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CREATING HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS
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building, moral values and health education are still viewed in isolation. An integration of all three is needed to develop a holistic outlook towards health.
A society can be regarded as healthy only when its citizens have high operational efficiency. Only that society makes progress whose citizens are rich in thought. The strength of a society lies in the organization of its members. Negative emotions like anger, arrogance, greed, jealousy and fear not only affect both physical and mental health but also sap the strength of society's organization. They shatter the very building blocks of unity.
From the grosser point of view, the three types of health are arranged in the following order of precedence: (1) physical health; (2) mental health; and (3) emotional health. But viewed from a subtle angle, this order is reversed to: (1) emotional health; (2) mental health; and (3) physical health. The imbalance between intellectual and emotional development is a problem that gives rise to many other problems. We ought to pay more attention to emotional development than to intellectual development. Even human rights are not secured in the absence of emotional development.
There are two kinds of tension external and internal. The external tension originates in adverse conditions of stress. It disappears when there is a change in the circumstances. The causes of internal tension arise from within the self. Suppose a person abuses someone. After some time, the person who is abused calms down and the tension vanishes. However, the feelings of animosity caused by the abusive words stays within him. In spiritual parlance, it is called salya. It is like a thorn or a splinter which is stuck inside the body. The salya remains eternally in the inner world of bhava and continues to eat into the individual's health. To remove salya, the spiritual seekers have presented the options of forgiveness and friendliness.
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