The Indian Ethos : Value System
The Indian Value System
Indian ethico-moral discussions go back to three and half millennia when Vedas specified the ground rules of human existence and living. The ethical discussions and teaching continued all through Indian history though India was ruled by different emperors and foreign rulers.
The Upanishads, Puranas and Smritis continued the traditions. The values were put for popular use in great epics of Mahabharata
and Ramayana. Bhagavad-Gita puts ethics in a clear and concise way.
The epics give human dilemmas in every walk of life and
attach importance to values in dealing all such issues. Kautilya’s
Arthashastra, Vishnu Sharma’s Panchatantra, Hitopadesha, Neetishastra, Katha
Saritsagar, Neeti Shataka, Somadev Neeti Sootra and many more works stress
Indian ethos in different ways.
Perhaps to attract readers these works are in story form,
ornate, colourful and poetic giving an unparalled practical ethical values in
them. The current ethical behaviour of Indian is an intimate mix of good
textures of values taken from Vedantic, Jaina, Buddhist, Sikh and Sufi
traditions. In recent past we have also added western values.
About two and a half millennia ago the roots of western ethical values
started in Greece from Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. At about the same time Chinese
got ethical base in Confucius. The Vedantic ethical values are spiritual,
sacred and simple. The entire value system is put as ‘Dharma’ or righteousness
in all what one does.
In
Indian Vedantic system personality types have been suggested based on set of
attributes as given below.
a) Daivi or good attributes give
Sattwa type of personality.
b) Rajas personality shows an angry
and always busy type.
c) Tamas is always thinking negative
doing such harmful work.
The
classification of three types of personalities show hereunder the attributes of
each type in the Table below:
The value systems in countries are evolved over centuries and differ consierably from one country to another. Ethics was and is a traditional subject in India. Vedantic Ethics had spiritual approach , which is summed up in its entirety - What you do not wish unto you, do not do it to others.
Indian Values:
Values means something that is precious, dear, worthwhile, valuable and estimable and hence worthy of possession. Value is a standard. A value may be described as an emotional attitude, which motivates a person directly or indirectly to act in the most desirable way preferred by him or her. Values are defined as ‘beliefs upon which man acts by preferences’. The Oxford Dictionary define value as something of great worth or importance or standard or principle that is valuable in life
Dr. B M.T.Ramji’s in
his book titled Value Oriented School Education – “A value is what is desired
or what is sought. Values may be operationally conceived as those guiding
principles of life which are conducive to one’s physical and mental health as
well as to social welfare and adjustment and which are in tune with one’s
culture”
The man who possess any
of the three major attributes/’guna’s discussed
in forgoing sections in varying combinations as given in the Vedas, travels
through the phases of ‘Ashramas’, is bounded by ‘Purusharthas’ at every stage
in life irrespective of what ‘Varna’ he is in. These aspects are explained in
the foregoing sections. Thus Purusharthas form the cardinal values of Indian ethos with Dharma as base Moksha as the canopy while tracing Artha and fulfilling Kama in the endeavours of human life.
1. Ashramas
According to Manu, Dharma is that which is practised by those
who know the Vedas and the Shastras and are people without any bad quality like
jealousy and passion. It includes practices recognised by the mind as correct.
Varna is the organised division of the human society into four blocks depending
upon the occupation which one pursues and Ashramas are
the four stages in a person’s life i.e. celibacy, family life, semi saintly
life and life after renunciation.
The Varna system mingled with the four Ashramas of one’s life
on the path of dharma becomes the Varnashrama Dharma.
There are four stages of the
Ashrama System:
·
Brahmacharya or the period of study and
education.
This is the
first 20 years of a person’s life. During this period students are taught Dharma and given a True Education.
·
Grihastha or the period of marriage, family,
work and livelihood solely for ones family. This is the next thirty years of a
persons life from 20–50.
·
Vanaprastha or the period of community service
and work for the larger community. This is the period from 50–65. In the old
days it was meant for contemplation and retirement to the forest.
The basic aim was to return to true
worship of Brahman which was by serving nature. In modern times there
are very little forests left.
So the modern way of true worship
of Brahman is not only to serve Nature,
but also to serve the larger community by SEVA in
the True Temples.
·
Sanyasa or the period of renunciation from
the world and contemplation solely on the Atma and Brahman.
This is the highest achievement of
a persons life. It is usually from the period of 65 onwards when one has
fulfilled all worldly responsibilities.
2. Varnas
The
existence of four major divisions (Varnas) of society, viz. (i) the Brahmana,
the priestly class; (ii) the Ksatriya, the ruling class, (iii) the Vaisya, the
professional class; and (iv) the Sudra, the labouring class, is clearly
indicated in Vedic literature. The Vedic hymns refers to the metaphysical and
social nature of the four major classes
When objectively viewed, these Varnas were sophisticated
organisation of the society that intelligently divided the population into
different groups that would help the society function smoothly. Another
property of the varna system was that what may be desirable for one section of
the society could be degrading for another.
Each varna and ashram has its
own specified dharma. What may be desirable for one section of society may be
degrading for another. For example, absolute non-violence, which includes
refraining from animal sacrifice, is essential for the priestly class but
considered wholly unworthy of a kshatriya (warrior).
Generating wealth and producing children are essential for householders, but
intimate contact with money and women is spiritually suicidal for the
renunciate. Underlying all these apparent differences is the common goal of
advancing in spiritual life based on sanatana-dharma.
Without the spiritual equality and sense of service inherent in sanatanadharma, varnashrama-dharma tends
to degrade into the rigid and exploitative caste system. The Varnashrama Dharma is based
solely on Guna and Karma.
It is not based on birth at all.
Varnasrama
Dharmas, or the duties of the individual and of the ethico-social organization
of human beings. Even in the ascetic ethics of Jainisim, the rules of conduct
have been practically followed by the Jains for thousands of years and are
adhered to by them today.
RigVeda
as well as Atharva Veda mention honesty, non-violence, truthfulness, modesty,
agreeable speech, Brahmacharya ( celibacy), religious conviction, and purity of
heart as the important virtues that are praiseworthy. These very virtues are
mentioned in the Bhagavadgita as divine qualities. Thus the Vedic philosophy
lays emphasis on right conduct as the means of the development of the
personality of the individual. Hence in a way the ethics of the Vedas is the
ethics of right action
3. Prusharthas
Purusharthas , literally means an "object of human
pursuit", find
its mention in Suryopanishd of Atharva Veda. The Purusarthas presents a balanced
and integrated view of life . Wealth (Artha)becomes evil only when it is
misused on account of lack of wisdom. The Upanishads repeatedly point out that
everything that is desired is desired for the sake of the self. The concept of
duty or Dharma in the Upanishads is not negative but out and out positive. It
does not command us to give up or renounce the world, but rather to engage in
the worldly strife, always aiming at the spiritual goal and subordinating all
other desires to the strongest desire, or love for God.
The Upanishadic notion
of Kama(desire) is described as follows: ‘Kama, which we are asked to renounce,
is not desire as such, but only the animal desire, lust, the impulsive craving
of the brute man. Freedom from Kama is not blank passivity. Natural desires and
inclinations are the spring board of all human actions. Therefore it is an
important human value.
To sum up, we may say
that Artha, Kama, Dharma and Moksa are at the same time essential methods for
leading a meaningful life. Neither the path of indulgence (Pravirtti Marga) nor
that of asceticism (Nivirti Marga ) is desirable. Indulgence in the enjoyment
of the pluralistic spatio-temporal world without insight into its spiritual
monistic basis is as harmful, antisocial, and anti-ethical as indulgence in a
lower pantheism and equating good with evil without recognition of pluralistic
nature of the empirical world is disastrous.
The
Bhagavadgita follows the philosophy of Samadarsana (the unitive view of the
Ultimate Reality) and Visamavarttana (differentiated behaviour in the empirical
world) to the core. Referring to this devotion to duty, it has been remarked in
the Bhagavad-Gita that one should prefer death, while performing one’s own
Dharma to a change of professional duty.
Svardharme ninhanam sreyad, paradharmo
bhayavahah.
A holistic grasp of Indian values is stated by great Poet
Kalidasa as Satyam-Shivam-Sundaram. The meaning and connection is shown in the figure below.
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