Prosperity in families? - We are not able to see that the need for physical facilities is
limited and that, we can have more than what we need! We are only talking about how to
generate more wealth. All our economy, education, market is luring individuals to generate
as much wealth as possible. We feel proud in declaring the number of billionaires and
trillionaires in our society, without ever evaluating whether this is taking us to the state of
prosperity! We seem to have forgotten that the need to have wealth is connected with the
need to keep the body healthy and use it for the right purpose and not for maximizing
accumulation for the purpose of sensory enjoyment.

Fearlessness (trust) in society? - In place of working for fearlessness, we are working for
strategic powers. In the name of defence, we are misusing the valuable resources of nature
to make weapons and ammunitions. We are becoming increasingly more fearful of each
other, paranoid that the other human being is out to get me, finish me. So, most of the
countries in the world are busy preparing for war, in the hope that more and more
competence for war will lead to peace! We have organizations like United Nations, but here
too, we do not have programs to ensure mutual trust among people, which is the basis of
fearlessness, peace and harmony.

Co-existence with nature? - Instead of co-existing, we are busy figuring out better ways
to exploit nature. The results are there for all of us to see today. We have tended to assume
 Harmony in the Society – From Family Order to World Family Order 165

that the goal of our technological development is to get victory over nature, to subjugate
the entities in nature and to disrupt nature’s cycles, in pursuance of our whims and fancies.
We even have disregarded the obvious truth that nature is our basic support system and
disturbing its balance will result in our own destruction.

Thus, we have missed out on the core things, and there is need for us to re-align our
focus towards ensuring the right understanding and relationship. For this, we have to
understand the harmony at all levels of our living. We have to move from living with
assumptions to living with right understanding. Each one of us needs to start this journey
within to be able to contribute towards rectification of this dangerous situation.

The problem with us today is that the program to ensure the first step, i.e. right
understanding in the individual, is missing. The route to prosperity and social harmony is
through right understanding only.

Programs Needed to Achieve the Comprehensive Human Goal: The

Five Dimensions of Human Endeavour
In the light of the comprehensive human goal, let us visualize how the following five salient
dimensions of human endeavour are to be shaped and implemented in society. It will be
necessary to develop appropriate systems and programs to cater to the above goal in order
to ensure human welfare.
The five dimensions of human endeavour are:

1. Education – Right Living ( Sikshã - Sanskãra ) (or ‘Shiksha-Sanskar’ for simplicity)

2. Health – Self-regulation (Svãsthya-Sanyama) (or ‘Svasthya-Sanyam’ for simplicity)

3. Justice – Preservation (Nyãya-Surakshã) (or ‘Nyaya-Suraksha’ for simplicity)
4. Production – Work (Utpãdana-Kãrya) (or ‘Utpadan-Karya’ for simplicity)
5. Exchange – Storage (Vinimaya – Kos.a) (or ‘Vinimaya-Kosh’ for simplicity)
These five dimensions broadly cover all the activities that are necessary and fundamental
to the harmonious existence of human society. Let us look at each of these in the light of
comprehensive human goal:

Education-Right Living ( Sikshã-Sanskãra )

‘Education – Right Living’ is made up of two words – Education & Right Living.
 166 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

The content of education is the understanding of harmony at all the four levels of our
existence – from myself to the entire existence.

Right Living or Sanskãra refers to the ability to live in harmony at all the four levels of
living.

Thus,

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.

It is important to realize that understanding of harmony is accompanied by learning to

live in harmony at all the levels and doing things that ensure harmony at all the levels. The
competence gained from understanding enables us to live in harmony.

We have to ensure the availability and continuity of Education-Right Living in our society.
This dimension of society works to ensure ‘Right Understanding’ and ‘Right Feelings’ or ‘All-
encompassing Solution’ called samãdhãna’ in every individual and ensures that our succeeding
generations have both the content and the environment available to work towards achieving
their goal of continuous happiness and prosperity. This is the goal and objective of education.

Health-Self-regulation (Svãsthya-Sanyama)
We have already discussed about sanyama and health in chapter 7. We will just recall a few
points.

Sanyama refers to a feeling of responsibility for nurturing, protecting and rightly utilizing
the body.

When the body is fit to act according to the needs of the Self (‘I’), and, there is harmony
among the parts of the Body, it is referred to as health or Svãsthya.

Sanyama (or self-regulation) is the basis of Svãsthya.

Justice-Preservation (Nyãya-Surakshã)
We had discussed about justice in the previous chapter.

Justice (Nyãya) refers to harmony in the relationship between human beings, while
Preservation (Surakshã) refers to harmony in the relationship between human being and the
rest of nature.
 Harmony in the Society – From Family Order to World Family Order 167

Justice = ‘Human-Human relation’ – its recognition, fulfilment, evaluation

– leading to mutual Happiness.

Preservation = ‘Human – Rest of nature’ relation - its recognition, fulfilment,

evaluation - leading to mutual Prosperity.

= Enrichment, Protection, Right Utilization of nature.

Justice
We say there is justice in a relationship when there is mutual fulfilment i.e. both individuals
are satisfied: which means the values are rightly recognized, fulfilled, rightly evaluated and
mutual happiness is ensured. Mutual happiness is the goal in relationship and each one of
us has a responsibility in ensuring a continuity of justice or Nyãya in our society.

Preservation
Besides human-human relationships, we also have to work to ensure that our relationship
with the rest of nature is mutually enriching for humanity as well as for nature. This
dimension of our society works to ensure ‘Surakshã’. This 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 nurturing of the body and do not let it get wasted).

S urakshã

P rotection R ight U tilization

E nrichm ent
(S anrakshana) (S adupayoga)
(sam vardhana)

Production-Work (Utpãdana-Kãrya)
Work refers to the physical efforts made by humans on the rest of nature, while production
refers to the output/physical produce that is obtained through these efforts.
 168 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

Work – Labour that human does on the rest of nature.

Production - Things obtained out of work.

There are two important questions that come to mind when we talk of production-
work:

1. What to produce?

2. How to produce?

What to produce
The decision of what to produce depends on the right identification of needs. For this, we
have to identify the physical needs of the body, i.e. what is needed for the nourishment,
protection and right utilization of the body. When we look into this, we can see that there
is a need for: food, clothing, shelter, and various kinds of instruments (ex: means of transport,
communication, remote viewing of images, etc.) for the right utilization of the body.

How to produce
When we come to the question of how to produce, we are referring to the technology or
systems we use for production. On understanding of the harmony at all the levels of our
living, it becomes evident that there is an inherent balance, a harmony in nature. So, it is
only natural that any production system we design or implement is within the framework
that is present in nature, i.e. it does not violate the framework/harmony in nature. When
we look at the way in which nature is organized, the following becomes apparent:

1. The systems in nature are cyclic i.e. they are not open ended.

2. The systems in nature are mutually fulfilling or mutually enriching.

Thus the way to produce is:

Through Cyclical ( Ãvartans ïla ) Process, in harmony with nature.

1. It has to be Cyclic

2. It has to ensure that every unit is enriched

Example of cyclic and enriching process in nature: When a seed is planted in soil and
water is added, it grows to be a tree and in turn, bears leaves, flowers and fruits. The fruits
ripen, leaves mature and fall to the ground and enrich the soil forming manure by decaying.
Seeds are scattered from the fruit into the soil and once again these fruits form a plant and
bear fruit. This way the soil gets enriched, seeds are multiplied and tree grows. Everything
is regenerated. This is nature’s way of enriching the soil. We can see mutual enrichment in
 Harmony in the Society – From Family Order to World Family Order 169

nature in this way. This process is also cyclic. It is not that the seed grows once, and then
the whole process is over. This process continues. We can thus see that the processes in
nature are both cyclic and enriching. Numerous such examples can be taken, between
plants and soil, within plants, between plants and birds, and animals, etc. There is an
inherent balance, in the species, in the entire cycle.

We don’t notice this enough today and appreciate it. When we do start noticing, we
will be highly delighted. We are so lost in our imagination, in our own make-believe worlds
of aims and misconstrued notions of existence, that we don’t pay attention to the very
system that supports all of us. You only need to start paying attention to this yourself, and
you can see the incredibly different ways in which nature is organized. We can start noticing
this ourselves, paying attention to this, when we either walk on the road, or in the park.
You will find that even as you begin to see this balance in nature, as you see and understand
its processes, you will feel more comfortable and more assured.

Examples of enrichment in nature: There is another interesting fact that comes up

when we start paying attention to nature. Production is already taking place in it! Once a
plant starts to grow in nature, it manages its own fertilizer, its own water. We don’t have to
“manage” anything for it, it is not that we ‘grow’ trees today. Trees and plants grow of their
own accord. We can only facilitate that process, by first understanding it, and then learning
the skills. The basic requirements for human and animal survival are already occurring in
nature. So, when we talk of production [with respect to human beings], it is not that we are
going to produce something in nature for the first time! In a sense, we are only extending
the process. Rice and wheat anyway grow in nature, we only work out how we can have
more of it, or only certain varieties in a given land mass – we call this agriculture. Even
today, most of the work in basic production is being done by nature: for example, in
agriculture, most of our effort is in sowing, collecting and storing the food. Rest of the work
is being done by nature.

Hence, when we are talking of production, it is desirable to extend this production

system that is already inherently present in nature, which is cyclic and mutually enriching.
For example, guavas are grown in nature, we eat them and finally it goes back to soil
through human excreta. We can extend this process by making jam or jelly out of guava
and eat the jam or jelly. This making of jam or jelly is production, which is essentially an
extension of the cyclic production process already taking place in nature. If we start
paying attention, it is very much possible for human being to ensure production process
which is cyclic and enriching for nature. Let’s take an example. The tress and plants are
anyway growing in nature. The amount of wood one person would require in his life time
can be obtained from four full grown trees. How many trees can a person plant in his life
time? Certainly more than four, it can even be ten, twenty or hundred. So, if aware, a
human being can be enriching for nature in a much more effective manner than an
animal can do.
 170 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

Let us study a little about nature here. We will do this study further in the next chapter
in detail.

S oil, air,
w ater, etc.

P lants H um an B eings
?

A nim als,
B irds

In nature, there are four different kinds of entities. One kind of entity includes materials
such as air, water, soil, metals & non-metals, etc. The other kind has plants, herbs, etc. The
third kind has animals & birds, and the fourth kind includes human beings. When you
look at their interrelationship, you find that the materials, plants and animals are enriching
for the other entities including human beings. We saw some examples above about the
interwoven cycles and enrichment in nature. Based on these cycles and mutual enrichment
only, the production is naturally taking place in the nature. Humans only have to understand
this feature of nature. The purpose of science and technology is to facilitate the cyclic
processes in nature and make human beings more and more fulfilling to the other entities.
But you will find that human beings are neither enriching (fulfilling) for humans nor for
the other three kinds of entities. If only we understand the processes in nature, we can
design our production systems through application of science and technology in such a
way that this mutual fulfilment is better ensured, rather than disturbing it.

Exchange-Storage (Vinimaya-Kosa& )
Exchange (vinimaya) refers to the exchange of physical facilities between the members of
the society, while storage (kos.a) refers to the storage of physical facilities that is left after
fulfilling the needs of the family.
 Harmony in the Society – From Family Order to World Family Order 171

It is important to note that exchange and storage is done for mutual fulfilment and not
for madness of profit or exploitation or hoarding.

Exchange- Exchanging of produce for mutual fulfilment.

(With a view of mutual fulfilment, not MADNESS of profit)

Storage – Storing of produce after fulfilment of needs.

(With a view of right utilization in future, not HOARDING)

Each family has the capacity to produce more than what it needs for itself. Say, if a
family produces wheat, it can produce for ten families together. The other family can similarly
produce cotton for all its neighbourhood. Summing up all the needs in the society, the
families are capable to produce more than the need. And then we can exchange things. This
exchange can take place in the form of commodities themselves, or through currency, wherever
required.

When we produce more than required, we exchange for our current needs and store for
future needs. This storage is to be used when the production is not taking place, or some
relative of ours needs it.

One thing to observe in the two activities is that we are exchanging so that all of us are
able to fulfil our needs together. It is meant for mutual fulfilment, and not to exploit the
other, not with a madness of profit. This is what is naturally acceptable to us, though we
may be living far from it. Similarly, we are storing for proper utilization of the physical
facility in the future. We are not doing it with a view to hoard. As soon as we are able to
recognize the relationship with the other human being or the rest of nature, we cannot
think of exploiting anything. This is what our natural acceptance is, what our basic aspiration
is.

We can now see how these five dimensions of humanistic society are able to ensure the
human goal:

Education – Right living ——— leads to ———————— > Right understanding

* Having the process of education and right living leads to right understanding in the individual

Health – Self-regulation ———— leads to ————————> Prosperity

* Having the program for health and sanyam leads to well being of the body, and identification
of need for physical facilities which along with production ensures feeling of prosperity in the
family.

Justice – Preservation —————— leads to ————> Fearlessness and Co-existence

(respectively)
 172 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

* Ensuring justice in relationship, or mutual fulfilment in relationship on the basis of values

like Trust, Respect, etc leads to fearlessness in society, while Surakshã of nature – via enrichment,
protection and right utilization leads to co-existence in nature.

Production – Work ———— leads to ———————> Prosperity and Co-existence

* Production and work are for physical facilities, and this leads to a feeling of prosperity in the
family. Production is done in harmony with nature, and hence, this also leads to co-existence with
nature.

Exchange – Storage —————— leads to ——————> Prosperity and Fearlessness

* When we store and exchange for mutual fulfilment and not for exploitation, then it leads to
fearlessness (trust) in society.

We can summarize it as follows:

Sikshã - Sanskãra ————————————————> samadhãana

Svãsthya-sanyama ————————————————> samriddhi

Nyãya-Surakshã ————————————————> abhaya & saha-astitva

Utpãdana-Kãrya ————————————————> samriddhi & saha-astitva

Vinimaya-kos.a ————————————————> samriddhi & abhaya

What is our State Today?

Let us observe our programs today in these five dimensions and evaluate whether they are
leading to the fulfilment of human goal.

Education-Right Living
On this account, we have progressed in terms of taking literacy to all corners of the society.
Information which was limited to a selected few has got spread to the masses. We have
developed means of communication to reach out to every human being. Girls and boys,
both are able to attain education. But, we need to relook at the content of education and
the effect of this content on the living of human beings.

Certainly, we have progressed in terms of making education within reach to all, but the
programs of education have become mere programs of literacy, training and information
transfer. The real mark of an educated human being, as we saw above, is that he/ she is able
to lead a happy and prosperous life in oneself, and be mutually fulfilling all around. But do
 Harmony in the Society – From Family Order to World Family Order 173

we see this today? We find that the educational programs of today are making the individuals
feel more dissatisfied and deprived. In the whole process, we just learn how to multiply
physical facilities, without ever trying to make out how much is needed. Training and
information transfer programs, including literacy programs are of course required. But they
are a small part of the whole education process; they are not the complete education. This
needs to be understood by all of us.

As mentioned above, human education ensures understanding and living in harmony

at all levels of human existence, from self to entire existence. We are missing in the very first
level. Do we study about our own self in twenty years of our education and training?

Health-Self-regulation
We had discussed on this in chapter 7.

In this dimension, we have made progress in terms of reducing infant death, increasing
the life expectancy through medication, removal of epidemics, implanting artificial parts in
the body to support the functioning of the body and so on.

These facilities are of course an asset. But as we learnt, Sanyama is basic to Svãsthya.
Lack of understanding of the Body as an instrument of the Self (‘I’) coupled with the
technological progress has led us to go for newer sources of sensual pleasures, irresponsible
practices in living, etc. In place of being responsible to the Body, we are relying more on
medication. We are developing micro- and nano- technologies to cure smallest parts of the
body, but we are producing new diseases day by day through irresponsible living.

Justice-Preservation
In terms of justice, we have progressed on account of bringing every act of crime to the
court of law. Every issue related to relationship can now be debated in the court of law. But
is the court of law the place to get justice? If we look at the situation today, we find that we
have thousands of courts and lawyers and they are all trying to settle injustice in relations.
Judgements are passed and punishments are given. This does not ensure justice! In justice,
there is mutual fulfilment for both parties.

The fulfilment of relationship at the level of individual and family is deteriorating. TV

serials depict in great detail the bad state of our affairs and are creating large viewership for
such things. At the level of nations, we have rising fears of destructive wars with growing
innovations in science and technology. The competition and enmity between nations or
communities is on the hike, the feeling of mistrust and fearl in villages and cities is slowly
growing. The number of legal suits is increasing exponentially, families are breaking for
trivial gains, communal violence and conflicts between factions of society are multiplying.
 174 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

Regarding Surakshã, we can see from history how we humans have fared well in
developing new technologies which have high degree of utilization for the mankind. We
have explored new dimensions of science to get information about every corner of nature.
But due to lack of understanding, we have misused them more than rightly using. We can
see that in terms of:

1. Enrichment: We have largely disturbed nature via chemicals and depletion of resources
rather than enrich it. Urgent steps are needed to rectify this trend.

2. Protection: The natural resources have been depleted to a large extent, birds and
animals are fast getting extinct, the forested areas are on the wane, pollution is on the
rise, be it air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, plastic pollution, and so on.
We have produced bombs to destroy the earth multiple times, while destroying even
once is not desirable!

3. Right utilization: Again, we have fared very poorly. Today is an era of consumerism
and wastage! We produce many times more clothes, electronics, cars, watches, cell-
phones, etc. than we need! Managing all this production has become a major problem
for us today! All we are interested in is having more and more of it (accumulation).
Hence, instead of right utilization, we have ended up exploiting and disposing off vast
amounts of natural resources.

Mentioned above are certain things that need attention in our living too. Check for
yourself, in your house. How many pairs of footwear do you need? How many do you have?
Repeat this for towels, for clothes, shirts, pants, etc. Are you utilizing all these things
properly? Are you even paying attention to it? When we rightly utilize something, it gives
us fulfilment. It also ensures there is no wastage at the level of nature. Whereas today, we
hear of companies overproducing chocolates and butter, and dumping thousands of tons of
this into the sea! We hear of people having hundreds of pairs of footwear! While these can be
extreme examples, each one of us can check and see what we are doing today to ensure right
utilization: of water, of clothes, of food and of vehicles. Right utilization is the most important
part of Surakshã. Nature already has such things of use in abundance that we need not
produce, only utilize rightly. But we are destroying even them.

Production-work
We have seen that nature is cyclic and enriching. How do we, as human beings, fare when
it comes to interacting with nature? On this account, we have done very well in terms of
making our production systems efficient and automated, reducing the time, material and
energy requirement in production, ability to produce variety of complicated parts and
mechanisms, reducing the dependence on natural processes, and so on.
 Harmony in the Society – From Family Order to World Family Order 175

But all of us know how we have multiplied the environmental problems in the process
and how we have increased consumerism today. We have disturbed the ecological balance
and our production activities have upset the cycles in the nature.

Let us take into account some more facts here:

Cyclic – Acyclic: While nature’s processes are all cyclic (close ended) our processes are
acyclic (open ended). If nature functions in such a way that all resources are continuously
renewed and replenished (like water, manure in the soil, etc), man’s processes deplete them.

For example, when we burn coal, it is a non-renewable resource. We can never again
produce the coal we are burning today. This is what we mean when we say ‘open ended’.
This is true for all fossil fuels: petrol, diesel, coal. All these are being pulled out from the
bottom of the earth and being consumed by us. There are two problems with doing this:

l The utility of all these fossil fuels at the bottom of the earth is to keep the temperature
on the earth's surface in a steady state – from the heat in its own core, and the heat
from the sun. By depleting fossil fuels, we are tampering with the ability of the earth
to maintain its temperature. This is an irreparable damage we are doing.

l When we burn the fossil fuels in enormous quantities, it pollutes the atmosphere, and
poisons the air we breathe. And our basic need, to keep the body healthy, is affected.

We can take many such examples (plastics, foams, etc), where the production systems
designed by man, violate the cyclic principle inherent in nature thus causing an imbalance
in nature. This in turn effectively causes trouble for man himself.

Enriching-not enriching: Are we enriching nature, or are we not? Largely the answer is
NO. Take the example of pesticides and fertilizers. It is common knowledge today that the
land that has seen heavy use of chemical fertilizers becomes unfit for agriculture. And the
pesticides are poisoning our own bodies and the animals and birds as well. In the process of
moving towards a global economy, we have increased our technological capabilities and
increased the production capacities of our industries and factories. In this process, we have
managed to make extinct thousands of plant, animal and insect species. The statistics on
this is quite terrifying. We seem to be hurtling towards problems of great magnitude as we
continue down the path of environment destruction.

Exchange – Storage
In terms of exchange and storage, we have developed efficient ways of selling and buying,
sending or receiving money and investing them to multiply faster than nature could ever do.
Sitting with the laptop, we can purchase commodities across the world and invest our capital
in distant markets. Profits can multiply overnight, and we can enter the list of trillionaires
without any physical work. We can also store hoards of currency within a digital map.
 176 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

But with these rising modes of exchange and storage, the exploitation of mankind and
nature has shot up. The disparities in wealth have increased, and the madness for profit has
become the general motivation.

Liquidity of money has of course helped us by providing a smooth mode of exchange.

But it has created more problems than solutions. These problems are the outcome of our
mis-perception in visualizing money which is a notional entity to be the same as physical
facilities which are tangible and are our real needs. It needs to be remembered that money
is not a need in itself but only a mechanism to facilitate exchange of physical facilities.

Harmony from Family Order to World Family Order: Universal

Human Order
Having understood the comprehensive human goal, we are able to be in harmony not only
with human beings, but also with the rest of nature. We are able to see that we are related
to every unit in the nature and ensure mutual fulfilment in that relationship. Working on
the five dimensions of human endeavour in the light of right understanding, we are able to
work for an orderly living of the human society, whose foundational unit is the family and
the final destination is the world family. Thus, a number of family units in the form of a
village and a number of villages integrate to larger clusters of human society – expanding in
this sequence finally to a universal human order on this planet. Living in this order, we are
able to plan for the need of physical facilities, the availability of natural resources and the
role of human beings in ensuring the need at the level of planet. We are able to work for
inculcation of universally acceptable human values through education, plan systems to
ensure justice for all human beings, make policies for the well-being of all.

ˆ Samãja)- feeling of being related to every human being.

Undivided Society ( Akhanda

Universal Human Order (Sãrvabhauma Vyavasthã) - feeling of being related to every

unit including human beings and other entities of nature.

Summary
l Society is our third level of living. Understanding of values in relationship helps us to
extend our harmonious living with people in the society.

l The comprehensive human goal is (1) right understanding in every individual,

(2) prosperity in every family, (3) fearlessness (trust) in the society, and (4) co-existence
in nature.
 Harmony in the Society – From Family Order to World Family Order 177

l Lack of understanding of harmony has led astray our programs and we are not able to
work for the fulfilment of comprehensive human goal today.

l The programs to fulfil the human goal are included in the five dimensions of the
society:

(a) Education – Right Living ( Sikshã - Sanskãra )

(b) Health – Self-regulation (Svãsthya-Sanyama)

(c) Justice – Preservation (Nyãya-Surakshã)

(d) Production – Work (Utpãdana-Kãrya)

(e) Exchange – Storage (Vinimaya – Kos.a)

l Education is to understand harmony at all four levels of existence.

Right Living is the commitment and preparedness to live in harmony at all levels.

l Self-regulation (Sanyama) is the feeling of responsibility for nurturing, protecting

and rightly utilizing the body.

Health (Svãsthya) is the state of body when it is fit to act according to the needs of the
Self or ‘I’, i.e. there is harmony among the parts of the Body.

l Justice (Nyãya) is the recognition, fulfilment and evaluation of values in ‘Human-

Human relation leading to mutual Happiness.

Preservation is the recognition, fulfilment and evaluation of values in ‘Human – Rest

of nature’ relation leading to mutual Prosperity.

= Enrichment, Protection, Right Utilization of nature.

l Work is the labour that human does on the rest of nature.

Production is the physical facility obtained out of work.

Here two issues are important:

1. What to produce ?

- Physical facilities for nurturing, protecting and rightly utilizing the body.

2. How to produce?

- Through Cyclical ( Ãvartans ïla ) Process, in harmony with nature

1. It has to be Cyclic.
 178 A Foundation Course in Human Values and Professional Ethics

2. It has to ensure that every unit is enriched.

l Exchange- Exchanging of produce for mutual fulfilment, not MADNESS of profit.

Storage – Storing of produce after fulfilment of needs, with a view of right utilization
in future, not HOARDING.

l Our state today is that we have worked hard in all the five dimensions of human
endeavour but the lack of right understanding has created a variety of problems today.

l The way out is to understand and to live in harmony at all the levels of living, right
from oneself to the whole existence.

l This paves way for moving towards a universal human order on earth.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Right understanding in the individuals is the basis for harmony in the family, which is the building block
for harmony in the society. Give your comments.
2. What is the comprehensive human goal? Explain how this is conducive to sustainable happiness and
prosperity for all.
3. Critically examine the state of the society today in context with the fulfilment of comprehensive human
goal.
4. What are the five dimensions of human endeavour in society conducive to 'mãnaviya vyavasthã'?
Explain.
5. What is the meaning of education and sanskãra? How does sanskãra follow education?
6. Write a short note on the concept of 'surakshã'.

7. What is Ãvartansïla process of production? Explain with two examples.

8. Explain, giving examples, how pollution and resource depletion are both the direct outcomes of ignoring
Ãvartansïlatã ?
9. How can exchange of physical goods be mutually fulfilling? Evaluate the motivation of exchange in
today's scenario.
10. Why is storage required in a society? Suggest any two ways in which you can store the produce for right
utilization in the future.
11. What in your opinion, is an effecting way of ensuring prosperity in the family? What programs can you
undertake in this respect?
12. Indicate a few feasible steps to promote harmony in the society and co-existence with nature.
13. What do you mean by 'universal human order'? What could be your role in moving towards it?