Saturday, January 22, 2011

Value of Discipline in life

Discipline means the willing submission of a person to rules, regulations and instructions to someone recognized by society. It is a willing and polite discharge of one's duty towards others in society. Discipline must be observed by everyone of us in all walks of life. One should be disciplined whether at home, in school on the play ground, on duty, in the office or in the army. Discipline is a virtue. It provides mental strength to discriminate good from the bad and to defend the right against wrong.

The strength of a nation lies in discipline. No nation can progress unless its citizens are disciplined. Citizens of a disciplined nation work in a spirit of co-operation and unity. Whenever a country is suffering from internal strife with no unity and moral values among the citizens, it loses self confidence and an opportunist neighbour often takes the advantage of the situation. That's why Chanakya once said, "United we stand, divided we fall."

Some people misunderstand the meaning of discipline. They say that discipline leads to blind submission to authority and it negates our independent freedom. This is a misconceived notion and a wrong interpretation of 'discipline'. Discipline doesn't mean slavery. A disciplined person has full freedom but the freedom of a disciplined is such, it neither disturbs the society nor interferes with other's freedom. The word discipline comes from the word 'disciple'. A disciple is one who learns and is constantly aware of his learning. For example, A trainee to a carpenter, learns from a master carpenter how to keep tools clean, how to use tools correctly. If he puts this learning into application, in this particular aspect he is disciplined. If a person is disciplined in a particular aspect, it is very easy to spread the essence of this discipline to the other areas of his life. The importance of discipline is well recognized in every aspect of life.

Nature is the best mirror of perfect discipline to all of us. The earth, the sun, the moon and other planets are governed by certain laws to maintain perfect harmony and beauty. Any deviation from these set rules, will spell an utter disaster in nature.

Discipline is the backbone of the nation. Only those nations where people have a sense of discipline can prosper in all fields. They even rule other nations. Discipline is a valuable asset at all levels of the society. A family having no discipline becomes a den of quarrels and is ultimately divided. An educational institution having no discipline doesn't impart value based education. That is what one can see in some of the states in India. To study or not to study, to teach or not to teach, to attend the classes or not to attend the classes - all is left to the sweet wishes of the students and teachers. Thus the standard of education has gone to dogs. That is why parents want to educate their children in Missionary schools and Public schools.

Discipline should be the first criterion of the family. Parents must bring up their children in congenial disciplined atmosphere and teach the right values to transform them into balanced adults. Therefore, they can give their best to the country as disciplined citizens.

Discipline is necessary for both the teacher and the taught. A good teacher has a great responsibility of keeping a high image of his personality in the society. He can't do it unless he maintains an intellectual and more discipline of a high order. No student will obey and respect an indisciplined teacher, however high may be his knowledge.

Similarly only a serious and self disciplined student achieves something worth in the life. Indisciplined students just wander here and there, waste away their precious time and energy in useless activities and later on repent in life. They soon learnt that there is no shortcut to success and it is only through consistent hard work and self discipline that they can achieve their objective in life.