1. What do you mean by values? How do they differ from skills?

How are values

and skills complementary?

Ans. Values refer to the principles, beliefs, and ideals that guide an individual's behavior and
decision-making. They represent what a person considers important, meaningful, and desirable in
life. Values are deeply rooted and often shape a person's attitudes, choices, and priorities. They can
include concepts like honesty, integrity, compassion, fairness, and personal growth.

On the other hand, skills are specific abilities or proficiencies that individuals develop through
learning, practice, and experience. Skills can be tangible or intangible and can range from technical
expertise to interpersonal communication, problem-solving, leadership, creativity, and more.

There is an essential complementarity between values and skills for the success of any human
endeavour. For example, I want to lead a healthy life. I understand that health is the basic
requirement for a human being. I then learn skills to judge what food will keep my body healthy,
what physical practices will keep the body functioning properly, what would be the possible ways to
do certain kinds of work with the body. All these fall under the domain of skills. Thus, both (values
and skills) are important and these are complementary. Only wishing for good health will not help
me keep my body fit and healthy and without having understood the meaning of health, I will not be
able to choose things correctly to keep my body fit and healthy. Here's how they relate to each other:

1. Guiding Principles: Values provide a moral compass and a set of guiding principles that influence
how skills are utilized. For example, if honesty is a core value, it will affect how a person uses their
communication skills, emphasizing truthfulness and transparency.

2. Motivation and Purpose: Values provide a sense of purpose and motivation for skill development.
When individuals align their skills with their core values, they often find more fulfillment in their
work and personal pursuits.

3. Decision-making: Values influence decision-making by helping individuals prioritize and evaluate

choices. Skills enable individuals to implement decisions effectively, considering the practical aspects
of their value-based choices.

4. Personal and Professional Growth: Values and skills both contribute to personal and professional
growth. Developing skills that are aligned with one's values can enhance overall satisfaction, as
individuals are more likely to pursue opportunities that resonate with their core principles.

5. Interpersonal Relationships: Shared values form the foundation for meaningful relationships. Skills
like active listening, empathy, and conflict resolution can support the manifestation of those values in
interactions with others.

In summary, while values provide the guiding principles and beliefs that shape a person's character
and decision-making, skills are the practical abilities that individuals acquire and utilize to bring their
values to life. They are interconnected and mutually reinforcing, influencing how individuals act and
contribute to various aspects of their lives.

2. How do you presently decide what is valuable to you? How do you ensure that
your decision is right?
Ans. Basically all of us are aspiring to be happy and whatever appears conducive to our happiness
becomes valuable to us. Values form the basis for all our thoughts, behaviour and actions. Once we
have known what is valuable to us, these values become the basis, the anchor for our actions. We
know what we are doing is right and will lead to the fulfilment of our basic aspirations. Values thus
become the source for our happiness, our success, our fulfilment. Without an appropriate value
framework, we will not be able to decide whether a chosen action is desirable or undesirable, right
or wrong. Hence there is a prime need for correct understanding of the value domain.- Value
Education is the input necessary to fulfil this need. When we live with the correct understanding of
values, we are happy in continuity, otherwise we feel deprived, frustrated and unhappy. What are
the values that you hold worthy in your life? Have you verified them to be conducive to your
happiness? It is important to explore the value domain in sufficient detail through value education.
We also need to understand the universality of various human values, because only then we can
have a definite and common program for value education. Then only we can be assured of a happy
and harmonious human society.

Secondly, Technology is only a means to achieve what is considered “‘valuable” ’ for a human beings
in an effective and efficient manner. It is not within the scope of technology to decide what is
valuable. This decision lies outside its scope. It thus becomes primarily important to know correctly
what is ‘valuable’. Without this decision, technology can be aimless, directionless and can therefore
be put to any use, either constructive or destructive. It is thus with the understanding of values that
we can decide on the appropriateness of technology and its application. Both the structure and use
of technology is are decided by values. For example: if we value the relationship with the
environment, we will work to create environment-friendly technologies (the structure of technology)
and also put it to right use (use of technology), say, for the enrichment of environment,
replenishment of natural resources etc. Conversely, if the relationship with the environment is
something we do not value, things could be the other way round. As students of technology and
management, we will be studying, creating, implementing and managing technologies which will
affect the lives of a large number of people. Getting trained on technology without deciding what is
valuable, could even prove counter-productive as our technical skills are likely to be misused.
Therefore, it is essential that we understand how technology relates to us as individuals and to
human society and nature at large before we attempt to put it into practice. Thus, there is a need to
supplement technical education with value education. This will enable a human being to decide and
pursue what is really ‘valuable’ i.e. conducive to human happiness, human welfare, what is of ‘value’
to him. To conclude, Value Education enables us to understand our needs and visualize our goals
correctly, and also indicate the direction for their fulfilment. It also helps remove our confusions and
contradictions and enables us to rightly utilize the technological innovations.

Value Education is a crucial missing link in the present education system which must be adequately
replenished. It must be remembered that to become an excellent professional, the excellence of
values along with the excellence of requisite professional skills is required. The present course is an
effort in this direction.

3. To be in a state of Harmony is happiness. Examine this statement and illustrate with two
examples from your day to day life.

Ans. Let us now explore into the meaning of happiness. Try to recollect situations when we feel
happy. We will see that there is a set of feelings which we are able to accept effortlessly and
naturally. These are feelings such as trust, respect, being confident about our future etc. These
feelings are naturally and effortlessly acceptable to each one of us. We also welcome these feelings
and desire them to continue in ourselves. When we observe such feelings, we find that these are the
situations when we are in harmony and these feelings are a reflection of that harmony.
Take for example: respect. Respect is a state of harmony between two human beings. When I respect
the other and the other respects me, I like to be in that situation. It gives me happiness. Similarly,
looking within me, when I have harmony in my thoughts, my feelings, I feel relaxed, happy. If this
harmony is disturbed, I feel uneasy. Try to look at all the moments when we feel happy, we will find
that there is an element of harmony in it, which we like. We will keep exploring about this harmony
in the rest of this book. We can thus understand Happiness as “The state/situation in which I live, if
there is harmony/synergy in it, then I like to be in that state or situation.” i.e. “To be in a state of
liking is happiness.”

When we are in such a state of happiness – we experience no struggle, no contradiction or conflict

within and we enjoy such a state of being. And we wish to have its continuity. On the other hand,
when we experience feelings such as failure, disrespect, lack of confidence, being doubtful in
ourselves or about others, we feel unhappy as they are states of conflict. These are the states when
there is lack of harmony, either within us or between us and others. We do not wish for a
continuation of these feelings within and want to try and change them – we can call this
unhappiness. We can thus state unhappiness as: “The state/situation in which I live, if there is
conflict/contradiction in it, then I do not like to be in that state or situation.” i.e. “To be in a state of
disliking is unhappiness”.

Thus, we can define happiness and unhappiness as “To be in a state of harmony is happiness.” “To
be in a state of disharmony or contradiction is unhappiness”.

It is important to point out that we do get an impression of happiness through our sensory
interaction also such as while eating tasty food, seeing a beautiful picture, smelling a sweet
fragrance, etc. However, these impressions of happiness are always short-lived and their continuity
can never be ensured. In fact, all attempts to seek the continuity of happiness through sensory
interaction only leads to more and more misery.

4. Self exploration is a process of dialogue between "What you are" and "What you really
want to be". Examine and illustrate.

Ans. We will look into ourselves and find out what we are today, and how this contrasts from what
we really want to be. If these two are the same, then there is no problem. If on investigation we find
that these two are not the same, then it means we are living with this contradiction (of not being
what we really want to be) and hence, we need to resolve this contradiction, this conflict within us.
Ask yourself this question: “Am I what I really want to be?”

When we look into this, we find that mostly we are not what we really want to be. These two are
different and each one of us is faced with this contradiction. We are something and we want to be
something else. This basic contradiction has to be resolved. This dichotomy creates a conflict in us,
which is a continuous cause for our unhappiness. What we are today- is the result of our pre-
conditionings, our predispositions, our impressions and our beliefs. What we really want to become
from deep within us, that is naturally acceptable to us. This is something intact in us. It needs to be
explored and found out. “What I am” ´ “What I really want to be”. This dialogue needs to be started -
between what you are and what you really want to be. On investigating into it, you will find that the
contradictions are not outside of you. These contradictions are inside you. In fact, the contradictions
that you see outside are mostly a reflection of the contradictions within. For example, we end up
believing many things that are instilled in us since childhood – like “living is basically a struggle for
survival”. And based on this belief, we plan our whole life. But have we even asked ourselves the
question of whether this is the way in which I really want to live? We find that most of the time, we
don’t even care to know whether the things we have assumed are really true. We are defining our
entire lives, all our desires, based on such assumptions, without even knowing whether these
assumptions are naturally acceptable to us! This is a serious matter worthy of our attention. All our
unhappiness, all our discomfort, all our unease is because of this contradiction within – between
what we are and what we really want to be. Each one of us lives with this feeling of discomfort, the
unease within that keeps telling us “something is missing”. Each one of us is faced with
contradictions and problems in various aspects of life – contradictions within ourselves, in our
behaviour with people, in our interactions and thoughts about society, and in our interactions and
notions about nature. And irrespective of where you are placed: in a nice school, in a great college,
having a good job, having a lot of money etc., this discomfort is continuously present. On careful self-
exploration, we will find that we are being driven by a number of assumptions/ beliefs which are
contrary to our natural acceptance and they cause contradiction within us. We have to start looking
at these carefully. Many times, you will find, we want something, we think something else, we say
something else, we do something else, and the results of our actions do not match with the expected
outcomes! This kind of dichotomy continues to exist in us, resulting in a state of unhappiness and as
of today we don’t seem to be doing anything at all in order to address these contradictions, whereas
it is the basic issue that needs to be resolved.

5. What do you mean by your Natural acceptance? Illustrate with examples

Ans. Natural acceptance is a faculty that is present in each one of us. It is intact and invariant. We
only have to start paying attention to it, to start “seeing” it. For example, ask yourself this question:
‘Is trust naturally acceptable to me in relationship, or is mistrust naturally acceptable?’ What is the
answer? It turns out that trust is naturally acceptable to you in relationship. Similarly, ask yourself
another question: “Do I want to live in relationship with others or do I want to live in opposition with
others?” The answer is - live in relationship with others.

We find that we get the answers from within ourselves and it is spontaneous. The answers are there
in us, naturally. We only need to trace them. We call this faculty the natural acceptance. For every
proposal being put forth here, we shall pass it through our own natural acceptance. If it passes
through our own natural acceptance, i.e. if it is naturally acceptable to us, it is true for us. If it does
not, then it is not true for us and we can drop the proposal. Let’s not assume what is being stated
here to be true! You need to ensure that you pass every proposal through your own natural
acceptance! Let’s ask ourselves another very basic question: Do I want to be happy? The answer is a
very quick yes! How did you get this answer? Of course, through your natural acceptance. This may
seem very simple to begin with, but we shall see that this becomes a very powerful way for us to
know what is ultimately right! Once you start asking the question deep within yourself, you will be
able to start accessing these answers yourself. This natural acceptance is there in each one of us, it is
what we most spontaneously, most naturally desire. You don’t have to import this natural acceptance
from outside; you don’t have to learn it from somewhere! For example, when you asked the question
“whether trust is most acceptable to me in relationship”, did you ask anyone else for the answer? Did
you read or learn the answer from somewhere? Did you have to refer to some instrument? The
answer is NO. This answer came from within you. Similarly, about the answer to- “Is living in
relationship with others is naturally acceptable to me”. Did you have to learn this from others? Again
NO! Thus, as first part of the self-verification, every proposal being put forth here, is passed through
our own natural acceptance.

At this point, we can make the following observations about natural acceptance:
 (a) Natural acceptance does not change with time: This can be easily verified. For example, our
acceptance for trust or respect does not change with age. People hundred years ago also had the
same natural acceptance. We can try to verify this within our span of observation.

(b) It does not depend on the place: Whether we are in New Delhi, New York or Abu Dhabi, if we
address our natural acceptance, the answer would still be the same!

(c) It does not depend on our beliefs or past conditionings: We may be told frequently not to trust
people of other religions or castes, but is it naturally acceptable to us? No matter how deep our
belief or past conditioning, as long as we ask ourselves the question sincerely, as long as we refer
deep within ourselves, the answer will always be the same.

(d) This natural acceptance is ‘constantly there’, something we can refer to: Try this yourself: think
of cheating or exploiting someone. The moment you think of this, you sense a contradiction within
and feel unhappy that very instant! It happens very quickly, and we may not notice it, but it does
happen! Similarly, the moment we think of disrespecting someone, we become unhappy. The very
thought is enough to cause a conflict, a strain within us. Thus, this natural acceptance is always
there, and if we start paying attention to it, if we ask ourselves every time, for every thought and
every desire we have, “Is this naturally acceptable to me?”, we will get an answer. Whatever we do,
this natural acceptance is within us, it is telling us what is right. Every time we do something not
readily acceptable to us. i.e. every time we think or do something not acceptable to us, there is a
contradiction in us, because the thought/ deed conflicts with our own natural acceptance! The
moment we think of cheating, we become unhappy. We don’t even have to carry out the action. It
will become clear to us that while we want something else at the level of our natural acceptance, we
think or do something else, based on our beliefs and preconditioning, which is contrary, it creates a
disharmony in us; this is the cause for our unhappiness. Take for example, one may proceed with the
act of cheating under the influence of say, an extraneous pressure but one keeps feeling unhappy
about it and may even repent over this act in the course of time. If somebody asks, ‘why do you
cheat?’, one starts offering explanations, inventing justifications. This is because it is naturally
unacceptable.

(e) Natural acceptance is the same for all of us: it is part and parcel of every human being, it is part
of human-ness: Let’s start exploring into this. We will find that no human being finds disrespect
acceptable in relationship. No matter who the person, however bad or good, one always expects
respect in relationship. For example, let us say a person ‘A’ disrespects ‘B’. This man ‘B’ may bear a
grudge against ‘A’ and set out to “teach him a lesson”. This is because ‘B’ does not find disrespect
acceptable and when he does not get respect, it offends him. This may actually end up leading to a
large scale conflict! We can start checking and verifying this for ourselves. All of us have acceptance
which are same, at a very deep and basic level. Our assumptions and choices, our likes and dislikes
may be different, but on some very basic and common issues like need for happiness, trust, respect,
prosperity, we are all the same, all of us have the same basic acceptance.

Thus, Natural acceptance is there in all of us. It is within us, all the time and we can refer to it,
access it to know what is right for us. We only have to start referring to it. Each proposal in this
book needs to be evaluated on the basis of your natural acceptance.

6. "Human being is more than just the Body" explain.

Ans. There is the familiar shape and structure of a human body that is immediately apparent to
us and we imagine someone with similar human body-like features. But in addition to the body,
we are also aware of the ‘alive-ness’ of the person - the entity that keeps the body ‘alive’ and
makes it operate in various ways. We perceive this ‘alive-ness’ in the activities demonstrated by
the person like their seeing, talking, listening, walking, eating, etc. On a deeper examination of
the ‘alive-ness’, we sense the subtler activities of the person – the person’s feelings, thinking,
believing, etc. It is impossible to imagine a human being – a person that is alive – without these
two aspects namely the Body and the ‘alive-ness’. This ‘alive-ness’ is called ‘Jïvana’ 1 . Thus a
Human Being is co-existence of the Body and ‘Jïvana. This ‘Jïvana’ refers to itself as ‘I’ (Self). Thus
we say - “I am so and so” or ‘I feel tired’ or ‘I am happy’. This ‘I’ or ‘Self’ is also called
‘consciousness’ and is the sentient constituent of the human being. Each one of us can see that
he/she has an awareness of ‘I’ (Jïvana) and an awareness of the Body. We are busy through the
day performing different activities. From brushing our teeth or taking a bath to studying or
playing – we consciously choose, decide and perform an activity with the knowledge that it is ‘I’
who is performing these activities. It is not the body that chooses, decides and performs these
activities – without our consent or participation. We use our bodies to perform such activities –
and the choice, the decision and the manner in which to perform these activities – are all done
by ‘Jïvana’ identifying itself as ‘I’. For example, we don’t say my legs started walking by
themselves! We say, “I decided to walk” i.e. the decision to walk is taken by ‘I’, and not the legs!
When we savour delicious food, the latest music or a thrilling action movie, is it – each time –our
body or is it the ‘I’ that is enjoying or getting excited?. Again, you would say that it is ‘I’ that is
enjoying or rejecting the food, the music or the movie – whichever it is. Here as well, it is ‘I’ that
chooses to watch the movie and I watch the movie with the help of the eyes and ears. Similarly,
we feel pleasure, pain, happiness (Sukha) and sadness. We all have experienced these feelings in
ourselves. Sometimes when we meet someone we are thrilled and excited to be with this
person. Is it the body that feels the happiness of meeting someone or, do I feel happy? The entity
that experiences such feelings is ‘I’. So, the Human Being is co-existence of both these entities –
the Self (‘I’) and the Body. In order to understand the implications of this co-existence, it will first
be necessary to focus attention on the distinct characteristics of the Self (Jïvana) and the Body.
Needless to emphasize that the terms ‘Self’ or ‘I’ or ‘Jïvana are referring to the same entity on
which special attention will be focused.

7. Physical facilities are necessary and complete for animals, while they are necessary but not
complete for humans" Comment.

Ans. “Physical facilities are necessary for human beings”

“Physical facilities are necessary for human beings and they are necessary for animals.”

“Physical facilities are necessary and complete for animals, while they are necessary but not
complete for humans”

For animals: We see that animals need physical things to survive, mainly to take care of their
body. Take a cow for example. A cow will look for food when it is hungry. Once it gets the grass or
fodder, it eats it, sits around to chew at leisure. Hence, we can see that as long as animals have
physical things, they are largely fine. They don’t desire other things like knowledge, or a peaceful
animal society or getting a good MBA! This is the case with humans, so let us look into how we
humans fare. For humans: Now let’s take the human being. Let’s take you. Let’s say you are
hungry. What do you do? You would look for some food, perhaps, some tasty food. Once you
have had your fill, do you just sit around and relax? The answer is an emphatic “No”! We all have
other needs, other plans, perhaps we think of going to a movie, or reading a book, or go to
college, or watch some TV, or spend time with family and friends... the list is endless. Thus, it is
 easy to see that while physical facilities are necessary for us human beings, they are not
complete by themselves to fulfil our needs. Our needs are more than just physical facilities; we
need physical facilities, but the need does not end there.

Hence, we can say for animals – “Physical facilities are necessary and complete”; For humans –
“Physical facilities are necessary but not complete”

8. What are the basic requirements to fulfil human aspirations? Indicate their correct priority.

Ans. the three basic requirements to ensure happiness and prosperity for human beings are:

Today, we can see that there are two kinds of people in the world: 1. Those that do not have physical
facilities/wealth and feel unhappy and deprived – Thus, such people can be said to be ‘materially
deficient, unhappy and deprived’ or ‘Sãdhan Viheen Dukhi Daridra’ – The short form for this can be
written as: SVDD! 2. Those that have physical facilities/wealth and feel unhappy and deprived! –
Thus, such people can be said to be ‘materially affluent, but unhappy and deprived’ or ‘Sãdhan
Sampann Dukhi Daridra’ – The short form for this can be written as: SSDD! Check, where do you
stand- at (1) or (2) Both these are states we don’t want to be in! We want to move from this to
(verify this) 3. Having physical facilities and feeling happy and prosperous. – Such people can be said
to be materially affluent, happy and prosperous or ‘Sãdhan Sampann Sukhi Samridh’ – The short
form for this can be written as: SSSS! To ensure that we are of the 3rd category as described above,
we need the right understanding! Thus, we can conclude the following: We need to work for all
three, and this is the order in which we have to work: 1. Right Understanding 2. Relationship 3.
Physical facilities Working with this order, we are able to ensure mutual fulfilment with human
beings and mutual prosperity with the rest of nature. Right understanding + Relationship = Mutual
fulfilment Right understanding + Physical facilities = Mutual prosperity

9. What is the qualitative difference between the activities of the self and those of the Body?
Illustrate with one example.
Ans.

10. "I am the seer, doer and enjoyer. The body is my instrument" - explain.

11. Are the activities in "I" continuous or temporary? Justify your answer.

12. What are the consequences of confusing between Sukh and Suvidha?

13. Why is it important to study yourself? How does it help in your day-to-day life?

14. What is the difference between Svatantrata and Partantrata? What is the program to become
Svatantrata? Relate this with your own experience.

15. What are the problems that we are facing today because of operating on the basis of pre-
conditioned desires?

16. How does realization and understanding lead to definiteness of human conduct?

17. "The pleasures that we derive from sensations are short lived and the efforts to extend them
lead to misery"- examine and illustrate this statement with an example.

18. Define Sanyama and Svasthya. How are the two related?
19. What is our present attitude towards the Body? What are its consequences?

20. Suggest any two programs that you can undertake to improve the health of your body.