INDIAN VALUES

HUMILITY IS THE GREATEST VIRTUE

Humility, which is the greatest among all virtues known to mankind.

Humility in Latin is humilis, means low. Humility is being low outside while
high inside. It is self-effacing and the denial of self-importance. Humility is
the antithesis of arrogance and false pride. It is the law of the nature that
people who are strong and virtuous inside always remain low outside. We
have examples of Jesus Christ, Gauthama Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi,
and Basaveshwara nearer in our own state. They are all called as great
souls because of their humility.

Humility is the antithesis of arrogance and false pride. Arrogance

and false pride are the worst evils of the mankind and sure ways of
destruction. Ravana in the Ramayana saw his end because of his
arrogance. Duryodhana in the Mahabharatha carved out his
destruction due to his false pride. Nearer in time, unlimited arrogance
destroyed both Hitler and Saddam Hussain.

Humility is a rare and the greatest virtue mankind has ever

known. People with this great virtue in abundance stand out and shine
like the Sun. All likes them. Everybody hates arrogance and the
arrogant people. Mythology and History are full of stories that show
how the forces of humility triumphed over the forces of arrogance.

Only a pure soul can have humility. And the humility brings
about all other virtues including simplicity, honesty, patience, love,
kindness and above all self-confidence. Humility sprouts from the
heart. It is never practised for effect or benefit. Therefore, everybody
trusts people who are filled with humility. Humility saves the world
from all evils like deception, greed, hatred, anger, competition,
suspicion and discontentment. It spreads simplicity, peace, harmony
and contentment in humankind.

Jesus Christ spread the doctrine of showing the right cheek as

well, when somebody slaps you on the left cheek. He also said that if
anybody sues you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well. He
died on the cross for the sins of the humanity at large. Ramayana is
the story of the clash between the forces of humility represented by
Rama and the forces of arrogance represented by Ravana, and the
ultimate triumph of humility over arrogance. Mahabharatha is the story
of the clash between the forces of humility represented by the
Pandavas and the forces of arrogance represented by the Kauravas,
and the ultimate triumph of humility over arrogance. Mahatma Gandhi
vowed not to wear a shirt or travel first class in train until all the
people in India could afford it. He discarded all the luxuries of the life
and willingly lived the poorest of the poor life. This is humility.
Basaveshwara, the Prime Minister of the king of Bijjala of Kalyana
called himself a servant of the servants of the noble people. It is
humility.

Humility is not easy to come. It needs cleansing of the soul from

the evils of arrogance and false pride. And the Satan of the
arrogance and false pride has strong hold on our life and cannot be
shed easily. Only great souls with extra-ordinary strength inside can
reach the higher levels. They are called as great souls. We can only
try towards that end. If we succeed to any degree, we can be called
as great. Humility is the true path towards peace, harmony and
advancement to the divine end.
 Humility is civility. Humility is utility. Humility is humanity.
Humility is divinity.

The best are those who live in humility,

That brings to life greatness, easy felicity;
Those who have this aplenty are blessed,
And always stand out as the very best.
HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY

Honesty is the best policy; so it was, is and will be. Dishonesty

always leads to the doom of the person who practices it. On the other
hand, honesty leads to greatness. Many great people were honest.
People who are notorious are usually dishonest. We must be honest if
we want to prosper. So, friends, we must be honest.

What is honesty? Honesty is truthfulness, honesty is integrity,

and honesty is fairness. Honesty basically is openness. It is being
truthful to oneself. Honesty is honour. The word honesty is derived
from the French root “honeste” and the Latin root “honestus”,
meaning honour.

Honesty makes people great. Gandhiji is called Mahatma or

Great Soul because he was an honest person. Gandhiji fought for truth
and became an apostle of honesty and peace. He refused to copy the
spelling of the word “kettle” even on the suggestion of his teacher
during an inspection of his class and this shows that Gandhiji was
honest from his childhood.
 Dishonesty may bring temporary relief. But, it certainly harms in
the long run. It darkens our soul and breeds fear in our hearts. It
shakes our confidence and hurts our self-respect. On the other hand,
honesty breeds confidence and nourishes self-respect. It makes us
upright and honorable. Honesty brings its own glory and joy.

Honesty begets honesty. Others trust honest people. Even cruel

animals behave differently with honest people. Honesty implies pure
and simple heart and a great soul. Honest people are nearer to the
nature and to the God.

Some may wonder when it is said that honesty sometimes may involve
lies also. But it is true. A lie said with a good intention like saving an
innocent life from a gang of thieves as in a story of Mahabharata epic
amounts to honesty. The test of honesty is doing well to others. Such
acts endear us to all. Simplicity and kindness are the life-blood of
honesty. Only honesty with its simplicity and kindness makes us true
human beings.

Honesty means being true to one’s conscience. While following

the path of honesty, one must not tell lies and must not be false in any
respect.

Dishonesty may help for the time being but it harms our interests
in the long term. For example, if one tells lies now, he may save
himself from being in trouble. But then, if his lie in uncovered, than, he
is in double trouble for doing the wrong and then on top of it telling the
lie to cover the wrong. So one must not tell lies.
 Honesty makes all the people to like him and thus gives him a
good name in the society. It is nice to tell the truth as our conscience
will not be affected and it will also give people a favourable impression
and thus lessen our heavenly punishment.

All great people including Mahatma Gandhi, George Washington

and many others have followed it. All great people have followed
honesty as they have the desire not to tell lies. Only good people
follow honesty, as other people do not have the self-control to resist
the evil temptation to tell lies.

Honesty makes the world a happier place to live in as everyone

trusts each other and there is goodwill everywhere.

WILL AND DETERMINATION

Will and determination is the spice of life. Without this quality,

none can become great. Will and determination is the power behind
talent and intelligence. Without will and determination, the talent and
intelligence just wither.

There are umpteen examples of will and determination pushing a

person to greatness. Helen Keller Sudhachandran and Louis Braille are
just a few instances of such persons. Helen Keller who was born in
America was blind, deaf and dumb. But, she learnt to talk and write in
a very short time. She also wrote books.

Sudhachandran is a dancer who lost her legs in an accident. She

used artificial legs and continued with her dance career.
 Louis Braille was not born blind. He became blind because of an
awl he was playing with in his father’s workshop when he was just four
years old. Later, he devised the Braille system of language for the
benefit of blind people.

There are many such examples as these wherein sheer will and
determination took far ahead in life for great accomplishments. Will
and determination do raise a person to greater heights. Humans in
themselves must develop such a quality.

Will and determination, truly crowning passion,

Built and pulled down crowns and nations;
The inward strength, truly unparallel’d wealth,
Hoisted zealots to life’s unsurpassed zenith.

LEADERSHIP

A leader is endowed with certain extra powers and this brings

additional responsibilities to him. This with time changes the character
of the boss. A leader must be one in his group while different all the
same. It is easily said than done. Often, the needs of a leader to be
different from the group while one remaining as one in the group is
seen and abhorred as arrogance

A good leader relentlessly tries to inspire those under him

towards goals set for them. He encourages them to live up to his
expectations out of them. For success to be gained by the leader and
the people who work for him, all of them must work as a team and
must go through each barrier with resolution and self-confidence to
succeed and accomplish. A leader inspires risk-taking and also leads by
setting an example for those who work for him. Then only can a leader
be a true leader.

WAR IS DESTRUCTIVE

“War is a dreadful thing,

Death and destruction, it does bring;
Be it for land or riches, war is wrong,
A swell of wastes, war is a devil’s song.”

War with its lieutenants, disease and death, tries to destroy

human kind when there is disagreement between countries. War has
proven its strength in the first and second World Wars. In these World
Wars, altogether seventy million people died. Forty-five percent of
them were soldiers and the remaining fifty-five percent were civilians.
In that century, altogether one hundred million people died in wars and
seventy percent of them in World Wars alone. Another interesting fact
is that 150 wars were fought since 1945. So it is important to stop
another World War as, if another World War is fought, all the people on
the face of the Earth will be wiped out due to the advanced
technology.

If peace gets a chance, all nations and all countries prosper. But,
if war befalls on the world, I foresee that by the next century, there
may be almost no one living on the watery planet, the Earth.

During the Kargil war, Afghanistan war and Iraq wars, people in
thousands died due to the use of advanced technology. We must take
these examples to our mind and ask ourselves whether we want
people to die.
 Nobody understood the evils of war and the blessings of peace
more than the Mauryan Emperor, Asoka, the Great. How Kalinga war
transformed him to an apostle of peace is a legend now.

“Peace builds bridges and trust

And leads there, where all is right.”

GANDHIAN THOUGHTS

Gandhiji led India to freedom. He was a great man of principles

and high goals in life. He practised what he preached and that made
him a great leader and Mahatma, or Great Soul. He was a very simple
man of minimum needs. His thoughts, ideals and principles are
codified as Gandhian thoughts.

The principle that he valued the most was truth. He fought for
truth. He believed that truth always prevails. He tried out some
experiments with truth. They generally turned out to be successful.

He supported non-violence. He with this method defeated the

mighty British. He wanted no one to hate another person. He wanted
everyone to forgive and forget. And he diligently practised it in his life.
He had no enemies

He propagated the importance of cottage industry in a rural

economy like India. He wanted the people of India to be self-sufficient.
He valued simplicity in life.
 Gandhiji strived for the upliftment of all. He strived for the
upliftment all sections of people. Harijan upliftment, women’s
emancipation, respect to all religions were his priorities. He was the
messenger from God to this world.