Problem

Hari Om

Each 'Choose-day' we will investigate the process by which we can reassess our activity and interaction with the world of plurality and become more congruent within our personality.

The next little prasaada-pushtaka (gift-book) which we will puruse is Sw. Tejoymayananda's "Take Charge of Your Life". Guru-ji is a wonderfully pragmatic personality and has a strongly down-to-earth approach to life and application of Vedanta. These are going to be short, sharp bursts of applied 'shreyas-preyas' decision making!

These days 'value-based management' is very popular, whether in te context of education, business, family or even politics. Perhaps one reason for this is that our values themselves have become base, and baser values necessitate discussion about value-based education, business, management, et cetera.

The Problem.

Interestingly enough, everyone admits the importance of values and a value-based life. There is no second opinion about this. It is also agreed that our values should be great and noble. The only problem is that when we face the ground realities, we find that it is not so easy to put them into practice. We know what the great values of life are. We also know that they should be followed; but the problem is that we are not able to do so.

The problem remains the same from student to adult life. Students know that they ought to concentrate and work hard, but the complain about lack of concentration. Businessmen say that they want to follow values. They do not want to resort to questionable or corrupt practices, but given the situation, very often they cannot avoid 'cutting corners'. They know it is wrong but cannot live by the right values. Even in the spiritual field, people living alone in remote places or even in ashrams have problems. They do not have to deal with the vagaries of life in society - yet will fall short in manifesting their values of discipline and application in spiritual life.

In the field of medicine, we know which good habits are conducive to good health. Even here, though, we face the same problem of being unable to follow what we know to be good for us.

Why does this happen? We will analyse this, because there is no instant solution, no magic pill available to cure us of this malady of 'valueless values'.