Value-Oriented Education - Education In Human Values Programme

Suggested List of Topics

I.      Stories, fairy tales, legends, myths, plays, poems, anecdotes, biographical or autobiographical episodes to illustrate:

1. The ideal of Truth: to speak the truth whatever the consequences; Truth in Thought; Truth in feeling; Truth in Action; Truth alone succeeds;
2. Aspiration for Perfection: Whatever you do, do it as perfectly as you can;
3. Dream of the New World: Where truth alone prevails, where beauty and goodness pervade;
4. Healthy mind in a healthy body;
5. To see the invisible and to hear the inaudible;
6. The body as a temple of the Spirit;
7. To work with the body is indispensable for the true knowledge and experiences;
8. Concentration is the key to all progress;
9. Quest of self-knowledge: stories of Shevataketu, Nachiketas, etc.
10. Goodwill at any cost;
11. Fearlessness;
12. Friendship;
13. Distinction between appearance and reality;
14. Intelligence in animals and birds;
15. Consciousness in matter;
16. Sincerity;
17. Introspection;
18. Story of Arjuna at the beginning of the Mahabharata war to illustrate distinction between thought, will, emotion, impulse, sensation, perception, and functions of the body;
19. Pursuit of beauty;
20. Pursuit of goodness;
21. Meaning of Perfection;
22. Harmony of thought, word, feeling, and action;
23. Joy of company of Nature;
24. Joy of poetry;
25. Joy of music;
26. Joy of clarity of thought;
27. Power of will;
28. Joy of Mathematics;
29. Learning from History;

30. Yogic mastery over body, life and mind;
31. Work, not to come first but to do one’s very best;
32. Do not criticise anybody unless you can do better than the one you want to criticise;
33. Cultivate in yourself those qualities which you want others to cultivate;
34. Perception of one’s defects with a sense of humour and without depression;
35. To learn to speak only what is necessary;
36. Perils of laziness;
37. Changing and transformation of human nature;
38. Human limitations;
39. Human helplessness;
40. Dedicated community service;
41. Perseverance;
42. Equality (samatvam) in success and failure.

II. Lists of noble aspirations and thoughts:

1. Subhasitani;
2. Important proverbs and sayings;
3. Thought for today: A list;
4. Memorable quotations;
5. Memorable lines of poetry;

III. Great Biographies:

1. Rama;
2. Sri Krishna;
3. Vasishtha;
4. Vishvamitra;
5. Valmiki;
6. Vyasa;
7. Buddha;
8. Mahavira;
9. Moses;
10. Jesus Christ;
11. Thiruvalluvar;
12. Prophet Mohammed;
13. Guru Nanak;
14. Sri Chaitanya;
15. Mira;
16. Ramakrishna;
17. Swami Vivekananda;
18. Sri Aurobindo.

IV. Exercises for the Development of Sense of Wonder:

• Examples from Astronomy: distance, vastness, galaxies, expanding universe;
• Examples from Physics: What is matter behind what we see and touch?
• Examples from Chemistry: What is water? Is it mere oxygen or hydrogen or something more?
• Caterpillar and its mutation into butterfly;
• Magic of words;
• Process of understanding;
• Mystery of the human body;
• Mystery of consciousness;
• Wonder of mental silence;
• Wonder of rhythm;
• Wonder of Nature’s beauty;
• Architectural wonders of the world;
• Wonder and power of smile;
• Wonder of flowers;
• Wonder of twinkling stars;
• Wonder of time;
• Wonder of space;
• Wonder that is God.

1. Exercises for observation and accurate descriptions:
   Leaves, plants, flowers, minerals, scenes, animals, figures, human body, artistic pictures, musical pieces, buildings, objects, events;
2. Exercises for the Development of memory;
3. Exercises for the development of five senses of knowledge and five senses of action;
4. Exercises of concentration;
5. Art of Relaxation;
6. Art of Sleeping;
7. Exercises of self-control;
8. Exercises of subtlety of thought and imagination;
9. Exercises of meditation;
10. Exercises of Contemplation;
11. Exercises of witnessing consciousness;
12. Exercises of introspection;
13. Exercises of recitation and dramatic oratory;
14. Exercises of scientific thought;
15. Exercises of philosophical thought;
16. Exercises of moral judgement;
17. Exercises of aesthetic judgement;
18. Sustained exercises of clear thought;
19. Exercises of sustained enthusiasm.

XXV.

1. Art of bathing, art of cleaning the teeth;
2. Art of dressing;
3. Art of sitting and writing in right posture;
4. Art of story telling;
5. Art of appreciation of poetry;
6. Art of appreciation of music;
7. Art of appreciation of painting;
8. Art and science of living;
9. Art of creative expression.

XXVI. Learning by practising:

1. Art and science of practicing concentration in every activity; concentration is key to all progress;
2. Art and Science of practising quietude and silence;
3. Practising truthfulness;
4. Practising fulfilment of promises;
5. Practising dedication: dedication in works of labour and community service;
6. Practising sincerity in thought, will, and action;
7. Practising regularity and punctuality;
8. Practising perseverance;
9. Practice of reviewing daily before retiring one’s actions, thoughts, feelings in relation to aim of life;
10. Practising exercises of synthesis and conflict resolution;
11. Practising endurance;
12. Practising wideness of awareness: awareness of the body, thought movement, awareness of other psychological states of impulses, emotions, inclinations, propensities of action and awareness of surroundings, and presence of universe;
13. Practising right attitude towards time: to do everything as quickly and as perfectly as possible;
14. Practising equanimity in order to transcend likes, dislikes, preferences, success, failure, praise, blame;

XXVII. Learning by doing:

1. Learning to swim;
2. Learning to sing;
3. Learning to be rhythmic;
4. Learning to express;
5. Learning the art of cleanliness, including sweeping, washing, dusting;
6. Learning to cook;
7. Learning the art of first aid and self-defence;
8. Learning to paint;
9. Learning of crafts;
10. Learning to do gardening;
11. Learning to travel: including cycling, safe driving and rules and regulations of traffic;
12. Learning to write clearly and beautifully including calligraphy;
13. Learning to participate harmoniously;
14. Learning the art of self-control, purification of emotions, and mastery over impulses;
15. Learning art of poetry.

XXVIII. Learning to know:

1. Learning to learn: use of alphabets, use of mental calculation, use of books, use of television, use of computers, use of libraries;
2. Art of storing and retrieval;
3. Art of classification;

Learning to Discriminate:

1. Distinction of colours; sounds, fragrances, tastes and tactile sensations;
2. Distinction between health and strength and agility;
3. Distinction between instinct, desire, ambition, preferences, thought, will, imagination, and perception of beauty;
4. Distinction between appearance and reality (examples from science, history, literature and philosophy);
5. Distinction between insensitivity, intelligence, sensitivity and conception, emotion and volition;
6. Distinction between meditation, contemplation and concentration;
7. Distinction between lower and higher in thought, feeling and action;
8. Distinction between the inorganic and the organic, between plants and animals, between beasts and human beings;
9. Distinction between barbarism, civilisation and culture;
10. Distinction between science and art;
11. Distinction between scientific thought and philosophical thought;
12. Distinction between art and technology;
13. Relationship between knowledge and action;
14. Relationship between ideal and practice;
15. Relationship between dedication and heroism;
16. Distinction between instinct and intuition;
17. Distinction between intuition and inspiration;
18. Distinction between intuition and revelation;
19. Distinction between desire and aspiration;
20. Distinction between rationality and morality;
21. Distinction between morality and religion;
22. Distinction between religion and spirituality;
23. Distinction between religion and yoga;
24. Distinction between the physical, the vital, the mental, the psychic, the spiritual and the supramental;
25. Degrees and varieties of illumination, wisdom, heroism, and harmony;
26. Distinction between fact and value; Distinction between truth, beauty and goodness.

Main domains of knowledge:

1. Humanities;
2. Sciences;
3. Fine Arts and Crafts; and
4. Technologies

Interdisciplinary knowledge:

1. Interrelationship between history and geography;
2. Interrelationship between astronomy, astrophysics and earth sciences;
3. Relationship between biology and biochemistry;
4. Relationship between biology and psychology;
5. Science of evolution;
6. Science of environment and ecology;
7. History as an interdisciplinary study;
8. Philosophy as an interdisciplinary study;
9. Study of human being and the question of human progress.
10. Bridging Matter, Life, mind and Supermind;
11. Experiments of J.C. Bose;
12. Recent findings of physicists like Louise de Broglie, Erwin Schrodinger, David Bohm;
13. Findings of Quantum Mechanics;
14. Michael Talbot’s concept of sub-atomic: particle as “Omniobjective”;
15. Philosophical thought of Bergson: Élan Vitale;
16. Alexander’s concept of Space, Time and Deity;
17. Whitehead’s concept of Ingression and Ideal Order;
18. Chardin’s concept of Omega Summits of Consciousness;
19. Sri Aurobindo’s concept of Supermind.

Knowledge of Values:

1. The meaning of an Ideal;
2. Ideals of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness;
3. Ideals of Perfection;
4. Ideals of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity;
5. Concept of the aim of life: supra-cosmic, supra-terrestrial, cosmic-terrestrial and integral;
6. Self-knowledge, world-knowledge and God-knowledge;
7. Proofs of existence of God;
8. Deism, Pantheism, Theism, Monism;

Affirmations of spiritual experiences: varieties of spiritual experience;

Yogic Knowledge:

1. Standards of conduct: Hedonism, Utilitarianism, Intuitionism;
2. Idea of the categorical imperative;
3. The idea of Dharma, beyond Dharma and Spiritual Freedom;
4. Yoga as Science par excellence: Materialism, Science and Yoga;
5. Integral Yoga and synthesis of yogic systems and synthesis of science and spirituality;
6. Yogic experiences of the witness self; experience of psychic being,
7. Experience of second birth;
8. Experience of silence and of Nirvana;
9. Experience of the Cosmic consciousness;
10. Integral experience of divine status of immobility and status of divine dynamism;
11. Nature of the Supermind;
12. Supermind and transformation of human nature.

Works of Knowledge:

1. Works of love;
2. Works of life-force;
3. Works of transforming earth life into divine life.

Knowledge of the process of Self-Education:

1. Aspiration on the part of the pupil and helping hand of the teacher;
2. Secret of learning and secret of teaching;

Learning To Be:

1. Art and science of introspection;
2. Inquiry into the question: “What am I?” Story of Shevataketu and Nachiketas;
3. Adventures in the quest of truth, and in the quest of heroism;
4. Adventures of excellence of the human body;
5. Adventures of self-exceeding: to work at one’s limitations in order to cross them;
6. Constant observations and questioning: “Where have I reached in my progress?” “What are my defects?” “How to face defects with depression?” “What should I do to overcome my defects?”
7. Preparation of programme of self-discipline: “Am I lazy?” “How to remove idleness?” “How to organise my life and activities?”

Development of Personality:

1. Discovery of the real person behind and above one’s physical personality, vital personality, intellectual personality, ethical personality and aesthetic personality;
2. Harmonising conflict of inner personalities by the power of wisdom, courage, harmony, and skills.

Concept and development of Integral Personality: To be is to be integrally.

Miscellaneous Aids:

1. Development of sense of mystery and wonder;
2. Development of sense of sacredness;
3. Development of the sense of reverence;
4. Study of personalities: Vasishtha, Vishwamitra, Rama, Sri Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, Moses, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed, Guru Nanak, Sri Chaitanya, Mirabai, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo.
5. Stories of Illumination, Heroism, and Harmony;
6. Singing of music: selected Ragas (Indian) and Harmonies (Western);
7. Examples of poetic excellence: regional poetry, Sanskrit poetry, English poetry;
8. Stories of Bodhisattva from the Jatakas;
9. Parables (Indian and Western);
10. “Powers of the mind” – from Swami Vivekananda;
11. Account of Rabindranath Tagore’s experience of his opening of poetic expression;
12. Description of sthitapragya as given in the Gita;
13.  The Sermon on the Mount from the New Testament;
14. Study of passages from Plato: Apology and simile of the Cave in The Republic;
15. Study of Ishopanishad;
16. Contemplation and the concept of “universals”;
17. The vow of the Buddha on the threshold of Nirvana;
18. Selected psalms;
19. Islamic prayers;
20. Selected portion from Tulasidasa;
21. Songs of Mirabai, Surdas, Tukaram, Ramprasad and Alwars;

Prayer of Swami Vivekananda.