Ideals and Values

A TEXTBOOK FOR INTRODUCING ETHICS

By Vishal Agarwal

 

No.	Topic
	SECTION I: UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR HUMAN BODY
1	Human Being – Pinnacle of Bhagavān’s Creation
2	The Science of Mind and Sense Organs
	SECTION II: GOOD VALUES FOR STUDENTS AND TEENAGERS
3	Duty of a Son or a Daughter towards their Parents
4	Behavior toward Siblings
5	Respecting our Gurus and Rishis
6	Respecting and Teaching Classmates
7	Choosing your Friends from Peers
8	Take Care of your Books and other Study Materials
9	Attitude Toward Food
10	Balanced Sleeping and Recreation Habits
11	Good Study Habits
	SECTION III: Conquering our six internal enemies and other evils
12	The Six Internal Enemies
13	Desire, the First Enemy
14	Anger, the Second Enemy
15	Greed, the Third Enemy
16	Delusion, the Fourth Enemy
17	Pride, the Fifth Enemy
18	Jealousy, the Sixth Enemy
19	Ostentation or Hypocrisy
20	Harshness or Cruelty
21	Ignorance
22	Hatred or Enmity
23	Fault-finding & Complaining
24	Gossiping and Backbiting
25	Stealing
	SECTION IV: ETHICAL VALUES FOR STUDENTS
26	Absence of Fear
27	Ahimsa (Not hurting others)
28	Shanti (Peacefulness)
29	Compassion towards all Creatures
30	Gentleness
31	Empathy
32	Humility & Respect for Everyone
33	Charity & Gratitude
34	Sevā
35	Unity and Mutual Cooperation
36	Truthfulness and Honesty
37	Straightforwardness & Simplicity
38	Forgiveness
39	Forbearance and Accommodation
40	Steadiness and Equanimity
41	Commitment and Perseverance
42	Hard Work and Vigor
43	Non Hoarding and Simple Living
44	Contentment
45	Fickleness or Immaturity
46	Cleanliness of Body
47	Purity of Intellect
48	Self-Respect & Absence of Excessive Pride
49	Modesty & Shame
50	Environmental Awareness
	PART V: SPIRITUAL IDEALS OF HINDUS
51	Performance of Worship
52	Study of Scriptures
53	Jnāna: Spiritual Knowledge
54	Constant Practice of Meditation
55	Shraddhā (Faith) in Bhagavān
56	Bhakti (Devotion)
	Appendix I: A Short List of Great Hindus for further research
	References & Bibliography

Acknowledgements

The booklet was created for the students and teachers of the Hindu American Temple School (HATS) affiliated to the Hindu Society of Minnesota with input from Dr. Shashikant Sane and Arvind Naik.

The booklet contains artwork from numerous websites and books which are not being listed here, but acknowledged with thanks. Please consult the section on References and Bibliography for secondary works utilized.

The "good habit, bad habit" pages are reproduced from Good Habits & Bad Habits (Pictorial Guide on Moral Values for Children), 1^st edition April 2011, Swaminarayan Aksharpith, Ahmedabad, India.

The illustrations on the nine-fold Bhakti are taken from Klaus Klostermaier. 2007. A Survey of Hinduism (3^rd edn.). SUNY: Albany, New York.

 

Note to the Parents and Students

This book is intended as a reference guide. Therefore, it should be preserved for future reference on what Hindu Dharma says about various virtues and vices. Should you not need this book any longer, please give it to a friend or a family member.

Studying about different virtues and vices can be a very dry subject. Therefore, each chapter tries to incorporate interesting stories from the Hindu traditions from all over the world and also a few examples and stories from the Greek and American traditions. The author believes that reading about how great Rishis, Sants, Bhaktas, Kings and even otherwise ordinary Hindus have practiced these values is more illuminating and inspiring than reading about them in a purely theoretical fashion.

The difference of this book from other similar books likes in the fact that the latter are often biased towards the Saṅyasa and Vedantic perspective of these values and vices and therefore present a too idealistic version of the reality. This idealistic version can be practiced only by Sages, but the real life for us ordinary Hindus is much more complex and different. Therefore, an attempt has been made to look at issues from various angles and discuss various compromises that we have to make from a practical, and yet an ethical, perspective. The author has also tried to make the book all-inclusive so that it does not favor any one tradition of Hindus over the others. Omission of certain stories or values does not mean that the author does not like them or consider them as important. It only means that these are most likely covered in the other books of this textbook series because they fit there better. This particular book is meant for students in the 6^th or the 7^th grades.

Note for Teachers

This book has more than twice as much material that can be covered in a course of 1 year with 30 classes that are 1 hour long. Moreover, several sections are too dense and complex and are meant for future reference, when the student is older or they are meant for the parents. The teacher should therefore use the stories incorporated as the chief vehicle for discussing these values. Class discussions on the complexities involved and modern applications of these values must be focused upon as well.

It is also beneficial to study the values and vices in pairs or groups. For E.g., Greed should be studied with contentment and non-hoarding. Ahimsa should be studied with Peacefulness, Compassion and Gentleness. Do not dwell upon the minutiae in the chapters in your classroom. An annual project on research on names listed in Appendix I may be given to students individually, in pairs or in threes. The student should create two of the following three deliverables to present their research:

• Term Paper
• Powerpoint slides
• A Poster or Trifold presentation

Any contemporary events highlighting the contents of any chapter should also be brought up in the classroom for enrichment.

Contributors to this article

Himanshu Bhatt, Deval Sancheti, Krishna Maheshwari

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