TUTORIAL SHEET-1

Q1) What is value education? Discuss the basic Guidelines for Value Education.
The part of education that deals with the understanding of one’s participation in the larger order,
and thus ensuring it in living, is called as Value Education.
The subject that enables us to understand ‘what is valuable’ for human happiness is called value
education.
Value education enables us to understand our needs and visualize our goals correctly and also
helps to remove our confusions and contradictions and bring harmony at all levels. It also helps
remove our confusions and contradictions and enables us to rightly utilize technological
innovations.
The following guidelines for the content of the course are important:
• Universal: It needs to be applicable to all human beings irrespective of cast, creed, nationalities,
religion, etc., for all times and regions.
• Rational: It has to appeal to human reasoning. It has to be amenable to reasoning and not based
on dogmas or blind beliefs.
• Natural and verifiable: It has to be naturally acceptable to the human being who goes through
the course and when we live on the basis of such values it leads to our happiness. It needs to be
experientially verifiable, and not based on dogmas, beliefs or assumptions.
• All-encompassing: Value education is aimed at transforming our consciousness and living.
Hence, it needs to cover all the dimensions (thought, behaviour, work and realization) and levels
(individual, family, society, nature and existence) of human life and profession.
• Leading to harmony: The value education ultimately is targeted to promote harmony within the
individual, among human beings and with nature.

Q2) Discuss the need for value education.

The need for value education is:
➤ Correct identification of our aspirations: The subject which enables us to understand 'what
is valuable for human happiness is called 'value education' (VE). Thus, VE enables us to
understand our needs and visualize our goals correctly and also indicate the direction for their
fulfilment. It also helps to remove our confusions and contradictions and bring harmony at all
levels.
➤ Understanding universal human values to fulfil our aspirations in continuity: Values form
the basis for all our thoughts, behaviours and actions. Once we know what is valuable to us, these
values become the basis, the anchor for our actions. 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.
➤ Solution of Existing Problems: If we understand our participation (human values) and live by
them in the complete expanse of our being (from ourselves to family, to society and to the entire
nature), it will lead to a fulfilling life for ourselves and fulfilling for all around. The problems,
including wrong beliefs, are mainly because we do not have understanding and we are not making
enough effort for it. Once we have a holistic perspective and the clarity of the programme to live
by it, we are able to realise that most of the existing problems are actually symptoms and
consequences of our wrong beliefs.
➤ Complementarity of values and skills: To fulfil our aspirations both values and skills are
necessary. When we identify and set the right goals and produced in right direction. This is known

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 as value domain, the domain of wisdom, and when we learn and practices to actualize this goal to
develop the techniques to make this happen in real life, in various dimensions of human endeavor
(struggle). This is known as domain of skills. Hence, there is an essential complementarity
between values and skills for the success of any human endeavor. For example, I want to lead a
healthy life. Only wishing for good health will not help me keep my body fit and healthy and
without having understood the meaning of health, will not be able to choose things correctly to
keep my body fit and healthy.
➤ Evaluation of our beliefs: Each one of us believes in certain things and we base our values on
these beliefs, be they false or true which may or may not be true in reality. These beliefs come to
us from what we read, see, hear, what our parents tell us, our friends talk about, what the
magazine’s talk of, what we see from TV etc. Value Education helps us to evaluate our beliefs and
assumed values.
➤ Technology and human values: The present education system has become largely skill-based.
The prime emphasis is on science and technology. However, science and technology can only help
to provide the means to achieve what is considered valuable. It is not within the scope of science
and technology to provide the competence of deciding what really is valuable. Value Education is
a crucial missing link in the present education system. Because of this deficiency, most of our
efforts may prove to be counterproductive and serious crises at the individual, societal and
environmental levels are manifesting.
Q3) Explain the process of self-exploration with the help of a diagram & an example.
Self exploration is the process to find out what is valuable to me by investigating within myself,
what is right for me, true for me, has to be judged within myself. Through self exploration we get
the value of ourself. We live with different entirety (family, friends, air, soil, water, trees, etc.) and
we want to understand our relationship with all these. For this we need to start observing inside.
The main focus of self-exploration is myself - the human being.
Process of Self-exploration
Following points are to be kept in mind regarding this process of Self-exploration:
 “Whatever is stated is a proposal”.
 Don’t start by assuming it to be true or false.
 “Verify it on your own right”
 Don’t just accept or reject it-
 on the basis of scriptures
 on the basis of instruments
 on the basis of others”
Firstly, verify the proposal on the basis of your 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!
“Secondly, live according to the proposal to validate it experientially.”
To verify the proposals, I need to live accordingly in my interactions with the world around me.
This involves two things: behaviour and work. If the proposal is true,
(a) In behaviour with other humans,
(i) It will lead to mutual fulfilment
(b) In work with the rest of nature,

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 (ii) it will lead to mutual prosperity.
I desire mutual fulfilment in my relations with other humans and mutual prosperity with the rest of
nature. This way, I validate the truthfulness of the proposal.
As we do this, as we continue with this process of verification of the proposals stated here on the
basis of our natural acceptance and test it out in our living, it ultimately results in “realization” and
“understanding” in us. This means, knowing something to be “true”, for sure, within ourselves.
The answers we get on having realization & understanding are:
(a) Assuring: “I am assured of the answer or understanding in myself”
(b) Satisfying: “I am satisfied that the answers are fulfilling for me.
(c) Universal: “I know or realize that the answers I have got are the same for everyone. They are
invariant with respect to:
(i) Time: These answers are the same at all times: past, present and future
(ii) Space: These answers are the same at all places or locations
(iii) Individual: The answers are the same for every human being
If the answers we get do not fulfil any of the criteria of being assuring, satisfying and universal; it
means the answer is most likely coming from your past beliefs/conditioning and not from your
natural acceptance

Example: Let's say you come across a proposal that says "meditation can help reduce stress and
increase focus". Instead of blindly accepting or rejecting this proposal, you first pass it through
your own natural acceptance. Does it feel naturally acceptable to you? If yes, you move on to the
next step.
Next, you live according to the proposal by incorporating meditation into your daily routine. You
observe how it affects your stress levels and focus over a period of time. If you notice a positive
change, it validates the truthfulness of the proposal experientially.
Through this process of verification, you may realize and understand that meditation is indeed
helpful in reducing stress and increasing focus. This realization is assuring, satisfying, and
universal, as it is the same for everyone, at all times and all places. If you did not experience any
positive change through meditation, it may mean that the proposal is not true for you, and you
can drop it.
Q4) What do you mean by your natural acceptance? Illustrate with examples. Is it invariant
with time and place?
Natural acceptance implies unconditional and total acceptance of the self, people and environment.
It also refers to the absence of any exception from others. Once we fully and truly commit ourself

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 on the basis of natural acceptance, we feel a holistic sense of inner harmony, tranquility and
fulfillment. Actually natural acceptance is way to accept the good things naturally. Learn
everything that is good from others, but bring it in, and in our own way absorb it; do not become
others.

Natural Acceptance does not change with time, individual or place and is not tainted with our pre-
conditionings. It is innately present in each one of us and we can always refer to it.
We can easily verify proposals in the basis of characteristics of natural acceptance mentioned
below:
a) Natural acceptance does not change with time. It remains invariant with time. For example
our natural acceptance for trust and respect does not change with age.
b) It does not depend on the place. Whatever we have accepted, in our life, at any time of our
age, does not change, even if we move from one place to another one.
c) It does not depend on our beliefs or past conditionings. 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. Natural acceptance
is always there. Whatever we do, this natural acceptance is within us, it is telling us what is right.
e) Natural acceptance is the same for all of us: it is part and parcel of every human being, it
is part of humanness. Though each one of us, may have different likes and dislikes and means to
live and to react etc. but if we go deep in our mind the purpose of our work, behaviour. efforts etc.
are based on common goals like need to be happy, need to be respected, need to get prosperity. So
our basic acceptance remains the same.
So, It is invariant with time & place.
For example, if we trust and respect someone today, we will continue to trust and respect them
tomorrow, regardless of any changes that may occur in our environment or circumstances.
Similarly, if we move to a different place or culture, our natural acceptance for trust and respect
will remain the same, and we will continue to value these qualities in our interactions with others.
Furthermore, our natural acceptance for trust and respect is not dependent on our beliefs or past
conditionings. Even if we were raised in an environment where trust and respect were not
emphasized, we can still refer to our innate sense of natural acceptance and recognize the
importance of these values in our interactions with others.
Ultimately, our natural acceptance for trust and respect is something that is constantly present
within us, and we can refer to it whenever we are faced with decisions or interactions that involve
trust and respect. This natural acceptance is part and parcel of every human being, and it is a
fundamental aspect of our humanness.
Q5) What is meant by experiential validation? Why is it necessary part of self-exploration?

Experiential validation is a process that infuses direct experience with the learning environment
and content. It may be regarded as a philosophy and methodology in which the direct experience
and focused reflection of the individual helps to increase knowledge, develop skill and clarify
values. Most of what we know about our self is not only through our own opinion of our self but
also because of how others view us.
Experiential validation refers to the process of validating a proposal or belief through direct
personal experience. It involves living according to the proposal in one's interactions with the
world to see if it holds true in practice.

Experiential validation serves several purposes:

Personal Verification: It allows individuals to confirm the truthfulness of a proposal based on
their own natural acceptance. Rather than blindly accepting or rejecting ideas based on external

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 sources, individuals evaluate them through their own experiences and perceptions.
Mutual Fulfilment and Prosperity: By testing the proposal in interactions with other humans and
the natural world, individuals assess whether it leads to mutual fulfilment in relationships and
mutual prosperity with nature. This assessment helps in aligning personal values and actions with
broader ethical considerations.
Integration of Knowledge: Through living according to the proposal, individuals integrate
theoretical knowledge into their daily lives. This process bridges the gap between intellectual
understanding and practical application, leading to a deeper understanding of oneself and the
world.
Realization and Understanding: Experiential validation ultimately leads to realization and
understanding within oneself. When individuals consistently observe the proposed principles
manifesting in their lives and interactions, they gain assurance, satisfaction, and recognize the
universality of these principles across time, space, and individual differences.
Differentiation from Past Beliefs: Experiential validation helps individuals distinguish between
beliefs or conditioning inherited from the past and ideas that genuinely resonate with their natural
acceptance. It allows for the discernment of authentic truths from learned or imposed ideologies.
Q6) What are pre-conditionings? Discuss their various source?
Pre-conditioned means, we have assumed something about our desires on the basis of prevailing
notion about it.
Sources of Preconditioning
They comes from what we read, see hear, what our parents tell us, our friends talk about what the
magazines talk of, what we see on the TV etc. We have not self- verified the desires in our own
right. As a result, we are not clear about what we will get out of fulfilment of that desire. The
problem with that is, unless we verify our desires, we may not even know whether they are our.
We may end up spending an entire lifetime accumulating desires that are not ours, and in running
about trying to fulfil them.
Example: When you see an advertisement for a big bike, what happens? You pay attention to the
advertisement, and then you think about it. As you think, you start warming up to the idea, it
plays on you, and slowly, you decide that you ‘want’ this bike because having this bike means
you will be seen as a ‘bikewalla’. Thus, you have associated the bike with some notion of
greatness, speciality of your being, i.e. it has become your Desire.

Q7) What do you understand by prosperity? How can you say that you are prosperous?
The feeling of having or making available more than required physical facilities is prosperity.
Almost all of us feel that wealth alone means prosperity and try to explain this phenomenon as this
non-existent or half-fact. We are trying to achieve happiness and prosperity by maximizing the
accumulation and consumption of physical facilities. It is becoming anti-ecological and anti-
people, and threatening human survival itself.
For prosperity, two things are required:
1. Identification of the required quantity of physical facilities, and
2. Ensuring availability/production of more than required physical facilities.
We can be prosperous only if there is a limit to the need for physical facilities. If there is no limit
what so ever be the availability the feeling of prosperity cannot be assured. Secondly, just
assessing the need is not enough. We need to be able to produce or make available more than the
perceived need.
Q8) Differentiate between happiness and excitement. Critically examine how the sensation
cannot be the source of continuous happiness.

Happiness = harmony
Does not depend on the outside
Can be continued
Excitement may or may not be harmony

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 Depends on the outside
May not have provision of continuity
Excitement is momentary, you cannot have the continuity of it. If you look at yourself when you
are excited, you will find that you in in a excited condition, not in harmony within.
Critically examine how the sensation cannot be the source of continuous happiness: will be
answered later.

Q9) Discuss happiness and unhappiness as per the “value education”?

“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”

Q10) There are many problems manifest today at the level of the individual, family, society and
nature. Identify some of these problems humans suffer from.

Today we are generally trying to achieve happiness and prosperity by maximizing the
accumulation and consumption of physical facilities. This effort is giving rise to many problems
manifest today at the level of individual, family, society and the nature. These problems are:
At the level of the individual– Rising problems of depression, anxiety, suicides, stress, insecurity,
increasing health problems, lack of confidence and conviction etc.
At the level of the family– Breaking up of joint families, mistrust and disharmony in
relationships, divorce, generation gap, dowry deaths, neglect of older people etc.
At the level of society– Growing incidences of terrorism, violence, communalism, racial and
ethnic struggle, corruption, adulteration, sex-crimes exploitation, wars between nations, the
proliferation of lethal weapons etc.
At the level of nature– Global warming, weather imbalances, depletion of mineral and energy
resources, deforestation, soil degradation etc. Al the problems are a direct outcome of an incorrect
understanding, our wrong notion about happiness and prosperity and their continuity.

Q11) “Physical facilities are necessary and complete for animals, while they are necessary but not
complete for humans.”
Physical facilities are necessary and complete for animals, while they are necessary but not
complete for humans. It is easy to verify.

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 For Animals: Animals need physical things to survive, mainly to take care of their body. For
example; 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 say 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.
For Humans: While physical facilities are necessary for human beings, they are not complete by
themselves to fulfill our needs. Our needs are more than just physical facilities. 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…. this 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 fulfill our needs. Hence we can say that for animals – “Physical facilities are
necessary and complete.” For humans “Physical facilities are necessary but not complete.”
Q12) Distinguish between ‘animal consciousness and ‘human consciousness’.
Giving all priorities to physical facilities only, or living solely on the basis of physical facilities,
may be termed as ‘Animal Consciousness’. Living with all three: Right understanding,
Relationship and Physical facilities called ‘Human Consciousness’.

From the diagram, we can say that: For animals, the physical facility is necessary as well as
complete – whereas for human beings it is necessary but not complete. Working only for physical
facilities is living with Animal Consciousness. Working for the right understanding as the first

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 priority followed by relationships and physical facilities implies living with Human
Consciousness. There is a need for transformation from Animal Consciousness to Human
Consciousness. It can be accomplished only by working for the right understanding as the first
priority. This transformation from Animal Consciousness to Human Consciousness forms the basis
for human values and values-based living. The content of education is the understanding of
harmony at all the four levels of our existence – from myself to the entire existence. Right living or
sanskar refers to the ability to live in harmony at all four levels of living. This dimension of society
works to ensure ‘right understanding’ and ‘right feelings’ in individual.
The above stateme
Q13) What are basic human aspirations? Explain the basic requirements for the fulfillments of
human aspirations.

The basic human aspirations are happiness and prosperity in continuity.

The three basic requirements to ensure happiness and prosperity for human beings are:
(1) right understanding (the need to learn and utilize our intelligence most effectively),
(2) relationship (interpersonal relationships that a person builds in his or her life– at home, at the
workplace and in society. and
(3) physical facilities (physiological needs of individuals and indicates the necessities as well as
the comforts of life) in the right order.

We need to work for [1] Right understanding as the basis on which we can work for [2]
Relationships, and then [3] Physical facilities!
Q What do the abbreviations given as SVDD, SSDD and SSSS signify?
ANS:
To achieve our basic aspirations we need to work for right understanding as the base on which
we can work for relationship and then physical facilities. Today we are not working according to
this that why we can see that there are two kinds of people in the world:
1. Those that do not have physical facilities/ wealth and feel unhappyand deprived. i.e. SVDD:
Sadhan Viheen Dukhi Daridra – Materially Deficient, Unhappy and Deprived.
2. Those that have physical facilities/ wealth and feel unhappy and deprived. i.e. SSDD: Sadhan
Sampann Dukhi Daridra – Materially Affluent, Unhappy and Deprived. But these are states we
don’t want to be in. We want to move from this to third category i.e.
3. Having physical facilities and feeling happy and prosperous i.e. SSSS: Sadhan Sampann Sukhi

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Samriddha – Materially Adequate, Happy and Prosperous.
Presently, as we look around, we find most of the people in the above two categories called
SVDD and SSDD, while the natural acceptance of all human beings is to be in the category of
SSSS.
Describe the process of value education.
The process for value education includes two things: verification at the level of natural acceptance
and experiential validation in living. It is the process to find out what is valuable to me by
investigating within myself, what is right for me, true for me, has to be judged within myself.
Through this process, we get the value of ourselves. Various aspects of reality facilitating the
understanding of human values will be presented as proposals. We need to verify these proposals
for ourselves and examine our living in this light.
The first step is to verify the given proposal on your own right, by referring it to your ‘natural
acceptance’. If the proposal is naturally acceptable to you, it is right for you. If it is not naturally
acceptable to you, it is not right for you.
Further, it is a process of dialogue. To begin with, it is initiated as a dialogue between us and you.
It is a dialogue between “what I am” and “what is naturally acceptable to me.
“What I am” has to do with my desires, my thoughts, my expectations; all that is going on in my
imagination. It includes the way I feel, the way I think, how I make decisions, what I expect from
others and all that. It is my current competence on the basis of which I live. “What is naturally
acceptable to me” is what I really want to be, that is my natural acceptance. It is my intention. It is
a basic reference which is a part and parcel of every human being. We may or may not be referring
to it at present, but it is always there.

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