Module 2: Course Understanding Harmony in the Human Being - Harmony in Myself!

By Vinod Kumar, Asstt. Professor, CSE, PIET, Panipat

7. Understanding human being as a co-existence of the sentient ‘I’ and the material ‘Body’
8. Understanding the needs of Self (‘I’) and ‘Body’ - happiness and physical facility
9. Understanding the Body as an instrument of ‘I’ (I being the doer, seer and enjoyer)
10. Understanding the characteristics and activities of ‘I’ and harmony in ‘I’
11. Understanding the harmony of I with the Body: Sanyam and Health; correct appraisal of Physical needs, meaning
of Prosperity in detail
12. Programs to ensure Sanyam and Health. Include practice sessions to discuss the role others have played in making
material goods available to me. Identifying from one’s own life. Differentiate between prosperity and accumulation.
Discuss program for ensuring health vs dealing with disease

TEXT /REFERENCE BOOKS

1. Human Values and Professional Ethics by R R Gaur, R Sangal, G P Bagaria, Excel Books, New Delhi, 2010
2. Jeevan Vidya: Ek Parichaya, A Nagaraj, Jeevan Vidya Prakashan, Amarkantak, 1999.
3. Human Values, A.N. Tripathi, New Age Intl. Publishers, New Delhi, 2004.
4. The Story of Stuff (Book).
5. The Story of My Experiments with Truth - by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
6. Small is Beautiful - E. F Schumacher.
7. Slow is Beautiful - Cecile Andrews
8. Economy of Permanence - J C Kumarappa
9. Bharat Mein Angreji Raj – PanditSunderlal
10. Rediscovering India - by Dharampal
11. Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule - by Mohandas K. Gandhi
12. India Wins Freedom - Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad
13. Vivekananda - Romain Rolland (English)
14. Gandhi - Romain Rolland (English)

7. Understanding human being as a co-existence of the sentient ‘I’ and the material ‘Body’
Now we will start exploring the four levels of We are human beings; and we need to first
living of a human being, starting from the level of understand ourselves. So, what is a human being?
individual. The proposal is that human being is co-existence of
Understanding the Human Being the Self and the Body.
(As Co-existence of Self and Body)

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 Module 2: Course Understanding Harmony in the Human Being - Harmony in Myself!
By Vinod Kumar, Asstt. Professor, CSE, PIET, Panipat

Self is what we term as ‘I’ and Body is what we see the quantity of the food needed to nurture our body.
with our eyes. Same is the case with the need of clothes, shelter,
To understand the two realities, we can start by etc. On the other hand, the feeling of respect, trust,
looking at the needs, activities and response of the etc. is not quantitative. We don’t say, ‘today I got
Self half kg of respect’ or ‘two metres of trust’. These
and the Body feelings are qualitative in nature.
Now, let us see how these two different types of
The Needs of the Self and the Body needs are fulfilled. The need for food is fulfilled by
The need of the Self is happiness (e.g. feeling of something physical. But when it comes to the need
respect leading to happiness) while the need of the for respect, it is fulfilled by the feeling of respect.
Body is physical facility (e.g. food). All the needs All the needs related to the Body are fulfilled by
related to the Self are continuous in time while all some physio-chemical things. All the needs related
the needs related to the Body are required for a to the Self are in terms of feeling, and they are
limited time. This is one way we can differentiate fulfilled by right understanding and right feeling.
between the need of the Self and the need of the
Body. The Activities of the Self and the Body
The Self has the activity of desire, thought and
The other way to see the difference between the expectation which are continuous. On the other
two is in terms of quantity and quality. The need hand, any activity of the Body, like eating,
for food is quantitative in nature. We can identify walking, etc. is temporary in time.

The Response of the Self and the Body all decisions are made by the Self. Only with the
The response of the Body is based on recognizing assumptions set right, i.e. assuming based on
and fulfilling whereas the response of the Self is knowing (which is definite), can recognising and
based on knowing, assuming, recognizing and fulfilling be set right; and only then, the conduct
fulfilling. The recognition and fulfilment of the can become definite.
Body is definite, while that of Self is determined
by the activity of assuming. As assumption All the problems of a human being are due to
changes, the recognition and fulfilment by the Self assumptions without knowing, and the solution lies
also changes. The conduct of the human being in ensuring the activity of knowing. And this is
basically depends upon the response of the Self, as possible only through education-sanskar.

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 Module 2: Course Understanding Harmony in the Human Being - Harmony in Myself!
By Vinod Kumar, Asstt. Professor, CSE, PIET, Panipat

to be fulfilled, both domains need to be fulfilled

The Self as the Consciousness Entity, the Body as separately.
the Material Entity
Key Takeaways
The Self and the Body are two different types of Human being is co-existence of the Self
reality. The Self is the domain of consciousness, (Consciousness) and the Body (Material). This can
which is characterised by the activity of knowing, be seen on the basis of exploring into the need,
assuming, recognising and fulfilling. The Body is fulfilment of need, activity and response of the Self
the domain of material and it only has the activity and the Body. In particular, the response of the
of recognising and fulfilling. body is definite while the response of the self
Happiness is the need of the consciousness and it depends on assuming. With assuming based on
is fulfilled by right understanding and right feeling, knowing, the conduct of a human being gets
which are activities of the consciousness itself. The definite, otherwise it is indefinite.
Body is a material unit, its needs are material in
nature and they are fulfilled by physio-chemical Gross Misunderstanding – Assuming Human
things. To understand the human being, both the Being to be only the Body
domain of consciousness as well as the domain of The gross misunderstanding is assuming the
material needs to be understood. For human being human being to be the Body; and therefore, trying
to fulfil all the needs through physical facility.

It is needless to say that due to over-use of The Way Ahead

physical facility, there are widespread The only way to come out of this
repercussions at every level of human existence. misunderstanding is to understand the human
On the one hand, there is exploitation of natural being as it is. The Self has to be understood as a
resources for more and more physical facility. On conscious entity and Body as a material entity.
the other hand, human beings are exploited in the Their needs are different, activities are different,
process and also, they are made to compete for response is different and basically, they are two
the limited physical facility. different entities co-existing as a human being.

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 Module 2: Course Understanding Harmony in the Human Being - Harmony in Myself!
By Vinod Kumar, Asstt. Professor, CSE, PIET, Panipat

Key Takeaways The needs of the Self and the Body assume the two to be the same, and this leads to
are of two different types, so they have to be the feeling of deprivation and exploitation.
fulfilled separately. A gross misunderstanding is to

8. Understanding Harmony in the Self

Now we will explore into the activities of the Self to fulfil your desire. Expectation is the power for
and see how harmony can be ensured among all the the activity of selecting based on tasting.
activities of the Self, resulting into a state of Activities of the Self are Continuous
continuous happiness. These powers of desire, thought and expectation
are inexhaustible, and the activities are continuous.
Activities of the Self The activities of imaging, analyzing-comparing
The activities of the Self can be seen in terms of and selecting-tasting are always going on, whether
desire, thought and expectation. we are aware of them or not.
These Activities Together Constitute Imagination
Desire is the name given to the activity of imaging. These activities are together called imagination.
You are making an image in the Self. Desire is in We may not immediately be able to observe our
the form of an image which you have created desire, thought and expectation distinctly, but it
within. Thought is the power for the activity of may be easier to see that something is going on
analysing based on comparing various possibilities within. One imagination or the other is going on in
us all the time.

Happiness and unhappiness depend on the state of We have also referred to imagination as “what I
imagination. If your imagination is in harmony am” and the natural acceptance as “what I really
with your natural acceptance, you are in a state of want to be”.
happiness. When it is in contradiction with your
natural acceptance, you are in a state of State of Imagination
unhappiness. Imagination is expressed to the world Once you start looking at your imagination, you
outside, in terms of behaviour with human being will be able to find out the state of your
and work with the rest of nature. imagination. Your imagination could be well
organised, in harmony or it could be a random
mixture of harmony and contradiction.

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 Module 2: Course Understanding Harmony in the Human Being - Harmony in Myself!
By Vinod Kumar, Asstt. Professor, CSE, PIET, Panipat

Possible Sources of Imagination 1. Preconditioning

There are three possible sources of motivation for 2. Sensation and
imagination: 3. Natural Acceptance

A dominant source of imagination is sense organs – of sound, touch, sight, taste and
preconditioning. Preconditioning means the smell.
beliefs, notions, norms, ideas, views, dictums,
goals, etc. prevailing in the family, in the society The third source of imagination is our natural
which we have assumed without knowing. They acceptance. It can also be referred to as the inner
may influence our imagination. voice or conscience. Self-verification on the basis
of our natural acceptance can be the third possible
Another major source of our desire, our source. It may or may not be the predominant
imagination is the sensation. Sensation is the source of motivation currently, but it can be the real
information we get from the Body through the five source for deciding our desire, our imagination.

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 Module 2: Course Understanding Harmony in the Human Being - Harmony in Myself!
By Vinod Kumar, Asstt. Professor, CSE, PIET, Panipat

Consequences of Imagination from the three within, your imagination is enough to keep you
Sources unhappy all the time.
– Self-organisation or Enslavement?
There is a possibility that a large share of your
If your imagination is motivated by imagination is enslaved by preconditionings and
preconditioning or sensation, you may or may not sensations, while a very small share is guided by
be in harmony with the natural acceptance. your natural acceptance. One thing to note here is
Therefore, you may be in a state of happiness that sensation is not an enslavement in itself.
within or unhappiness within. Your happiness is Through sensation only, the Self is able to take
dependent or enslaved by your preconditioning and proper care of the Body. But problem arises when
sensation. you try to associate happiness with favourable
sensations. Similarly, there could be some
And then there is a large possibility that there is preconditioning which may also be right. But
contradiction in your desires, leading to unless you verify it, and validate in your living, it
contradiction in your thoughts and then is just like an enslavement. And this leads to
expectations. In such a state of contradiction unhappiness.

If your imagination is guided by your natural • Work out a way to sort out our imagination till it
acceptance, you are sure to be in harmony and is fully in line with our natural acceptance
happiness When the imagination is in harmony with the
within. You are self-organized. natural acceptance, there is harmony in the Self.
This harmony is happiness.
The Way Ahead
– Ensuring Harmony in the Self by way of Self- Key Takeaways
exploration The activities of desire, thought and expectation
are together called imagination. Imagination is
To achieve this harmony in the Self, we need to continuously going on in the Self. The sources of
start self-exploration. In the process, we need to: imagination can be sensation, pre-conditioning or
• Know our natural acceptance natural acceptance. There is harmony in the Self
• Be aware of our imagination when the imagination is in line with one’s natural
• Find out the source of imagination acceptance. Harmony in the Self is in continuity
when all the activities of the Self are awakened.

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 Module 2: Course Understanding Harmony in the Human Being - Harmony in Myself!
By Vinod Kumar, Asstt. Professor, CSE, PIET, Panipat

9. Understanding Harmony of the Self with the Body

In this lecture, we will discuss the harmony of the continuity of the body which includes safeguarding
Self with the Body, and try to understand self- from unfavorable conditions. Right utilization
regulation and health. would mean using the Body for the purpose of the
Self. This feeling of responsibility towards the
The Body as a Self-organised System Body is called as the feeling of self-regulation, and
a natural outcome of it is health.
The Body is a wonderful self-organised system. It
has so many parts. Each part co-exists in harmony Feeling of self-regulation = the feeling of
with every other part. The eyes are well connected responsibility in the self towards the Body – for
to the brain; the mouth, the stomach and the whole nurturing,
digestive system is synchronized and so it is for protection and right utilization of the Body.
every organ, every cell of the Body – and you have
to do nothing to make these connections or to Indicators of a healthy body:
synchronize the various parts or to deal with every • The Body is healthy if it is able to perform as per
cell. the instructions of the Self.
• Different parts of the Body are in harmony
Harmony of the Self with the Body: Self- amongst each other, they are in order.
regulation and Health
As we discussed in lecture 9, the Body is an The feeling of self-regulation in the Self is primary.
instrument of the Self. The responsibility of the Health in the Body is a natural consequence.
Self towards the Body is in terms of nurturing,
protecting and rightly utilizing the Body. Nurturing When the Self has the feeling of self-regulation and
the Body is by providing appropriate air, water, there is health in the Body, there is harmony of the
food, sunlight, etc. Protection is to ensure the Self with the Body

spans, in dealing with communicable diseases and

Appraisal of the Current Status trauma, but yet, ensuring health remains a question
Over the last 100 years or so, there have been mark1. The problem is in the wrong assumptions,
significant improvements in terms of longer life- one of which is that human being is the Body. With
this assumption, happiness is sought through
favorable sensation through the Body. Further, the
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 Module 2: Course Understanding Harmony in the Human Being - Harmony in Myself!
By Vinod Kumar, Asstt. Professor, CSE, PIET, Panipat

assumption that we will get happiness from drinks, the sunlight it absorbs, the food given to it
sensation through the consumption of physical and so on.
facility has led to a high demand for it. Most of the
present-day disorders are psycho-somatic in 1b. A regular routine is required in order to keep
nature. ‘Psycho’ has to do with the Self and the Body healthy, like ensuring a proper
‘Somatic’ has to do with the Body. Disharmony in programme for sleeping, waking up, cleaning the
the Self causes disharmony in the Body causing Body, eating, doing physical work, etc.
psycho-somatic problems. These effects are very
prominent when the individual is living with the 2a. The Body needs adequate movement to
assumption “I am the Body”. maintain health. Labour is the work on the rest of
nature. Few hours of labour a day provides
The Way Ahead sufficient body movements to keep the Body in
There is a need to understand human being as it is good health. It also ensures production of physical
(as co-existence of Self and Body). The significant facility.
part is having the feeling of self-regulation in the
Self. This can happen only when the Self is in A lifestyle which includes appropriate intake,
harmony, i.e. there is right understanding and right routine and labour, would be generally sufficient to
feeling in the Self. With a feeling of self- keep the Body in good health. However, if we are
regulation, the Self will naturally nurture, protect unable to do that, or in spite of this effort, there is
and rightly utilize the Body, resulting in health of some disharmony in the Body, there are some more
the Body. aspects of the programme for self-regulation and
health, below.
Key Takeaways
1
The Body is an instrument of the Self. Harmony of Please refer to latest health data available from
the Self with the Body is ensured when Self has the sources like the World Health Organisation
feeling of self-regulation and there is health in the (https://www.who.int/)
Body.
Programme for Self-regulation and Health 2b. If one is not able to labor, s(he) can do exercises
As we discussed earlier, feeling of self-regulation for proper upkeep of the Body.
is the feeling of responsibility in the Self for
nurturing, protection and right utilization of the 3a. There is a need for keeping the internal as well
Body. as the external organs in harmony by appropriate
means like postures, movements etc.
We can now detail it further: Nurturing the
Body 3b. Breathing is a significant activity for the Body.
Nurturing means providing the necessary inputs to Balancing the breathing of body is necessary,
the Body. The right inputs nurture the Body, through appropriate breathing exercises.
without disturbing its harmony.
The programme for nurturing and maintaining For the most part, health of the Body can be
health of the Body includes the following: maintained by these three (1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a and
1a. Intake 1b. Routine 3b). Despite these, if there is some problem in the
2a. Physical Labour 2b. Exercise health of the Body then we take medicine and
3a. Balancing internal and 3b. Balancing ultimately, we also take treatment when all this
breathing of body external organs of body does not work.
4a. Medicine 4b. Treatment
4a. The Body is self-organised and naturally in
1a. The first part is the intake, all that the Body harmony. It is able to recover itself from many
takes in. It includes the air it breathes, the water it disturbances. But if due to some reasons it runs into
disharmony, medicine is helpful in taking care of
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 Module 2: Course Understanding Harmony in the Human Being - Harmony in Myself!
By Vinod Kumar, Asstt. Professor, CSE, PIET, Panipat

lifestyle disorders, non-communicable illnesses as As an exercise, one can list all the physical
well as communicable diseases. facilities required for these three purposes, and see
whether they are limited. Next, one can assess the
4b. In the event the Body is not in a state to recover available facilities, and see if they are more than
itself back to a state of harmony, there is a need for required. If not, then how much more will be
treatment. required can be worked out. This will clearly give
a vision for ensuring prosperity.
Protecting the Body
Providing a conducive physical environment My Participation (Value) regarding Self and my
includes clothing, shelter etc. is all a part of Body
protection of the Body. My participation (value) with my Body is:
• Ensuring a feeling of self-regulation in the Self
Right Utilisation of the Body • Ensuring the nurturing, protection and right
Right utilization of the Body would mean that it is utilisation of the Body
used in the process of fulfilling human aspiration, • Ensuring the production / availability of more
which is basically the need of the Self. If one is than required physical facility for the above
using the Body in the process of fulfilling the needs By ensuring these three, the Body continues to be
of the Self, it is right utilization of the Body. It in harmony, it remains healthy. And one also has
would include work with rest of nature to produce the feeling of prosperity.
physical facility required for the Body.
Key Takeaways
Revisiting Prosperity in the Light of the Harmony When the Self has a feeling of self-regulation (the
between the Self and the Body responsibility for nurturing, protection and right
The need for the physical facility is essentially utilisation of the Body), and it is able to fulfil this
related to fulfillment of this feeling of responsibility, the Body is in harmony (good
responsibility towards the Body, i.e. we need health).
physical facility for nurturing the Body (food…), This feeling of self-regulation is instrumental in
for protecting the Body (clothes, shelter…) and for identifying the need for physical facility and
rightly utilizing the Body (instruments…) and ensuring prosperity.
that’s it. And if we can see this clearly, we can also
see that the physical facility required to ensure each
one of them is required in limited quantity. Hence,
prosperity is very much possible.

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