Dr Satyawan Saurabh
Some religious institutions are useful in providing a forum for the modern mind to share a ‘righteous’ value system through discourses and publications. It helps society to collectively develop, share and practice the right value system. This in turn helps in the upliftment and improvement of society and essentially in the efforts of character and nation-building. All religions command a person to do good deeds, to care for others, and to do what is right or moral. We have a long tradition where individuals and industries in India encourage ‘caring for society’ as much as creating wealth for the future expansion of the business and economy. Values are beliefs that are rooted in usefulness or importance to the holder, ‘or’ reflect principles, standards, or qualities that are meaningful or desirable. Values constitute an important feature of the self-concept and serve as supervisory principles for the individual. Human life was very simple in the school era. In that era, knowledge did not grow as much as it has today. The reason for this is that in that era human needs were limited and they were fulfilled through family and other informal means. But due to the increase in population and multiplicity of necessities of life, the form of culture gradually became so complex that it became difficult to impart its complete knowledge to the child through family and other informal means. Here the parents also started getting trapped in the affair of earning a living. They neither had enough time to educate the children nor were they educated enough to teach them the complete knowledge of the language, geography, history, sociology, economics, anatomy, and scientific research. Therefore, the need for such a regular organization began to be felt, which could preserve social and cultural property and develop it and transfer it to future generations. With this vision, the school was born. It is to be noted that initially, only the upper-class people took advantage of the schools. The establishment of schools for the masses is only a gift of the modern age. As the democratic outlook developed, the form of the schools also changed. India has been a religious country since ancient times. But in the beginning, ideal religion was seen in our country, in which there was no place for superstitions and superstitions. That’s why the development of Indian society was also taking place according to healthy tradition. But with the arrival of foreigners, gradually the evils started entering the social and religious sphere and by the time British rule was established in India, these evils had reached their peak. After the establishment of British rule, the Hindu religion became a victim of many evils, which also affected society. The darkness of superstition and conservatism enveloped the whole country. Sati-practice, child marriage, polygamy, caste system, child murder, etc. many evils have spread in society. To end these evils, an organized religion and social reform movement started. Meanwhile, a social and religious reformer appeared on the stage of India, and he gave a comprehensive form to this movement. Among the social reformers, Raja Rammohan Roy, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, etc. are prominent. There were many reasons behind the religion and social reform movement, such as the influence of European civilization, the rise of the new middle class, social mobility, the influence of reformers, etc. The British government also cooperated with the Indian reformers in removing these evils. As a result of which our society became completely free from superstitions and evil practices. Religion today has taken a very institutionalized form. ‘Religion is a system of sacred belief and practices both in tangible and intangible forms. Religion can play the dual role of an ideology as well as an institution. Religion plays an important role in giving cultural identity to an individual. Religion helps in creating a moral framework and is also a regulator of values in daily life. This particular approach helps in the character building of an individual. In other words, religion acts as an agency of socialization. Thus, religion helps in building up values like love, sympathy, respect, and harmony. Some religious institutions are useful in providing a forum or forum for the modern mind to share a ‘righteous’ value system through discourses and publications. It helps society to collectively develop, share and practice the right value system.
This in turn helps in the upliftment and improvement of society and essentially in the efforts of character and nation-building. All religions command a person to do good deeds, to care for others, and to do what is right or moral. We have a long tradition where individuals and industries in India encourage ‘caring for society’ as much as creating wealth for the future expansion of the business and economy. It has assumed various forms such as the construction and development of schools and colleges, hospitals as well as various religious and charitable institutions, which support a variety of religious and welfare activities on an ongoing basis. Each religion promotes its philosophy and its essence has always been the welfare and welfare of the people. For example, in Sanatana Dharma, there are thoughts like Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the whole world is one family), and Save Sukhinah Bhavantu (let everyone be happy) which nurture and develop love and compassion in society. Education is linked to values in its aims, curriculum, and methods. It is through education that society seeks to preserve and promote its nurturing values. Whatever is learned and imbibed will determine how the students will lead their lives in the future. Educational institutions provide a structured environment where children learn the values of cooperation, hard work, punctuality, commitment, honesty, sharing, caring, fairness, helping, independence, responsibility, humility, and pride needed to be inculcated in a child. Lessons of honesty, social justice, and sensitizing children with empathy towards the weaker sections of society. To inculcate gender equality, respect for elders, truthfulness, tolerance, peace, love for nature and mankind, positive attitude, spirituality, nationalist sentiments, patriotism, discipline, and many universal human values like truth, righteous conduct, peace, love, and Ahimsa practitioners are concerned with the physical, intellectual, emotional psyche and spiritual aspects of human personality. These are directly influenced by schools and religious institutions. There is a need and urgency to reinforce these values for a better and more humane society.
(The author is a Research scholar, poet, freelance journalist & columnist, All India Radio and TV panelist).
