Truth

While explaining the base of education, there is a great emphasis made on relying on truth. One may wonder what is meant by ‘TRUTH’ for there are so many versions of truth explained by Science, different philosophies, and different religions. Everyone says that their version is the correct one. In this context, the concept of Truth, as envisaged by Swami Vijnananand and as understood by me, the explanation is provided.

The importance of truth has been emphasized by Christ. In the 20^th Century, Mahatma Gandhi was the greatest advocate, representative of Truth. All religions in the world have given highest esteem to the (practice of) Truth.

Truth cannot be and need not be defined absolutely. Everyone knows and feels what truth is. Swami Vijnananand (Swamiji) pleads that definition of truth should not be a debatable point. Philosophers of all shades including materialists have admitted value of truth at its individual level.

As a practical and subjective test that mental state would be considered reflecting truth, when thoughts expressed allow equalization of emotions, i.e. rhythm of body, pulse, heart beats etc. do not change in relation to past, present and future.

"Truth gives no emotional unbalance" could be considered as the shortest description of truth.

Emotion and Truth – Emotions effect keep individual away from Truth. 

During the time an individual is under emotional stress, he is also away from truth knowingly or otherwise. 

Everyone knows in his mind (consciousness) ‘what is truth’. Using an analogy (within its limits), we may imagine that the psychic energy an individual possesses has (as if) two components. (a) Truth and (b) Untruth – This is in the form of emotions. It is enough to assert that when we speak the truth, emotional balance maintains itself completely (to a relative extent). Conversely, when the emotional balance is lost (i.e. one particular emotion or group of emotions prevails upon the mind) then, it is likely that mind is guided by some untruth (to a relative extent). (Note – A detailed analysis on the above point appears in the volumes of the New Way Series, also in the series of my blogs on ‘disease and cure’).

Illustration w.r.t. one kind of emotion (Affection)

There are many types of human emotions. ‘Affection’ is one such emotion. As true with any emotion, ‘affection’ itself incorporates untruths and partiality.  How? Let us see.

Consider an everyday occasion in life – your son has, for no justifiable reason whatsoever, hit your neighbor son. What would be your reaction? It will totally depend upon your own individual and unique personality. But it may belong to any one of the following three categories.

1.     You insist on siding with your son, knowing fully well that you are practicing untruth by being unjust. For justifying (the behavior of) your son, you invent false excuses.

2.     You realize your son is in the wrong and you resort to complete silence.

3.     You flare up into uncontrollable anger and inflict punishment on your son.

Untruth and Pulse Variation (PV) go together.

Under whichever of these three categories, your actual action falls, it will result in your (own) pulse variation (PV,, pulse count per minute variation. Pulse count is the easiest measure to understand body motion status at a given moment).

Untruth (working against consciousness) and pulse variation go together.

(i) In case of reaction as at ‘1’, the untruth is so obvious that no further explanation is necessary.

(ii) In case of ‘2’ above also ‘behavior of untruth’ prevails because of following considerations.

-    The outcome of timidity leads as much to silence as bold and just acceptance of truth. On this occasion the possibility of timidity exists. Consequently, the silence cannot be considered as ‘Love of truth’.

-    The check of PV will confirm the ‘untruth’ in suppressing the emotions (and remain silent).

-    Consider a different situation where two strangers are in quarrel. Here your reaction of silence would be different from the ‘quality of silence’ in the first illustration.

(If your son’s result of important exam is due, you may be silent but still highly concerned. In case of the result of the son of a stranger you may be silent and unconcerned). P.V. check or other such checks at body level could verify this fact).

(iii) In case of alternative ‘3’ also the emotional disturbance (P.V.) check can ensure the behavior intention – If it was a quarrel between two strangers boys, you would not have bitten any one of the boys. You bit the boy, for you love him and want him to be good behaved.

Another way of illustration is – If your son scores good marks in exam you will give him prize. But if the same score comes to your neighbor’s son, you would not consider to give him a prize, same as you might have given to your son on such occasions.

Essentially the primary question all along remains the same. Whether you are, or you are not partial to your son in the expression of all reactions? This partiality is nothing short of untruth.

One can understand your punishing the boy (for wrong deed) but not your anger or P.V.

Have you conquered the emotions? A Criteria.

If none of the above mentioned three alternatives come into play in your case, we have to concede that you have conquered the emotion of ‘affection’. As we know we are constantly under shade of various typs of emotions. Now in your case search in that direction of other emotions needs to be undertaken.

Readers may ask – Based upon the above analysis, one of the main question of readers undoubtedly be – Is it then your contention that we should not love our love children?

Answer 1 – The theoretical answer could be as follows:

Neither Swamiji nor for that matter anyone else in the world (howsoever great or learned, pious he may be) can possibly help out any body (who is) violating the Laws of Nature. Our duty is to point out to you what the true nature of these laws is. The Laws of Nature are absolute and remain immutable (permanent). If somebody calls it ‘absurd’ because of somebody finds it inconvenient, still they are applicable to everybody.

One has to first accept truth as an objective to be practiced and not merely an idea to be worshiped from a safe distance. Once this is done, the devotee of truth, himself understands how to resolve the knotty problems in the life in a way suitable to his own personality and yet remaining undisturbed (keepimg calm). This is a journey of thousand miles but it starts with the first step of resolution (to follow the truth).

Answer 2 - Our second answer is as accurate as any scientific answer can possible be.  No researcher can find a theory which is suitable for needs of all individuals. His job is to put forward right thought, scientifically correct. Each one has to adjust himself to a natural phenomenon. Nature and Nature’s Laws are meant to be obeyed. Therefore, to avoid disease, protect yourself from emotion and for cure of disease, make use of truth alone as medium of cure.

Our premise shows the relation between truth, emotion and disease. 
(For details readers are requested to refer to previous Blogs on "Disease and Cure").

Emotion = Disease. 

With respect to human body, the relation between motion, emotion and disease can be illustrated as follows:

In every occasion of emotional occurrence, there is some change in body motion. Similarly, in every occasion of disease also the body motion is affected.

Emotion (E) = Motion (Pulse Variation PV or EEG potentials).

Disease (D) = Motion (               - do -                                     ).

Therefore,
 

E = D.

The life starts at conception, when the motion is set. The life ends at death, when the motion stops. During whole life, there is motion associated in body. Thus life is a journey of motion.

For various desires of pleasures we create disturbance (change of motion) in the body’s steady-state. This goes on whole life. Thus desire for pleasure is also thus related to motion. Here we can conclude that both life journey and lust of multiple and diverse desires of pleasures in human life are both associated with ‘motion’. The ‘laws of motion’ have thus important relationship with life and desires of pleasure (or happiness in normal language).

The unquestionable link which exists between emotions and disease is created by the animal called man and man alone. Threfore, conclusion is in keeping with the laws of science particularly the laws of causality applicable to the human life.

The details of the intricate working of the speed, ratio and proportion between emotion on one hand and disease on the other in relation to specific individual would of course vary, even vary vastly from person to person, from moment to moment. This cannot come at all under any standard analysis.

Our premise, our plea and our demand as humble servant of truth fulfills the demand of science. 

No religious leader has even denounced truth.  Truth For our purpose is, “Individual expression of subjectively known objective fact recorded with detached mind”. Not only should one adhere to Truth, but Truth must be told with a perfectly detached mind

To illustrate with a simple example. Mr. A visits Mr. B's home and is received by Mrs. B. Mrs. B in all good faith tells Mr. A that Mr. B has gone out. After Mr. A has left, to her surprise Mrs. B finds that her husband was at home. Has she then told an untruth? Certainly not. For Mrs. B. the objective absolute truth subjectively known to her was of Mr. B not being at home. In reporting the situation as she conceived it, Mrs. B had no hidden objective before her. 

On the other hand, had the situation been one where Mr. B happened to owe some money to Mr. A for the recovery of which Mr. A had called on Mr. B, then the matter takes on an entirely different texture provided that Mrs. B knew of the transaction between the two (but not otherwise). If she knew of the transaction, her pulse-rate would have varied even when telling the truth as she conceived it, the mind not being detached.

To get away from the clutches of this riddle, the best way is to leave the discussion of absolute truth to philosophers. In practice defining truth as "subjective truth as objectively known, expressed with detached mind", serves our purpose.

Summary - Emotion, Truth, Disease.

All unequal members of the human race share equal knowledge of Truth.  Allotment of Truth is selfsame. For this purpose truth known to every member of society is replete. A cup of water to the brim need not envy an overflowing tank. Since, even if what is offered to the cup has no room where it can accommodate it.

Why is untruth voted for?  A liar necessarily clings to his version for a lap of luxury, for pleasing some emotion or the other. Try to place this in terms of logic and mathematics:

In truth there is no emotional outburst.

Untruths cause emotions.

Emotions cause disease (unease).

Therefore, Untruths cause un-ease (disease).

Therefore, Truth causes ease.

Instances already furnished, establish relation between emotion and disease. One more quote is added only for ready reference.

"The effect of emotions on the adrenals is to produce higher blood pressure which favors the development of arteriosclerosis and other diseases of circulatory system. The thyroid is so much affected by mental depression that this emotion is mentioned by scientists as one of the causes of myxoedema. The pituitary body is also affected by emotions. Prof. Pel and others have noted cases of acromegaly after violent emotion. Dr. Sajous has often pointed out this gland as the central organ upon which all strong emotions react. The liver and kidneys are much affected by emotions. Jaundice indicates the disturbance of the former whereas, according to Clifford Albutt, many cases of interstitial nephritis can be traced to mental emotions."

"An objective truth as subjectively known" as probable cause of cure, ranks high and assumes top eminence in the eyes of respectable scientists

-         We located emotion as an immediate cause of disease in scientific terms.

-         What is the way out to avoid this abuse of emotions?

-         Obviously a non-emotional state of mind.

Which in simple words, mean a ‘truth-patterned’ behavior.

Truth definition.

S.V. in his book ‘Equation of Happiness’ defined Truth as; ‘Objective reality subjectively known told with a detached mind.’ (Equation of happiness, page 47) “Individual expression of subjectively known objective fact recorded with detached mind”.

God is Truth.

We reproduce Swamiji’s description of God in ‘New way Philosophy’.

I am convinced, that God, fortune and happiness can be achieved by a simple method of adherence to truth. I feel all the four are identical. Both educational theory and psychology at present would not accept truth as an unqualified requirement for proper development. I will not have and there cannot be any compromise on this issue. Present education and psychology detract from real, absolute truth. The more we are away from truth, the more “ego” we have. “Truth” and “ego” are, for the most part, antithetical (opposite) to each other. Present system of education encourages ego and ignores truth-values. We never understand that the proportion of ego in us is but the present form of future misfortunes. We never know that we are digging our own graves. We never know that fortune is within us and not without us. We search for fortune and happiness all over the world, except in our own mind, because egoistic brain never allows this simple fact of fortune being within us to be realized by us. (New way philosophy to fortune….).

The journey to the practice of Truth, how so ever difficult it may be, has to be practiced by a human being. This is the journey of human evolution. And to bring such upliftment is the real purpose of Education.

Vijay R. Joshi.

EVERY CHILD IS UNIQUE IN NATURE

 Every child is Unique and needs unique way of teaching / educating.

The general review of the present conditions of young generation will reveal that younger kids are capable to grasp a lot more information than any previous generation. This young generation seems comparatively more aware of own self, free of inferiority complex and know about their desires and ambitions. They are also eager to learn and try new things in life. But simultaneously, largely they seem to chase materialistic pleasures and are no fan of discipline. They are also self-centered and ignorant of value based lifestyle. 

Though we do not like to generalize, the above conclusion, it is derived from the contacts made with several youngsters in schools and colleges through various field activities of Manashakti Research Centre. However, there is no point in denying the fact that today we see different kind of generation-gap which is widening faster. Of course, problems in rural, urban and metropolitan areas are different and they do vary as per the economic class. Nevertheless we find growing tensions at student and parent’s level everywhere. Thus it appears necessary that individuals, institutions, organizations and strategy makers should review problems and the root causes objectively to find appropriate solutions. We shall try to analyze in this context. 

Educating-global-citizens-for-the-21st-century

Mind and Life Institute Conference, October 2009 at Washington USA had detailed deliberation on this subject.
(http://www.kosmosjournal.org/article/educating-global-citizens-for-the-21st-century/)

How can our educational system evolve to meet the challenges of the 21st century? How will we educate people to be compassionate, competent, ethical, and engaged citizens in an increasingly complex and interconnected world? The urgent challenges of a globalized and interdependent world demand a new vision of world citizenship that is not confined to national boundaries, but encompasses moral and ethical responsibilities to all humanity. People coming of age in the 21st century will need to develop unprecedented levels of intercultural cooperation, mutual moral concern, creativity, and skill in effectively addressing the challenges of the world today—challenges economic, ecological, and inter-cultural/religious in nature. An education that will prepare young people to become competent and compassionate world citizens in such a context. It cannot be measured only in terms of cognitive skills and knowledge, but must address wider aspects of the heart, including skills and qualities of awareness associated with conscious self-regulation, ethical and social responsibility, and empathy and compassion for others. The time has come to usher in a holistic view of education that empowers children and builds resiliency, hope and confidence.

Neuroplasticity allows us to take responsibility for our own behavior by reshaping our brain at the level of synaptic connections. Teachers and education policymakers gave infuriating examples of how the current school system fails and inspiring examples of brilliant solutions when you connect students to their inner worlds and to each other, and when students and teachers join efforts in radically new ways, sometimes even formalizing respect for community and values by collaboratively penning their own classroom constitution at the beginning of the school year.

The Western educational paradigm focuses on technical skills to mold students into good worker bees. Teachers expressed frustration at being told to teach to the questions on standardized tests. Shame on us for treating students as if their worth arises from how favorably they contribute to the mean and standard deviation of their school district’s scores! We can do so much better! Kids deserve so much better! This one-dimensional, test-score-driven approach has, to this point, largely ignored the importance of cultivating students’ emotional development and regulation, but these two types of education need not be independent. Research clearly shows that children who are more skillful in regulating their emotions score higher on memorization and reasoning exams. Students who are given the tools to more effectively manage their inner lives seem to learn more deeply. Children who are encouraged to care move beyond themselves to care about the collective and not just ‘me’ and ‘mine.’

H.H. Dalai Lama has made secular education, as distinguished from religious education, a priority as the scientific evidence of the consequences of a chaotic interior life are known. And universities such as Harvard and Stanford have heard the call. (REF - http://www.kosmosjournal.org/article/educating-global-citizens-for-the-21st-century/)

With the initiative of “Mind and Life Institute” at the end of the first decade of 21st century, the topic of Character development has been taken up by leading experts in the field. This is indeed a good news. But the emphasis seems only at “school level”. As seen below the learning process doesn’t start after the child is admitted to school, but right from prenatal stage, rather from pre-conception stage. The role of homes (parents), and other stake holders is also critical.

There are millions of children in the world who do not afford good school admission, rather any school admission. If planning at global level is to be considered, then more comprehensive approach appears necessary. Way back in 1960s, Swamy Vijnananand, the founder of Manashakti Prayog Kendra in India, thought on these lines and evolved rational, secular, all affordable approach.

We have to first understand and agree to the fact that each child is unique. Let us see some references on this.

Uniqueness of individual (child) 

(REF http://dailyedventures.com/index.php/2014/08/18/ellenbrandenberger/)   August 18, 2014
“Every student is unique in his or her strengths and challenges, and it is the job of the teacher to foster highly individualized learning in response to the student. Not the other way around.” – Ellen Brandenberger, USA.

I think the most important thing to remember is that high need in a child necessitates both high expectations and highly individualized support from teachers and school community members. While this is easier said than done, and can often feel like an uphill battle, each child deserves a quality education, but needs very different things to get there, whether it be a hot lunch, a literacy coach, a math tutor, or otherwise. 

REF - http://www.kidscount.com.au/en/parenthood/every-child-is-different

EVERY CHILD IS DIFFERENT

As parents, we are constantly comparing our children to others. Whilst this can be a source of great pride, it can also become a source of worry that something is wrong with our child or that we are doing something wrong as parents. Every child is different. Children develop differently, have different personalities, possess different strengths and require different kinds of support to meet their individual needs. All children develop at their own pace and in their own way. 

Children grow and develop at different rates. While their developmental pathways may differ, most pass a set of predictable milestones along the way. It is normal for children to experience developmental spurts and slow spots in different areas of their development over time. If your child is a little ahead or a little behind at a certain age - this is normal. Most of the time, given the right nurturing and stimulation, all children will catch up in the end.
All children have different strengths and vulnerabilities. Some are good at sport, others music. Some are very academic and others not. Some are highly anxious and others are more relaxed. Some children are good sleepers and others wake through the night for years.
The task of parenting is a constantly changing one as the growing needs and abilities of our children change over time. There is no ‘one-size fits all’ way to parent. What works for one child may not work for another. What worked when children were two years old may not work when they are four years. Adaptability and flexibility are key ingredients to parenting. It is normal to lack confidence in your parenting at some time. 

The uniqueness of each child

(Information based on the Philippines' Multigrade Teacher's Handbook)
Every child is an individual, with special social, emotional, intellectual, and physical qualities.
Children are unique. They are individuals and no two children are alike: physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually, each child is a unique individual. Because children are unique, even if there are common needs and characteristics that children of a particular age or stage of development share, they must be understood by their parents and teachers in their uniqueness, and their individuality must be respected.
For example, even in a single-grade classroom composed of 45 to 50 seven-year-olds, not all of the seven-year-olds will be reading at precisely the same ability level. They will also differ in the ways they are able to understand and solve word problems in mathematics. They will have different personalities—some will be shy, some will be confident, some outgoing, some quiet but competent. They will each have their own life experiences and feelings about themselves. They will have different likes and dislikes, interests and needs.
However, this does not mean that a teacher has to prepare 45 or 50 different lesson plans whether it is a single-grade or a multi grade classroom. Instead the teacher must be able to get to know and understand each of the children and prepare teaching/learning activities that will respond to and reflect these individual needs of children. As children work individually or independently, in small-groups or as a whole group, they will each benefit in their own way from these activities. What is most important is that the teacher, who is primarily responsible for planning the daily activities through which the children will learn, should know every child and keep track of how well each child is able to learn.

Role of parents in nurture is important as the role of a teacher.

As stated by one of the speakers in the Washington 2009 seminar organized by Mind and Life Institute,  in mass-accident,(like train accident where lot of people suffer different types of injuries and damages of different organs), each patient needs specific, special treatment which can be given by different specialist doctors… 
In the class room in a similar manner, the need and requirement of each child is different, requiring different special skills. But this  has to be attended by single or two academician teachers. The job is complex, beyond the reach of a teacher. This nor simple, not practical. Rarely some teacher would be able to meet such expectation. What to do? Can we depend entirely on teachers for child’s complete personality development? 
Let us start from the purpose of educating a child in its basic details.

Objective of Education

In dictionary ‘learning’ is defined as a modification of behavior through experiences. Function of learning is in accepting the experience one gets in life and accordingly making (appropriate) changes in own behavior.  Experience means learning as per situation. Thus objective of education is understanding overall meaning of these experiences to make right changes in own behavior. 

In a way, child who is getting an experience and factors responsible for giving child the experience are important in the learning process. For better education child must remain in a condition where he gets good experience. We must try to provide him favorable or at least, less adverse environment from the beginning of learning process. 

When Does Learning Begin?

If you want to make a perfect pot then you must use proper clay and water as a raw material. Insist on using good quality clay. Should use water proportionately to knead clay. Then only you will be able to produce perfect pot. The same principle applies to human intelligence and his internal-external personality that develops through this intelligence. The physical and emotional inputs in the child should be properly blended at appropriate time to cast a good character of the future adult.

Around 7 billion people reside in this world but we won’t find two people having exact same skin color, appearance, likes and dislikes, character, etc. This is the uniqueness only nature can create.  The human efforts can endeavor to shape the nature by proper care of nurture.

How Does Human Personality Develop? Which Things Do Affect It?

Every parent obviously wishes for best personality development for his child. This can make himself/herself happy in life. To fulfill this aspiration child must be given proper education as early as possible. When should we start this education? When does child begin learning? We must find answers for these basic questions. 

Learning from Prenatal Stage

The entry of child in this world is the moment of his birth. But before birth; child exists in his mother’s womb for about nine months. Does the child learn during this pre-birth existence? Manashakti Research Centre’s founder Swami Vijnananand undertook study, experiments and research on this topic since 1960. Based on the work of many scientists, researchers in world, it is now proven that acquiring knowledge, sensitivity and process of changing behavior by gaining experience continues in child even in the prenatal stage. Development of brain, sense organs and other life processes are on during the pre-birth stage. Favorable condition should prevail in prenatal stage to provide child with proper nurture (emotional imprints) and education. We have to put in intentional and pre-planned efforts for this. 
Detailed study courses and mind-body machine tests giving guidance to the parents on this topic are available in Manashakti Research Centre. We shall see the details later. 

Stages in Post Birth Development

Life develops step by step by various ways and means since moment of birth to the stage of adulthood and even after that. Physical, psychological and intellectual development, emergence of varied consciousness regarding different aspects of life takes place during this period. Every person has his own natural personality. But this personality transforms as per environment and the perception of experiences gained. Thus every person gets independent and unique features, shape and existence. This whole process is now studied under the branch of science, called ‘epigenetics’. Generally it was believed earlier that development of personality takes place mainly till youth, but recent research on brain functioning claims that this process continues during entire life till the moment of death. 

We can broadly consider three major stages in the post-birth child development process till attainment of age twenty one.

Stages of Development

First seven years after birth
Eight years to fourteen years of age
Fifteen years to twenty one years of age

The development takes place on psychological/intellectual levels as follows – Emotional development takes place in first stage. In second stage, mainly thinking or analytical capabilities are developed. In addition to these two things, setting goals, aspirations and ambitions, academic education, physical health and diverse aspects of entire personality take shape in the third stage.  

For the correct formation of personality on each stage, it is necessary to put in specific efforts based on the needs of the stage prevailing. If we keep this aspect in mind and evolve an appropriate strategy of education/nurture, we can achieve the results and develop the up-coming generations to successfully face the challenges of the changing world. 
This necessity which is based on mind-brain relation, is described in a beautiful aphorism in Indian traditional education system. 

लालयेत पंचवर्षाणि, दशवर्षाणि ताडयेत |
प्राप्ते तु षोडशे वर्षे, पुत्रे मित्र मिवाचरेत ||

(Parents or elders should nurture the child only with love, affection even pamper it till first five years of age. Later till the child becomes around ten years old it should be spanked and provided role model, exemplary behavior and appropriate environment to inculcate proper behavioral discipline. When the child turns around sixteen years (attains mature age), then he/she should be treated like a friend. They must feel like grown-up and their opinion matters. They need to exert on their own for the progress and necessary support should be made available from elders, if felt needed.

To ensure this process happen properly, responsibility distribution can be as follows:

Stage                                         Primary Responsibility

Prenatal stage                                  Mother, father
Till seven years                        Mother, father, teacher 
Eight to fourteen years                Teacher (main responsibility), mother, father (only guidance) 
Fifteen to twenty one years        Teacher, mother/father (limited to suggestions and advice only                                                                when desired,). Maintain friendly relations 

How Does Learning Take Place?

Having seen the stages of learning and the responsibility attributable to the nurturing elders, let us see how the process of learning normally takes place. 

Child acquires knowledge (ज्ञान) using sense organs (ज्ञानेंद्रिये). Through exposure to the outer world the learning takes place. These sense organs absorb entire knowledge available mainly during awake time of the day. That is to say the process of the knowledge assimilation takes place through seeing, hearing, touch, taste and smell. The experience creates stimulations in the child based on individual perception and as a result imprints in the memory system generate changes in behavior of a person later, in due course of time. This is in nutshell; the process of learning and shaping the personal traits or behavior. We must note that learning does not take place only in school but also in home and other places as well. Let’s estimate the extent each sensory organ participates in this process.

Sensory Organ                                                         Estimated Participation in Learning process 
Eyes                                                                            80% (seeing)
Ears                                                                            10% (listening)
Other sensory organ (skin, tongue and nose)                     10% (touch, taste and smell)
Total                                                                             100%

It means seeing and listening play major role and is very important for proper education and learning. 

Where Does  Learning Take Place?

Learning process continues throughout the day in waking hours. (Sleep period also can be used to certain extent for learning, but that aspect needs separate deliberation and is excluded in our discussion). So we must consider how time of day is spent. General classification of the time spent in a day by a student is considered as follows:

SI. No.            Place / Location                                                          Time of The Day (%)
1                    Home                                                                                             16 %
2                    School                                                                                              16 %
3                   Friends/Neighbours/other places in society                                      16 %
4                    Mixed (out of above three)                                                               12 %
5                  Sleep / rest                                                                                       40 %
                 Total                                                                                              100 %
    
We can see that students learn in school (mainly from teachers), at home (mainly from parents) and in society (from friends, neighbors, etc.) in almost equal proportion. Every concerned party should be aware and understand the necessity of efforts on every level to create proper imprints on the highly sensitive mind of the growing kid in his/her earlier years of life.  

Summary: Learning/nurturing process should be made available to the child since prenatal stage till the stage of attaining adulthood. We briefly reviewed the outline of this process in certain details. Everybody concerned bears the responsibility to create proper environment and avoid improper things. A child must get training/guidance not only for success in academic examination, but also for sound health and in shaping modest and responsible behavior/character. This will pave the way for success in the future, happy life. And the responsibility rests not only with school but also with home, media, policy makers and society at large. We shall see more on this in articles to follow.


Vijay R. Joshi.

Swami Vijnananand: Efforts for the new generation..

A famous quote says ‘if you want one year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want ten years of prosperity grow trees; but, if you want hundreds of years of prosperity, nurture the youths’. Efficient and morality practicing young generation is important and necessary aspect in nation building. 

Statistics reveal that presently; India has 50% of its total population below the age of 20 years and about 70% or more below the age of 35 years. Therefore India is known as nation of youths in the world. India is predicted to be a world superpower in next 10 to 15 years. Realization of this dream is largely based on the assumed success and accomplishment of young generation. Thus, we can conclude that if India or any nation for that matter, wants to gain and maintain top position in the world in coming years, it is necessary to start and continue the process of creating capable, virtuous and patriotic young generation.  

 

Educational institutions, office bearers, principals, teachers, parents, government officials, politicians responsible for educational policy making – all should consider this fact before planning and implementing a strategy. Manashakti Research Centre particularly and especially is working with this purpose. Its objective is to help parents, teachers and others concerned in nurturing young generation. With this objective, it is busy organizing many study camps and related activities regularly for past many years. Recently a three days conference was organized at Lonavla on the subject “Efforts required to bring up the new generation with right character.”

Pursuit of happiness

Each one of us mostly strives for happiness and happiness is the major objective. Parents attempt to fill their child’s world with happiness. They always try hard to raise their child properly and keep his or her life on correct track. But mostly they are ignorant about the exact course of action to achieve their aim and often their efforts result   not yielding desired results; end-up into failure. To some extent; this is applicable to schools and teachers also.

If we review the condition and status of children – from infants to teenagers - the overall state of affairs we see is quite worrying.  9^th June 2010 edition of English daily published from Mumbai displayed following headlines on front page:

-         Two and half year old child suffers from depression.

-         A rich Kid steals……just for the craze of thrill

We see quite often the news related to the stress, depression and  resulting ill effects due to the erratic behavior in younger generation.

Today we can easily hear about depression among six to ten years old children. High blood pressure, diabetes is common in school and college students, at least during the pre-exam period of high tension, as revealed in some social surveys published. Another published survey revealed that 50% school students in a metropolitan city were of aggressive nature and show tendency to become a gang member of bad boys operating in school campus.

Tough competition; tension of study; increasing struggle due to ambition of getting maximum marks; addiction of TV, mobile phones, social media and Internet games; excessive / untimely eating and sleeping; exam fear; getting confused at the time of exam; anger;  unwillingness to attend school; self-centered nature; lack of definite pre-set goal – 

complaints coming from parents are many and never-ending. 

On one side tensed parents are worried about future of children, on the other side; children are getting depressed and aggressive due to various external factors. Dynamic lifestyle has provided us many conveniences that we had never seen before. But it has also given birth to worries and sorrows that were never present in our life in the past.

Where Is Happiness?

Matthieu Ricard is a French scientist turned Buddhist monk. He has reputation of being ‘happiest person in the world’. He has published a book on ‘happiness’. He says that our mind is flexible and constantly changing. We can dramatically change our life, if we slightly change our attitude toward world and our perception of external things.

How to execute these changes? What exactly we should repair? To find the answers we must entirely review the concept of happiness.

Happy Personality

In some of the earlier blog-articles; we have seen how the concept of happiness has been treated by Swamiji in terms of laws of motion and second law of thermodynamics, Entropy. Here we shall try to see this in another rational way.

Anybody who really wants to be happy in life needs three things. They are:

1.     Capacity to earn money for material comforts – This requires Success in examinations.

2.     Physical fitness – This requires maintaining sound health.

3.     Peace and satisfaction – This requires appropriate behavior, nature or character.

It is always beneficial to strive for them since the onset. Let’s try to understand it in brief:

1.     Success in Examination: One has to pass many exams with flying colors since childhood to young age and even later in life. Syllabus, Passing criteria and competition is part and parcel of every examination. We need to study various things with devotion, honesty, concentration and persistence. You have to prove your worth gradually by passing examination. Our financial and other gains are determined according to this. Currently this process continues from two and half / three years to twenty five years of age. Many career options are present as per one’s interests and caliber. We can choose from them. Even after completing academic studies, one has to face many examinations and competition such as in job interview, promotion or while starting new business. At each stage one has to ensure correct efforts and decisions for further progress. One can earn wealth after all these efforts. In short,  success in the examination is most necessary.

Health: A person cannot be happy without excellent physical health because only healthy and sound person is capable of enjoying all the pleasure we get from wealth. For instance, a person might have financial capacity to eat tasty sweets every day. But if he has diabetes, he is absolutely forbidden to do so. We cannot enjoy any pleasure without health. Our body is made of many organs, cells and various systems (such as digestive system, respiratory system, etc.). Their complicated functioning needs proper balance and sound health of each body component which is important for day to day activities. So a person must include well-planned and controlled diet, recreation, rest and exercise in his lifestyle. Parents must consciously take care and lay foundation of child’s health since childhood. Today health care is a matter of big concern. Many physical and psychological illnesses of adult age are arriving early at young age on large scale due to faulty lifestyle and food habits.

3       Nature or Character: These two factors mentioned above, i.e. success in examination and health might be favorable to a person, but no one can be happy without appropriate nature (behavior). Negative, unsatisfied, egoistic, vain person remains unsatisfied and unhappy in spite of favorable conditions. On the other hand, person having appropriate character, nature can reduce his unhappiness by remaining balanced even during adverse health and wealth conditions. Nature of a person means attitude, motivation, tendencies, behavior and character. All these things are important and essential for happiness. Therefore cultivating, nurturing proper nature, building character plays very important role in creating new young generation to face life challenges in the years to come. In fact it may not be wrong to conclude that while the first two factors are important, this third factor is vitally more important.

Character building

Character building by increasing emotional quotient is a hot topic of discussion among thinkers in the world today. An international conference on ‘Educating world citizens for the 21^st century’ was held in October 2009 at Washington, USA, under leadership of Dalai Lama. This important issue is at the center of discussion amongst thinkers all over world. The process of developing nature and character mainly takes place in childhood, i.e. up till age of 12 to 14 years. To accomplish proper things in this process, parents and teachers can contribute on large scale and media and government can also play their proper role. It is necessary to create awareness and give training in this regard. Many experts have presented their viewpoint on this aspect in the recently held Manashakti conference also. 
(The conference details at link 'http://educon.manashakti.org/20-Jan17.html')

In prevailing education system emphasize is put on scoring the marks and grades in examination. Curriculum and training regarding focus on health and character building attracts very less attention or is completely ignored. This aspect assumes high importance in MANASHAKTI efforts in nurturing youth. We shall see more on this in the articles to follow.

With due emphasis on Character Development, we have to prepare the revised-new rational education policy to nurture the overall personality (i.e. success in examination, health and character) of the child during the journey form prenatal stage to youth.We should take into account advantages and disadvantages of current education system to find out appropriate solutions and plug the loopholes. For doing this we need co-operation from all concerned. While determining these details of action; we should first objectively review when, where, how and by what means the learning process takes place in the life of child. So we could understand how to make that process more favorable and appropriate. The subject was discussed in its basics by Swamiji in his book “Save Your Child from Yourself”.

We shall review this; in the article to follow.

 

Vijay R. Joshi.

Swami Vijnananand, the founder of Manashakti Research Centre

Swami Vijnananand, the thinker, saint of modern age.

When Saint Ramdas was still a young kid, he sat in an attic, contemplating about the betterment of world. Saint Dnyaneshwar endured excessive persecution from the people. But he prayed to God ‘Let everybody get whatever they wish’. Saints who devoted their life for service of others were present everywhere in the world, in every age. They left imprints of their selfless work in society for long period. Their guidance and direction benefited many generations in the past and continue to benefit the present and future. Name of Swami Vijnananand, the founder and first thinker of Manashakti Research Centre belongs to the same rich tradition. He can be regarded as the thinker, saint of modern age.

“The welfare of the universe is my constant thought.

Self-examination is my tool.

I have no enemies outside of me.

I may have some enemy inside me for sure.

Day by day, as my knowledge based work will grow.

One day the entire world will be mine.

Science and beliefs are in my skin.

Gratitude is my righteous path.

Insulting others is forbidden to me.

Peace and equality are my actions”.

In words Swamiji did not only pray for the welfare of universe, he literally lived the prayer for his entire life. He combined science and spiritual knowledge to offer various solutions for people to apply and make their life happy. Lonavala’s famous Manashakti Research Centre is using these solutions for people since 50 years through various useful activities.

Happiness in life seems like a tiny barley seed, but sorrow is felt like mountain, big and overwhelming. Howsoever we try, we do not get the happiness to the extent we desire. Whatever little happiness we get is not long lasting. Unhappiness clings to us forever even if we do not try for it. Tension accompanies success. Boon of wealth comes with the curse of jealousy. Many such questions keep badgering us. Parents worry about study, nature and health related problems of young generation. Many of us are fed up with the corruption in society. Health and tension related problems are equally troublesome for young and adults. Number of temples, mosques and churches are growing, but real religious, tolerant and virtuous tendency is diminishing. Virtues like sanskars, benevolence, neighborliness, humanity, nationalism, honesty are getting obscure.

To find basic answers for all these worries, Swami Vijnananand studied concepts of happiness and unhappiness of human mind in depth. He took the help of scientific laws and interpreted independent solutions to problems.

In his study, research and experiments, Swamiji found that a person can solve his problems by bringing change in his lifestyle by his own efforts based on laws of nature. When human efforts are combined with spiritual knowledge and science, we get results that last longer. He wrote many books on his research. He also consulted and verified his research and results with experts in various subjects. Around 1960, he published a series of 16 books on “New Way Philosophy” in English. Later he wrote approximately 250 books in five different languages. He also wrote articles in many leading Indian newspapers.

His work took off in many forms such as establishing Manashakti Research Centre, organizing study camps, designing mind test machines, conducting novel body-mind machine tests. Various pujas including Yajna puja suitable for modern times are associated with organizing social work activities or shramananda, knowledge rallies, etc. Gradually with such activities conducted over last fifty years, Manashakti Research Centre has acquired present status.

Today the main center is at Lonavala (Pune ) and many sub-centers are spread across mainly in state of Maharashtra, India. There are approximately 100 life devotees at Lonavala who work full time for the institution.   There are thousands of devotees all around Maharashtra who selflessly contribute in the form of time, i.e. one hour a day or money donation (Dhananand). This work is now spreading beyond  Maharashtra and India as well.

“Manashakti”, magazine, a Marathi monthly published by M.R.C has celebrated silver jubilee recently.  It is a magazine published from Lonavala ‘for lasting happiness and reducing unhappiness’ – which is its motto. This magazine has become popular in no time as it provides knowledge based amusement and motivation to each and every person in the family through its various columns.  It reaches 4 to 5 lakh people every month.

The activities of Manashakti Research Centre include various special study courses, machine tests and other solutions for every stage in life, i.e. from prenatal to post-death. 50 years ago, Manashakti Research Centre presented the idea of educating and giving sanskar to fetus at prenatal stage.  It also started scientific programs to educate people in this regard.   This initiative can be considered unique not only at local level but also at the global level. Currently other individuals / institutions do conduct such prenatal education programs, but prenatal education conducted by Manashakti Research Centre is extremely popular due to its distinctive noble purpose and methodology. Seminars on prenatal education are organized all over Maharashtra and are in great demand. These seminars are conducted in Marathi and English. There is also a three days study course to give extensive guidance on the subject. This study course is available at Lonavala, scheduled throughout year.

Diverse programs on personality development for children and youths have been proven useful for children-parents-teachers and are very popular. Solutions  based on scientific study of mind-brain-body trio; independent, logical and rational guidance to accomplish ambitious mission within specific period; devotees working within laid principles; team work without any materialistic or  financial gain or donations; democratic decision making process without personality cult; selfless extensive work for all; that goes beyond cast, creed and religion based on no profit no loss principle – are some of the characteristics of this institution.  

Manashakti Research Centre is conducting various activities to create well mannered, patriotic and humanitarian young generation for building nation. Many activities useful for educational institutions, schools, colleges, parents, teachers, administrators of such institutions are available. Activities available for adults include guidance on health, behavior, success, satisfaction, etc. In the article to follow we shall see the center’s initiative for youth welfare.

While Swamiji has setup activities from prenatal stage to the whole life span till the moment of death, the major emphasis is for the new generation. In the articles to follow, we shall see more on this subject.

Vijay R. Joshi.