Training in Nonviolence

Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya
Publisher: Anuvrat Global Organization

Page 63

13 The First Phase of Training in Nonviolence
Introduction
Development is man's nature. He has a natural desire to make progress. He doesn't want to remain what he is. He wants to make strides. Hence we will consider development as a natural human tendency. Development has many directions - a particular direction creates a good environment for man and another one creates problems. Development depends on our outlook as to what we want and what life we want to live. Sometimes our life is marked by renunciation and sometimes by self-restraint. Today it seems that self-restraint has become secondary, renunciation has lost its value and intellectual development and economic development have become the main objectives of man's life. Material development and the entire area of physical development or economic development have emerged as the most powerful factors of our life. Today self-restraint and renunciation have paled into insignificance. They have all gone behind the curtain. That is why problems are being created. One of the reasons is that the number of human beings and living creatures far exceeds the number of material objects available on the planet. If we look at it from an ecological point of view, we will come to know that material objects are in scarcity and those who want to consume them are in large numbers. Then how can there be a balance between the two? It is impossible. Hence, let us try to find out the causes of the problems that are multiplying Balanced development
Many of our problems are increasing because our perception of development is not balanced. It does not take into consideration balanced development. The concept of development is unbalanced. Hence, no one is benefiting from this development and many problems are arising out of it. When the development of moral and spiritual values and material development go together, it will naturally lead to balanced development. We have propounded a principle of development, which proposes a quadrangular plan consisting of material development, economic development, moral development and spiritual development. It constitutes the
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