Imbibing Satyuga (Age of Truth) values in Kaliyuga (Age of Sin)

Every-day we hear of rampaging mobs gruesomely killing in the name of politics, religion, caste, region, language, food choices, skin color or differing attire in this diverse world.

How can so many humans come together and become so evil, with not even one person standing up against the mob? Is it a lack of moral values or a lack of moral courage?

Or is this real human nature? Reminds one of lines from Tennyson:

For nature is one with rapine, a harm no preacher can heal;
The Mayfly is torn by the swallow, the sparrow spear’d by the shrike,
And the whole little wood where I sit is a world of plunder and prey.

Shouldn't the basis of a civilized human society be “right is might” rather than “might is right”?

We cannot blame our falling values on Kaliyuga, the Age of Decadence and Decay. Just take one look at the faces of innocent wide-eyed children. They are ready sponges waiting to absorb what the world has on offer. Their values will be what we teach them at our homes and in our schools. More importantly their values will be what they learn through practice, through observed behaviors of elders and the values that they see society applauding and upholding.

Revered Dr. M B Lal Sahab in His gracious address at the Closing of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 1978 advised the gathered students, “It is not merely the study of books that is required of you, you have to assimilate what you read and more than that imbibe the values of humanism, secularism and democracy”.

Our post this week is on Students 

"Imbibing Satyuga (Age of Truth) values in Kaliyuga (Age of Sin)".

The post below is by Dr. Smita Sahgal, a top Academician who teaches History at Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi. She did her studies in History from St. Stephen’s, is an avid researcher and writer, has presented multiple papers and has been a recipient of prestigious honors including the Best Paper award from Indian History Congress.

Best,
Anurag
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Dr. Smita writes…

As a young girl in school I would wait for our ‘moral science’ class because that meant freedom from travail of formal tutorial or lesson imparting and more of reflection time. We could discuss a range of issues and arrive at some broad parameters of what may be called as Value education. For many of us it simply meant a free period. As I grew up and moved on to become a teacher myself I realized that this compulsory lesson in ‘moral science’ where some of my friends took it as time to relax, was certainly a needed rumination routine. Today ‘value education’ is not a fashionable term amongst many students as it is taken as a regulation exercise. That’s the impression I got in my numerous interactions with students in the metropolis. They think of value education as something that counters freedom of thought. Is that really so, I often wondered till I interacted with students of Dayalbagh Educational Institute (DEI).

The curricular at DEI has built Value education as an integral aspect of its philosophy on education. It appears to be more than just a philosophy; students figure out mechanisms to apply it in their dealings with society at large. I grew fascinated with the concept of evolution of a ‘complete person’ one who is not only physically, mentally, intellectually strong but also acquires consciousness of outer environment and inner self. Let me elucidate my understanding with an example.

As a student of social history, I took caste system as a very discriminatory and divisive social contrivance, one that should be done away with. But one of the students did not decry it but postulated as, ‘a man can gradually evolve into a superman’ if he were to integrate the positive qualities of all four castes, that is of Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra in his persona. On further prodding I was enlightened that each of these castes is associated with at least one good quality; Brahmans are associated with education and reflection, Kshatriyas with self-defense, Vaishyas with provision of food and other goods to others and Shudras with service to all. If an individual were to assimilate all these qualities not only would he learn to respect everyone but the social differences which the ancient caste system has constructed over centuries would also get mitigated with time. The process would be slow, but an extremely pragmatic one and would address a fundamental social issue of discrimination.

Students at DEI are taught not just the courses that they have enrolled in but also to spend time in community work. Working in fields give them first- hand experience of tilling the soil, in dairy of seeing and participating in the process of milking and pasteurization, in Community kitchen of cooking and serving, in village camps of teaching and serving the village community. The practical experiences are balanced with consideration on other serious social issues and I was impressed to find many DEI students forming opinions on issues such as extravagant marriages and problem of dowry and gender inequities. This is done along with their rigorous academic schedule where many are trained to become engineers, technicians, teachers, researchers and academicians.  Ultimately this kind of education equips them to recognize dignity of labor and impacts their interactions with society at large. This is education for life, they summed up.

I was also keen to know about their views on religion and whether there should be dominance of one religion or whether religious issues should be discussed at all in social life. I encountered a variety of responses. One student was candid enough to state that he was uncomfortable discussing his religious affiliations and was therefore surprised to see a compulsory paper on Comparative Study of Religion. ‘But my views changed with time’, he stated as the course did not turn out to be promotion of religious values of a particular religion. Another of his class-fellow put in, ‘ma’am I have understood secularism better though am still unsure of its genuine political application’. ‘So many of us in the institution hail from varied religious and community backgrounds but we never get a sense of alienation. Comparative religious study gives us an insight into different religions and one is surprised to find such commonality in their principles. What I have learnt through my years at DEI, is to respect all religions and even if I am a firm believer in my own I need to remember that it does not give me the right to disregard another sect or tradition’.  ‘Is this not a secular approach to life?’, he mused. ‘Yes’, said another, ‘we did study about our constitution being secular, but for that to remain so we as students, citizens, statesmen etc. have to learn the principle of respecting each other’s cultural and religious affiliations’. A girl who had been quiet throughout the discussion opened her mind and chipped in, ‘that’s also my democratic right’.  ‘I agree that initially I, too, thought that religious studies of any kind may end up in imposing certain kind of views and came prepared to counter them but here I saw that the ideas promoted were of fundamental humanism; tolerance, inclusivity and according dignity to every human being and if these are reiterated through value education or by studying religious traditions around the world, let’s not be critical’.

My interaction with these young minds left me spell bound. I could not help revisiting my moral science classes as a young girl. Yes, those did help me to form opinions on many issues but what I saw at DEI was the application of ideas in a very practical way. I would not hesitate to advocate this model for other institutions as well. Students must move out of their self- growth/ individualistic modes and see themselves as a part of a larger community to which they need to give back as well. This sense of camaraderie comes when we frame a kind of value system for ourselves and institutions play a significant role in formulation of these.