Jeevan Vigyan - 8: Lesson-5 : Positive Ideals of Anuvrat

India is a very big country with a population of about 110 crores. Majority of people believe in some or the other religion. A very small percentage of our population is settled in mountainous regions, remote islands and far flung tribal areas. These people may not be able to specify the faith they follow. Yet, they have also been religiously following certain customs and traditions for a long time. These customs and traditions have become their religion, though they have not given it a name. We can, therefore say that majority of Indians follow some or the other religious faith. This makes us feel proud.

But, on the other hand, when we look at the day to day behaviour of our citizens, we are shocked to see that they have no consideration for moral values. They do profess that they have total faith in their religious teachings. But they do not seem to follow the moral teachings and ethics that form an important part of any religion. Therefore, all thinkers and educationists are of the view that moral education should form an integral part of our education curriculum. It should be included in the syllabi and text books of all schools. Through conventional or informal methods, the children should be taught the moral values and ideals from the very beginning. That is how they will learn to cherish certain principles in their daily lives. Thus moral education will help them from a sublime character.

Today, what disturbs us most is the discrepancy between theory and practice. Never before in the history of mankind has man talked so much and practices so little. The day moral education becomes a synonym for humanitarianism, we would be assured that all sections and sects of society would adopt the ideals and values taught to them. Here in lies the importance of moral education.

Religion guides people to follow high ideals and principles in life. Unless we practice those ideals and principles in our daily lives, we cannot become good human beings. Anuvrat helps individual to translate the values he has learnt from the religious teachings into his day to day behaviour.

Anuvrat specifies guidelines to give a concrete shape to a society formed on the basis of harmonious relationships. They are:

1. Development of the concept of oneness of the mankind.
2. Development of the concept of co-existence.
3. Development of the concept of truthfulness.
4. Development of the habit of self-appraisal.
5. Development of ethical values in the society.
6. Development of the concept of using only fair means to achieve any goals.
7. Development of self control and determination.
8. Development of communal harmony.
9. Development of piousness.
10. Development of fearlessness, neutrality and truthfulness.
11. Development of abstinence.

We have already discussed in detail the first six guidelines in the previous class. After revising these as before, we will now discuss guidelines 7 to 11.

7. DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-CONTROL AND DETERMINATION:

The entire world seems to be competing to achieve a lifestyle of materialistic comforts and luxuries. As a result, unequal distribution of wealth is prevalent all over. Excessive production and consumption of goods and the resultant waste are crossing all tolerable limits. The world faces a greater danger from the perforation of the ozone layer than from a nuclear explosion. The mankind today is just standing at the edge of this untimely self-destruction. Man must learn to abstain from worldly comforts and lead a life of moderation. He must put an end to the arms race that forces countries to pile up nuclear and other destructive weapons. Only firm resolution can influence the global mandate.

The Anuvrat movement has mobilized several international organizations to raise a voice of sanity. They have proposed that the practice of Non Violence should be included in educational training. This will help the students to practice abstinence.

8. DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNAL HARMONY

Every individual has the right to self-expression. Since there are hundreds of thousands individuals in the world, there would be as many thought currents. Similarly, there would be innumerable communities and organizations following these thoughts currents. Depending on the number of organizations, there would be as many leaders. Then, how do we achieve communal harmony?

We see that all organizations are competing with each other in propagating their ideology. This is the root-cause of communal riots everywhere.

The Anuvrat Movement is based on the following principles:

• Every organization has the right to propagate its principles.
• Every organization should resist from criticizing other organizations and observe tolerance.
• No organization should resort to violence.
• Every individual has the right to disagree.

Yet, every individual should follow the principles of co-existence, universal brotherhood and communal harmony.

Therefore, every individual should resolve that:

"I will observe religious tolerance, I will not contribute towards generating communal hatred".

9. DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNAL PURITY:

A pure mind generates pious thoughts. A polluted mind can generate only sullied thoughts and sentiments. The guiding principles of the Anuvrat deal with the development of a pure mind. The basis of the Anuvrat Sadhana is PREKSHADHYAN. The aim of the Prekshadhyan is Purification of Mind. Only in such a guiltless condition of mind lies the possibility of existence of knowledge and philosophy. As long as person's thought process is governed by prejudices, likes and dislikes, his thoughts cannot be compatible to any knowledge or philosophy. Only when the mind is freed from all prejudices, one can endure the agony caused by pain and pleasure, heat and cold with equanimity. Instability of thoughts lies in infatuation. Infatuation flourishes in an unstable mind. Infatuation invariably leads to bondage. Whereas,devotion is the cement which strongly fastens the faith on to the soul. Strong devotion would create a faith which in turn would spell the difference between man and man. The circumstantial effects strengthen the faith. It has been repeatedly emphasized that every person must exhort to change the prevailing circumstances. A change in the thinking process has been equally emphasized. Anuvrat Sadhana helps one to bring about a change in one's inner self. Sankalpa (determination) and Dhyan (meditation) are important to sustain a person in Anuvrat Sadhana. Let us say:

• I will practice the PREKSHADHYAN.
• In order to lead a peaceful family life I will strive to inculcate in myself the elements of co-existence, balance and co-ordination.
• DHYAN lays a strong foundation for the development of inner purity.

10. DEVELOPMENT OF FEARLESSNESS, NEUTRALITY AND TRUTHFULLNESS:

Truth prevails over everything. Life cannot progress without truth. Falsehood is deployed to deceive others in order to achieve selfish goals. A truthful person will always be free from fear. The liar will always have fear. But what can terrify truthful person? Some people take the help of falsehood for a short-term gain. They remain in the state of constant fear as long as that falsehood exists. But the truthful person never takes sides on the grounds other than that of truth. He always remains neutral. Such neutrality of truth precludes anger, pride, misconception and greed. Only in such a condition, truth can progress. This is what is called the INNER PURITY Its development lies in the vow (Sankalpa) of truthfulness. Let's say:

• I will always remain truthful in my profession and behaviour.
• When I am faced with a choice, I will not resort to immoral behaviour.
• One can progress towards fearlessness, neutrality and truthfulness with the help of determination (Sankalpa)

11. DEVELOPMENT OF DETACHMENT ABSTINENCE (ANASAKTI OR AMOORCHHA) :

Intoxication leads to unconsciousness. An unconsciousness mind gets infatuated towards materialistic things. Infatuation further drives the human mind to indulge in worldly excesses. In other words, infatuation blunts the mind and leads. It towards ignorance. Ignorance compels the man to ponder over the past and the present. He becomes totally insensitive to the needs of the present. Dhyan and Sankalpa free the mind from the bondage of infatuation. Dhyan makes the mind alert and conscious of the present. Total consciousness frees the mind of all blemishes and it becomes pure. We must remember that intoxication and infatuation are two major obstacles in the way of achieving total consciousness. Anuvrat gives our determination (Sankalpa) a positive form, thereby enabling us to fight these two obstacles. Let's say:

• I will never take intoxicants like wine, ganja, charas, heroin, bang, tobacco etc.
• I will lead a life totally free from all infatuations and will always strive to keep the environment free from pollution.
  

1. Why are people immoral despite being religious?
2. Why is it essential to give training in Non-violence?
3. Why is communal harmony essential?
4. What must one do for the development of Inner Purity?
5. What must one do in order to exercise fearlessness, neutrality and truthfulness?
6. What must one do for the development of Detachment/Abstinence (Amoorchha or Anasakti)?