Aparigraha the Humane Solution

Author(s): Kamla Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

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APARIGRAHA - THE HUMANE SOLUTION
a secondery item, (as if it is an object of consumption) and therefore, it is taken as an unprofitable investment. Investment in a good industry boosts production and if it does not boost production it goes waste and therefore is a loss to the economy. By the same logic, investment in human beings is viewed as an investment in machines-i.e. it should be productive. But truly speaking, this is not the purpose of education; education is not just technological expertise. Education without humanistic values is no education at all. The situation becomes grim when education itself loses its importance in the affluent society, when money in contrast to education becomes more important, and where only, Lakshmi is revered and Saraswati is neglected. But this attitudinal catastrophe can be averted by education alone. The skill in the field of natural sciences needs to be diverted towards the social sciences, where human beings are at the centre. If all this enters into our educational system the preliminary background for a better and more durable future for mankind would be prepared.
True education or investment in true education alone can bring about a fall in consumption level with the lowering of the spirit of admiration and emulation of the objects of consumption, leading thereby to a reduction in creating demands for them. Thus consumerism will be contained. The focus then would be on producation of objects that are related to man's basic wants rather than on created wants for a fraction of the society. It is education alone that can give a holistic view of human needs and their satisfaction. Education refines our tastes and sharpens our senses and ability to discriminate and thus controls the tendency towards imitation in display of wealth and encourages a more independent and objective attitude to control wants-creation. Further, education enables us to see that technology should not control us, but that on the contrary, we should control technology. Thus the obsession with more and more production can be streamlined and contained by education alone.
This suggests that the ray of hope lies in education. It may not impress many of us, since the meaning of the term education has developed a number of ramifications, but in the long history of human