Social Development

sitting room all the holy books of the major religion one on top of the other. He deliberately placed the Gita below all the other books, while the Bible was placed on the top. The host expected that Swamiji would be provoked on seeing this taking it to be an insult to his religion. But, contrary to his expectation, Swamiji smiled and remarked: “The foundation is really good!” From this incident we learn that man should develop in him the ability to convert the negative into the positive; a minus into a plus. Neither social harmony nor social development can be achieved without this quality in this world full of differences and conflicts. To put it briefly, respect for all, unilateral adjustment and positive attitudes—these are the three most important values in social development. Religion basically produces these ethical and spiritual qualities within the individual. And when they are present within the members of a society, all kinds of development will be automatically set in motion. Once truly launched, nothing can come in their way. □ Road Block W hen a road is under repair, a notice bearing the words “Road Closed” is put up to warn unwary travellers. But this does not mean that the path to one’s destination is irrevocably barred. There are always other highways and by-ways—it is just a question of looking around for them. Sometimes one can reach one’s destination just as well by zigzagging through narrow lanes and alley-ways. The only difference is that this takes somewhat longer, and one has to keep one’s wits about