Book Title: Family and Nation
Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya, A P J Abdulkalam
Publisher: Harper Publications India

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Page 117
________________ CREATING HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS 103 and by assessing what we are really interested in and what really makes us happy, can we truly be able to change our actions. Which is why when we make the effort to express to others and ourselves the exact nature of our feelings, we gain some power over them. Those who are ready to accept the world and others as they are, are healthier than those who resist reality. Based on these experiences, we have developed certain aphorisms guided by which one can interact with others. The idea behind these aphorisms is that health is a multifaceted condition that includes the physical, the emotional, the spiritual, and more. All of them are inter-related and interdependent. FREEDOM The first aphorism of a healthy individual is freedom or independence, which essentially means an unfettered ability to choose. A person who is subjugated is plagued by emotional disorders or distress. How can such a person be physically and mentally sound? If an individual succumbs to the dictates of his senses and mind and indulges arbitrarily, he suffers from an absence of restraint (svachhandata). But if he analyses the dictates of his senses and mind and uses discretion, he experiences freedom (svatantrata). Slavery doesn't mean mere bondage to others and a compulsion to comply with the orders of others. Slavery also means to give in to one's arbitrary impulses or primal drives. It amounts to a sort of depravity. A person enslaved by his impulses cannot be healthy. SELF-CONTROL The second essential attribute of health is the power of selfcontrol. The rashness of anger, arrogance, deceit, hypocrisy, greed, libido, fear and desire make the brain imbalanced. Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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