Article by : Shilpa Shah Professor HKBBA College
We are taking some or the other decision continuously. A single moment without decision is not possible in human life. What can I do? What not to do? Where to go, when to go, to study or not, to study science or commerce and arts, to spend more time with parents or with friends, to pursue a career in the country or abroad? To marry or not to marry? With whom to connect and with whom not? When to wake up, when to sleep, etc. Many types of small-big decisions have to be taken continuously in life. Most of the decisions are of a very general kind which are not capable of disrupting life to any great extent i.e. not disrupting or fragmenting life but definitely have a small impact. But some decisions are so important that they determine the direction of life and make life successful or unsuccessful so it is imperative to be careful about serious decisions. More or less decisions affect life hundred percent so alertness awareness is essential while taking decisions. That’s why we have to understand that our decision is usually taken based on which elements.
YUVACHARYA MAHAPRAGYAJI has written in his book “ANEKANTA” that the critical components of all decisions are only four 1) Matter or material 2) Field or place 3) Time 4) feelings or emotion. Based on these four elements, decisions are taken as well as change in life. A decision that does not change due to these four is not a decision but an indecision. Decisions taken by human beings are usually made with some expectation. As the expectation changes, decision changes. Each decision is appropriate according to the individual situation. Also, one’s decision sometimes becomes inappropriate for another. But the responsible reason behind the decision is always these four for everyone.
Matter or material-related decision means a decision taken with respect to a matter, thing or object. If a person likes sweets, he decides to eat sweets in his life as daily routine, but when diabetes diagnosed, he decides not to eat sweets. The decision changed with the situation which changed with respect to the substance. A man who loves money today may become a hermit tomorrow and renounce wealth. What we think is right today may be wrong tomorrow.
The number of constituents in a substance’s structure is its freedom. No two people are the same. One molecule does not interfere with the existence of another molecule. Not even attacking each other thus every element of existence is independent. Even though the existence of the soul is independent, each is dependent on the other, subordinate to the other. These are all subjective decisions. Similarly, the entire world is not only as we know it, it is very vast in which much does not come within the grasp of our senses. We make decisions based on the field we are in. We see the sun rise and set so our judgments remain accordingly. A scientist named Galileo said at the end of the research that the sun is stationary while the earth rotates, we change our decision based on this. A decision taken in India may be different from a decision taken in America. It is called sectoral decision. Which is likely to change depending on sector expectations.
A decision which changes with a change of location is called a regional decision, similarly human beings are connected with time. Matter is also associated with time. A person can make decisions based on the present, on past experience and can also make on future concerns and possibilities. It is called a relative decision which changes with time. Today’s friend can be tomorrow’s enemy, it is the example of decision change according to time. What we consider a fool today may be a scientist tomorrow like Einstein. As a child, Einstein’s teacher called him fool, a judgment based on his current analogy. Today, he is accepted as a brilliant scientist, even his teacher would have to change his mind. Today’s thief can be tomorrow’s loan shark. A VALIO robber of the past can become a VALMIKI sage of the future etc. is a relative decision of time.
Humans constantly make or change decisions based on the past, present and future, so time is an important element, which plays a very crucial role in decision making, and the last fourth element is the emotional component, that is, a person takes a decision based on his emotional state, like a loved one, all decisions about him remain positive. Decisions taken on the basis of feelings of self and others, friend and enemy, like-dislike, favorable-unfavorable, happy-sad, etc. are called emotional decisions in which mainly the role of anger-hate is seen. This decision keeps changing according to personal interest. A human being’s world of values is constantly changing so that his value judgments are constantly changing. Which keeps making life happy or sad. A person changes his decisions based on the activity and outcome. If someone has demanded our feet by giving one lakh rupees, we will not be ready for it because we cannot live our life without feet. But unfortunately, if a leg has to be amputated in an accident, the leg has to be amputated even after paying lakhs of rupees to the doctor. In one situation we were not ready to give up even after taking money while in another situation we were ready to lose leg after paying money. These are situational or emotional decisions. In short there are four critical factors that determine every human decision, time-material-place and situation or emotion by which constantly we are making decisions and changing the decisions in life.
Decisions of any human being in the world are not permanent. It changes according to situation, time, region, spirit so it is not right to judge a person by his momentary decision because we do not know what factors, what kind of situation, what kind of experience and in what kind of mindset the decision was taken. A man is never completely right or wrong. His decisions may sometimes be right or wrong. But we judge a person as right or wrong, good or bad and make life difficult by creating adversity like endless frictional struggle, which is the greatest tragedy of human society.
Article by : Shilpa Shah Professor HKBBA College
