What is quality of
life?
Ancient Indian texts ask us to
make a choice between survival and extinction. Survival or extinction by
itself, they say, is meaningless. Survival has to be purposeful and
enlightened. Survival can only be in terms of quality of life. What then is the
quality of life?
Bhagavad-Gita tells us it is not
enough merely to live; one must live well. What is to live well is a matter of understanding,
aspiration and fulfillment. Towards this end, Bhagavad-Gita suggests a
framework of values integrating mans
work, emotions and knowledge in order to give his life a meaning. The main
plank on which the quality of life rests, it points out, is the Spirit of Man.
The Spirit of Man has to survive
amidst challenges and changes in a complicated structure of needs, enjoyments
and power. It has also to transcend the constraints of time and narrow confines
of circumstances. At such times, it reaches excellence, evidences creativity
and pushes the wheels of progress. (E.g. lives of Buddha, Ashoka, Gandhi)
History enriches itself by
highlighting such transcendence of Man and by not merely chronicling conflicts
and events.
Edited by sreenivasarao s - 08-Apr-2007 at 05:50