Values are the elixir of life
Most
countries which are less spiritual than India are less corrupt than us and they
suffer from less poverty. Why should we have any spirituality at all in our
country? Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev responded to this nicely. I thought of starting
my discussion today with his thought.
Centuries
ago, the whole world, far smaller than the one we are living today, no doubt,
was looking to ancient India because India was very much in tune with both the
outer and inner laws. Several tried to travel to India to learn and enjoy
visiting the country. Columbus wanted to travel to India but landed in a
different place; so was Vasco De Gama who landed in Panaji; it was Robert Clive
who made to Calcutta. What was it that attracted them to this place? Only
riches? Jaggi Vasudev attributes it to spirituality.
Spirituality
is something within of everyone and not one that you organize on the street,
according to him. But we are doing too much outside and call it spirituality.
“The physical existence is ruled by physical laws. If you are not in tune with
them you suffer. Various cultures in the world have done far better than us in
the world because they are in tune with the physical world.” However, their
suffering within is untold, because they are not in tune with their inner laws.
These inner laws teach us to be ambitious and not greedy; to have character
with competence and not jealousy and incompetence and to live by values and
culture but not by ego and extravaganza. Where are we after 71 years of
independence? Why do we see greed everywhere? Why do we want to appear
different from what we actually are? Politics and religion have some umbilical
cord and this relationship whether Pope and the Church, Mohammad and Islam,
Buddha and Peace, have all moved from the Court Halls of the then Kings or
Monarchs.
But
we are today living in a democracy where in the Parliament and Legislature we
have only billionaires to decide on the schemes for the poor to ensure that the
poor remain at reasonable distance from them. We are seeing the decline of
public institutions that include even those created as Constitutional adjuncts
like the CBI, CAG, RBI etc. We are seeing private corporate crimes, serious
bank frauds and career fraudsters walking freely amidst us. Since eternal
vigilance is the essential characteristic of democracy on the rise economically
and politically, legally tenable institutions like the Vigilance Commissioners,
Ombudsmen, Authorities under the RTI Act, regulatory bodies as watchdogs of
law, like the RBI, SEBI, Competition Commission of India, RERA to mention a few
should work credibly and creditably. Every Board is supposed to have Whistle
Blower Policy and Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy. Yet we find a 2G Scam,
Coalgate Scam, Rafael Deal stuck in arguments in the Supreme Court, etc.
During
and post Demonetisation huge numbers of frauds were reported in the press and
media. A few bank heads rolled off and a few more walked away with threats for
the huge frauds committed. Did we find convictions? Far and few, if at all.
An
annual reminder through vigilance week or month is symbolic to remind every
person working in every public sector organization that all persons should be
mindful of values and ethics. Is this required only for public sector entities?
Does anyone believe: private sector is a haven of virtue and so they need not
be reminded of values and ethics they live in? The answer is emphatic ‘No’. It
is not just Public sector banks that walked into the traps of wealth but King
Fisher or ICICI, IL&FS lately etc., that are very much in the whirlpool of
immorality and corruption. And latest, the CBI has been accused of corruption!!
Let
me now tell you an interesting story mentioned in my book: A SAINT IN THE BOARD
ROOM[i].
“A man was driving his car on a muddy road and the car got stuck in a pothole.
Finding a couple of persons sitting in the neighbouring fields, he sought their
help to push the car from pothole. They readily helped him out. Car owner, out
of gratitude, pulled out a hundred rupee note, and gave it to them saying: “if
it wasn’t for you I would have remained shivering the whole night, waiting for
such help.” While leaving, he asked them: “what do you do for a living?” They
replied: this is what we do. Once you leave we create another pothole and wait
for a troubled person like you.”
E.V.
Ramasamy Naicker, a Tamil Philosopher of the 19th Century, once
said: “When I used to carry heavy bags during my younger days, my back would
bend with heavy weight but not due to shame”. Today, we have shameless persons.
These walk erect almost everywhere.
Many
of you would have noticed that most contestants declared the number of charge
sheets filed against them and the monetary value of assets held by them. People
knowingly for the first time would cast their votes for such persons who
amassed huge wealth during the last five years if not more. We have to choose
less among such equals.
“Every man at
the bottom of his heart wants to do right, but only he can do right who knows
what is right; only he thinks right who believes right.” Now what you “believe
right (values)” is the starting point. Values represent your core priorities.
Ann Hurley[ii]
perfectly describes values as, “Values are not just words; values are what we
live by. They are about the causes that we champion and the people we fight
for.”
I
have a feeling that the term ‘values’ is used in an opportunistic manner by
each and everyone. Further, I was initially confused when I look at the
scenarios such as these: a vegan working in a butcher’s firm, a teetotaler
working for a liquor company, a straightforward person working in a corporation
which builds wealth through tax evasion, a softhearted man employed in the
ranks of a soldier killing enemies in the war front and a saint heading a
charity organization taking investment decisions involving money matters and
another yoga exponent and espousing philosophy turning into a business tycoon.
Opportunities for living honorably are more important than where you work or
what position you hold.
I
happened to go to Shanghai and stay in a hotel; ordered for a cab. I was
looking out of the window pane from my room to find a private car coming in.
The driver neatly dressed was clearly visible to me. Lo and behold. After ten minutes
the same person in a white uniform knocks on my door and tells me that the Cab
is ready for drive. He makes an honorable living as a cab driver. Whatever job
one does, from menial to the manager, if he takes pride in his job, he will
perform well and it bodes well for the organization. Is that not a value to
cherish?
Many
of you must have heard: “During our days values are different. Today they have
changed a lot.” If values are universal, why they should differ either in
individual domains or time horizons?
You naturally see tidal waves of confusion streaming
through your mind. Let me articulate some natural questions that should be
confronting your mind right now:
-
What
are Values?
-
Why
Values?
-
Why
do differing Value Perceptions exist?
-
Who
will uphold values?
What are Values?
Human life is sacred and must be appreciated as having
the highest value. One of my friends derided me: have values given you rise in
career or wealth? What is the earthly use of values? I responded to him: “yes;
it is values that gave me peace of mind. I had to wait for longer time to reach
either the status or comfort than you; you reached them with lot of compromises
and discomfort. You may have spent sleepless nights and every moment afraid of
your surroundings.”
Leading a principled life adds value. Principles are
deep fundamental truths, classic truths, and generic common denominators. They
are tightly interwoven threads running with exactness, consistency, beauty and
strength through the fabric of life.[iii]
In the words of US President Dwight Eisenhower, “People who value their privileges above their principles soon lose both.” You take a stand not so much because you want to defy the wrong, but more, because you want to defend the right. Privileges represent a legal concept whereas duties represent a moral concept. Therefore, there should be clarity on the principles of living.
Katha Upanishad says: “He who has not right understanding and whose mind is never steady is not the ruler of his life, like a bad driver with wild horses. But he who has right understanding and whose mind is ever steady is the ruler of his life, like a good driver with well-trained horses.”
Therefore, again the right understanding of the principles is the key. For evolving such right understanding, an undisturbed mind is the key. Milton in ‘Paradise Lost’ wrote, “The mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven.” Amazingly perceptive minds like Shakespeare observed, “There is nothing either good or bad except that thinking makes it so.” We see that in the name of rights people are demanding sacrifice of religiously followed principles. (Sabarimala today is caught in this trap)
I would like you to recognize the quote of Elvis Presley, “Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same, but you leave them all over everything you do”. Thus value perceptions are heterogeneous. Hence you alone have to take a call on your priority.
There exists abundant literature on what constitutes
values, documented in the last 5,000 years or more. Traditions are like
footprints on the sands of time, they show you the way a leader has travelled
before you. If you want to find out what the leader did, you have to travel on
your own. It is easy to become a Buddhist but not so easy to be a Buddha. The
Zen Master, Basho, once said, “Do not see to follow in the footsteps of the
wise: See what they sought.”[iv]
Denis Diderot rightly said, “What has never been doubted has never been
proven.”
The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the philosophies that it produces and the spirit that it preserves. ‘If the system violates intelligence, it is bad. If it injures character, it is vicious and if it injures the conscience, it is criminal.’ [v]
We are fortunate to have been born in a country like
India that had over thousands of years built a culture, tradition and values.
Many cults, diversities, contradictions have all been synthesized into a value
system of tolerance and patience. They are all embedded in the four Vedas that
form the ancient ‘Sastras’[vi],
defining the character, ethics and moral values.
We have persons who illustrated values through their lives: Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, M.K. Gandhi, Arobindo, Ambedkar, etc.
Values are deeply held beliefs that guide your
behavior and decisions. They can be further classified into the following four
categories:
-
Personal Values: They are principles that define you as an individual.
-
Cultural Values: They are like the practice of our faith and customs.
They are principles that sustain connections with your cultural roots.
-
Social Values: They are principles that indicate how you relate
meaningfully to others in social situations.
-
Work Values: They are principles that guide your behaviour in
professional contexts. They also reveal your potential for advancement.
Most of us in work spaces have
a tendency to give credence to gossip more than informed news. This is
beginning of the fall of value system in the work space.
CORE VALUES:
“There are a set of values called Core Values, which
are nothing but our strong desires which we will not yield to. They are the
bedrock of one’s life. They are amongst the strongest desires of a person on
which other values rest. The core values will revolve around industriousness,
compassion, humility, patience, integrity honesty and courage. When all your
actions are congruent and aligned with these core values you will feel a deep
sense of inner harmony and peace. Finally, leading a life of values require
patience for results and the wait requires willpower and courage that should
also be capable of influencing persons around you both in family and
organization you work with.
Aristotle while holding the view that ethics cannot be
converted into a mere rulebook, he insists that some rules would be
unavoidable. Recalling Chanakya’s Artha Sastra would be appropriate in this
context who espoused to the King, Chandra Gupta that there is nothing wrong in
aspiring high in this material world. But realize them with transparency and
rule of law, he said.
-
Mental
dirt cannot be washed away even by bathing for hundred times in sacred waters,
just as a wine pot cannot be purified even after evaporating all the wine with
fire.
-
If
good qualities radiate in a person irrespective of origin, their brilliance
wins recognition akin to a gem shining bright when embedded in a gold ornament.
-
We
should repay the favours of others through acts of kindness; so also should
return evil for evil in which there is no sin, for it is necessary to pay a
wicked man in his own coin. Thus, this justifies a soldier killing an enemy at
the war front, for the enemy is an aggressor.
-
The
satisfaction of the king and the dissatisfaction of the saint are not good for
the country.
A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example. Here I am reminded again of Bhagavat Gita (chapter 3: psalm 21):
“Yadyadacharati sreshtastatta devaetaro janah;
Sa yatpramanam kurute lokastadanuvartate”
Meaning: For, whatever a great man does, that very thing other men also do; whatever standard he sets up, the generality of men follow the same.
Every religion and cult has espoused the significance of values and ethics in life. One who cherishes them in personal life cannot afford the luxury of projecting differently in official life.
Ethics have moved to the employee domain. Watch Microsoft, Google and the like in the digital world and even in McKenzie. Employees in these companies have requested their top brass either not to have business deals with China redirecting their vision from profits to security concerns both systemic and environmental. Bank Associations and Unions during the last two years have been warning their managements of the bulging NPAs and the need to go for ending crony capitalism. They have even put the chronic defaulters’ list on their domain information while the RBI refused to divulge the names of defaulters to the Chief Information Commissioner, RTI. The role of employees is increasing day after day in ensuring that they have the freedom to voice righteousness and decent behaviour of all stakeholders.
The Vigilance Week/fortnight/month is just a reminder for revisiting where we are in upholding the values and ethics in our basic functioning. Hope this discussion would have helped you introspect and take forward what is good for you and the world around you. Values are, therefore, the elixir of life.
*Address
at the Bharat Electronics Ltd on the 23rd November 2018 to
commemorate the Vigilance Week.
[iii] Stephen, R.C. ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective people’ (15th
Edition) Simon and Schuster UK Limited, p.122
[iv] Debashis Chatterjee loc cit., p.
[v] Henry Frederic Amiel, Journal, 17 June 1852
[vi] “Sastras Mean Given Commands”,2001, cited form the lectures of Shri.Chandrasekarendra
Swamiji complied in the book “Hindu Dharma”, Alliance Publication
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