Tulsi Prajna 1993 01

SR No.: 524573
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Parmeshwar Solanki
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
Publication Year: 1993
Total Pages: 156
Language: Hindi
Classification: Magazine, India_Tulsi Prajna, & India
File Size: 9 MB

Page 79

Values for Education
73 proprietorial rights on individuals. Its moral aspect is perhaps the strongest defence in its favour. But women have suffered in this game because of both historical and biological reasons. Be that as it may, non-indulgence in sex or prudery areas much socially disapproved as over-indulgence. A kind of means has to be the governing factor in one's sexual life. Interestingly, societies regard sex as a matter of public concern and morality; therefore, natural and unnatural acts are also defined.
Moksha or Nirvana is the ultimate goal of human life. All religions have added this goal to one's life as a necessary regulatory feature. Without Nirvana we shall lose the entire perspective to human existence. Why do we live? has no meaning if we do not know where is one destined to go. All journeys must terminate somwhere and at a certain point of view. Therefore, we must know both the process and its product. Nirvana also has a salutary effect on our behvaiour, It controls excesses and deviations. It is a solemn promise for those who have qualified for it through their modernisation, observance of social norms, and performance of all necessary obligations.
If the entire gamut of human life, controlled and regulated as it is, has to confirm to a defined pattern, all values stand automatically achieved. But the problem arises because we are not quite sure what exactly these values mean, how can they help an individual, and what really happens if we fail to be governed by them. We have so far failed even to define as simple a thing as Truth or Duty. We are not sure whether Truth is relative or eternal. Similarly, we cannot define one's duty also. No single value could stand the test of time or space. In fact, this is one good reason why we say that values are relative. They have no independent existence beyond Time and Space. The reference points are situations. The ‘ideal construct' of values flounders on the rock of relativity.
Interesting as it is to know that there is a typology of values and there is a possibility to establish a hierarchy among them but the values themselves become commonplace as soon as we start examining them. Let us take an example. To kill a human being is not socially apporoved. Indeed, it is a cognizable offence under the penal code. But in times of war when human groups are behaving like enemies, killing of a soldier/human being is regarded as a heroic act. The act of killing, therefore, in one situation is not desirable, in the other it is more than welcome. Therefore, the objective reality of killing changes colours/values according to situations. Wartime values are supposedly different from peace time values. What therefore makes the difference is not the killing but the situation of war or peace.
Similarly, telling the truth (apart from determining the nature of Truth) is extremely difficult to decide as a desirable or socially undesirable action. The fact of telling the Truth is generally regarded as a good or a desirable value. But is that so? For example, iconoclastic activity is permitted by a religion but the idol worship itself is a greatly cherished value in another. Therefore, the breaking of
January March 1993