Growth has always
been measured in terms of numbers. There is always a quantitative approach
towards what we perceive to be the ideal position, be it a person or a country.
We calculate our everything in terms of numbers, from films to money. Economists
have helped us immensely to satisfy our number-high with concepts like GDP,
GNP, NNP and so on. We started relying on the monetary benefits of our deeds
more and thus have boarded the train, intending to get down at the stop of “the
developed world” which may not even exist.
When the so
called “Super Powers” were hitting each other with handbags over GDP and when
we were fighting with guns and tanks to create a new eastern neighbour from our
common “enemy”, who is also our western neighbour, another neighbour of ours
were redefining growth and development. The small kingdom of Bhutan, redefined
what development meant. They proposed the theory of Gross National Happiness (GNH).
They heeded towards the more important factor for betterment, Quality.
When the whole word was going mad over marketing, they developed a hankering
for happiness.
In the early
1970s, Bhutan adopted the GNH as its main measurement of development. It
increased the emphasis on ethical and spiritual values rather than counting
numbers which rise and fall like the waves of the oceans. The philosophers in
Bhutan identified what their ultimate need was and attended it with practical
means. The United Nations recognized the noble idea and the scope which it had
opened towards the actual development of the world. This simple way of thinking
gave solutions to decade long problems faced by the “developed” USA whose
people were never happy, though they had enough money. The humongous amount of
surveys and interviews had finally attained their salvation with GNH.
The Sustainable Development Solutions
Network,
a UN body, started releasing World Happiness Report from 2012.
India, in the list for 2017, ranks 122nd of the total 155 countries
(only 155 countries are considered) in other words, India is one of the saddest
countries in the world. This also means we lack in ethical and spiritual values
(Seriously!). India has been the home of spiritual and moral values. Be it Charvaka and Buddha with their rationalistic views or Mahaveer and Rishabanadha
with their spiritualistic views, India has always pioneered in moral values
from ancient times. So many more noble hearts have walked and preached this
land. Even with these high grade intellectuals and numerous precious literary
works, we have not been able to find the missing piece to complete the jigsaw
puzzle. Is something fundamentally wrong with us?
Moral or
spiritual values should be the result of self-assessment and self-realization.
But when fear drives values, it does not do more good than the government
providing employment to rapists while lots of graduates are selling pakodas, no
point. We should elevate ourselves into higher beings through introspection rather than acting like an elevated
being. Real moral and spiritual values must take precedence in place of Soda bottle spiritualism. The only
solution to all of our problems is love. When we start loving our co-survivors,
we would automatically tolerate their difference of opinions and their way of
life and to finally find out that we are here for more than mere surviving.
By Benolin
By Benolin
