The Philosophy, Art & Science Of

Living, Loving & Learning

Oasis has been working in the field of Character Building since last 20 years through various mediums like Seminars, Publications, Workshops, etc. An important milestone was achieved with the release of the book "Mahan Hrudayona SaReGaMaPa-DhaNi" based on the basic concepts of Character Building. Respecting the requests of the readers for providing a support mechanism to understand and implement the concepts of this book in practical life, the first module of 3 Days workshop was created in the year 2001. Slowly, the module design evolved naturally to a full length course 'The Philosophy, Art and Science of Living, Loving and Learning' of 72 days covered in around 5 years.

Today L3 Course, as it is fondly known, focuses to instill understanding and application of values in daily life covering most of the basic concepts be it Self-Development, Love, Relationships, Marriage, Integrity, Commitment, Parenting, or Family etc.

Siddharth Mehta, one of the participants, when asked, why learning these character building concepts is important, responds,"In today’s materialistic world, when people are going through lot of chaos in their lives, this workshop can help in bringing about the understanding of wholistic living. It creates awareness about basic paradigms of life and questions the universality and sustainability of parameters that we have formed for issues like success, love, marriage, etc. Life is like a body, if you keep exercising only hands, in long run hands become powerful, but rest of the body is not strong enough to even support them. Similarly, all aspects of life, Self, Relationships, Profession,

Health, etc are equally important and need due attention. The most important aspect of this workshop is that it brings realization of what is right living. Once you are aware, the learning continues life long. Even though the course has ended; it has left an eternal print in my life."

Parag Shah brought out another important characteristic of Oasis Course, being the fact that it focuses on giving true understanding of Love. He responds, "Love is one of the most abused and misunderstood word in our vocabulary. Every human spirit craves for love. But not understanding love has brought lot of misery to mankind. People very easily relate love with sex, love with romance or love with attraction, which has created layers and layers of pain between individuals, families and society at large. Understanding these life concepts can reduce mankind's pain by half and Oasis workshop does a wonderful job in a simple, easy to understand but still thought provoking and soul searching manner."

He further adds, "In a country like ours, with so much diversity in every aspect of life, Character Education is needed to stitch us together and let us grow. Peace and harmony are the two important values that got inculcated in us through this workshop."

First batch of L3 Graduation course ended in last December at surat. It was a unique process which, as some participants described, truly transformed them. It was discovery of their true Self, their strengths,

limitations, desires, problems, etc.

Pravin Shah further states that, "All are aware of theories, but when it comes to apply the same in daily life, it is very difficult. Situations are complicated.Oasis workshop provides an excellent guidance for putting life into perspective and ways to live the theories in practical day to day life."

Dr. Jitubhai Shah, one of our senior most participants, adds his angle, "Learning is life long process. Even though being a senior citizen, concepts of character building brought drastic changes in my life and relationships. I sincerely believe, whatever we are seeking, we can attain only through right living, i.e by practicing principles taught in Oasis Course".

The next Alive will showcase few more interesting aspects of the L3 course ...

Love Is Not A Feeling

I love you. How sweet these words sound and how much we long to hear! If really understood, love is one of the most blessed virtues in our lives, but unfortunately many do not understand and harm themselves and their loved ones.

Love is not a Feeling : The most common perception about love is that 'Love is a Feeling'. Yes, feeling is a part of love, having feeling of love, does not mean that we actually love. Confusing, isn't it? Lets take an example. A drunkard who beats up his wife and children occasionally, snatches away her hard earned money for fulfilling his addiction, tearfully says, "I Love my wife dearly"; can we believe him? Even though he possesses a feeling, but he does not love. In other words, having a feeling of love does not equal to loving.

If we can not live without someone, does not mean we love that person : Sometimes, we experience an immense attachment with some people or things. This

feeling of attachment is so intense that we can not live without those people/things. And we start believing that we love them. But generally, this kind of attachment is known as addiction. For eg. if a person can not live without smoking or feels restless if he is not allowed to smoke, can we say he loves cigarettes or is he addicted to it? If we can not live without something, it is our dependence and not love, isn't it?

Love is an Action : Love is not a feeling. Love is an action. For eg. There is a scholar who prides himself as nature lover. Just outside his window, there is a plant which is withering due to lack of water. But he does not notice it. His friend, who does not seem to possess any feeling of love for nature, sees this withering plant and immediately waters it. What is love, the feeling of the scholarly person or act of his friend?

So, many times it happens that we do not feel like making an effort to understand each other in relationships. Does it mean that we should stop making that effort, just because we don't feel like doing? It is possible that we may possess a feeling but we may not love and it is equally true that we can love, without having feeling of love.

Whenever we act with responsibility and care, opposite person will always get the vibrations of love. Responsibility, care, patience, discipline,... are all expressions of love.

Act of Love requires Effort and Courage : To have feeling of love and to act out of that feeling does not demand any effort. But, if we realize that love is an action, then it is essential to choose the right action which needs effort. By learning to make this choice of right actions and continuously keep growing; can we love life.

(Excerpt from the book, 'Prem E Lagni Nathi, Karm Che' - Gujarati Language By Sanjiv Shah)

In the previous issue of Alive, we carried news about the completion of the first five year series of Oasis Graduation course on 'The Philosophy, Art and Science of Living, Loving and Learning'. Each one of the participants has a story to tell - a story of their heartwarming experiences of learning and growth. With this issue, we are starting a series of articles with the objective to share this unique journey of participants in their own words.

Also this issue discusses few important perspectives on theme of Love and Marriage. We hope our readers will find it useful.

- Team Alive

Forpast issues of ALIVE please click here>>>

.

You receive this newsletter because you may have registered your name with us.
To unsubscribe from this group, reply with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line to info@oasismovement.in.
This newsletter is for circulation for internal purpose only to registered receiver.

©  Copy Right by Oasis Self Leadership Education for Community Development, Vadodara, Gujarat, India.
Copy of content, logo or any literature from it in part or full without prior written permission is not allowed.