(The review and application of biography of Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam in respect to Motivation,Value, Ethics))
Introduction
It is rare to be born as a human being,
It is still rarer to be born without any deformity.
Even if you are born without any deformity,
It is rare to acquire knowledge and education.
Even if one could acquire knowledge and education,
It is still rare to offer service to the mankind and contemplate on the higher self.
If one leads such a selfless divine life,
The gates of heaven open to greet such an evolved soul.”
This one of the poems that Dr.Kalam gifted to the people. He is one of the such a leaders who is the philosopher, machinery, the great scientist “Missile man of India people’s the President”, the personality of value, ethics and morals, the course MOVE II gave an opportunity to us to read the biographies of the leaders and find out the MOVE and apply that in our life.
Background
On 15th October 1931 in the mosque street of Rameshwram one of the sacred place of India, in the middle class Tamil Muslim family, in an ancestor’s house, a boy born, father is Jainulabdeen who is not much educated and mother is Ashiamma, who fed every day to others without any discrimination. In childhood he was the boy among many children but now he is the great asset or personality of the country whom all the children of the nation loves. He started his study with local primary school and he has completed his High school at Ramanathapuram, after completing BSC from St. Joseph’s college Trichy After completing his BSc from St. Joseph’s college Trichy, he joined the Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), for studying Aeronautical Engineering. From MIT, he went to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at Bangalore as a trainee, later he worked in DRDO in the year 1958 and joined ISRO in 1963. “Missile Man of India” was the Project Director of India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III). He played an important role in India’s Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974, he is non-other than APJ. Abdul Kalam.
Motivation
A person’s motivation is came from many forces, sometime from the genetice inheritance, sometimes from the external factors. Like in case of Dr. APJ Abdul kalam also, he has got motivation in his life from the different people from his life.
There are five steps in motivation one of the steps of the motivation, the first on is Awareness, It starts from his family, he born in a cultured family and his father and mother are kind hearted and they are economically not rich but they are rich by heart, this motivates him to live with the people without any discrimination and he himself initiates the action that desire of to do something.
Desired change
In his child hood his relative Ahmed Jallaluddin and his cousin Samsuddin influenced to him to build the desired change in his life, Jalaluddin was 15 years older than him still he was a good friend of him and they both mainly talked about the spiritual things and that motivates to shape the boy as a spiritual minded with his father’s spiritual thinking, the another person Samsuddin, he was the news pare seller, Abdul Kalam learnt from him to become an independent so, he started to sell news pare with him. These all influence the person’s life desirable change.
Role model
In case of Dr. Abdul Kalam he did not mention particularly one person that who is hi role model but throughout his autobiography he mentioned his parents, his relative and his cousin and later the person like Vikram Sarabhai all his models or motivators.
Action
The next step of the motivation is action, here when Abdul Kalam started his hi schooling he did not have much idea about where to go what to do, but when he joined his high school there his teacher guided him and later also he went to outside of his native then he got the idea about where he has to go, later he jumped into the sector were he wants but it is all about his motivation and action according to it.
Reinforcement
Here the reinforcement or reward is now who is he and what is he? He is a scientist and president and one of the role model of the nation. In life what all are ups and down came in his life then that time he remembered his relative Jalluddin and his fried always, for example once Jalaluddin died then his father motivates him, when his father died he himself motivated by the given words of Jalaluddin.
Following are the motivation and it shows from where he has got
- Achievement motivation– parents, (desire, belief, and expectation)
- Affiliation motivation– Childhood friends, Prof. Sarabhai, Prof Brahm Prakash
- Influence motivation– As a scientist and as president of India
- Control motivation– after failure of Agni-I missile test failure
- Extension motivation– MGK Menon, Prof. Sarabhai, large team of brilliant and dedicated professionals
- Dependence motivation– Prof Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan (Senior scientists at ISRO)
Values
Values are those which are leads to the person to follow certain Values are the rules by which we make decisions about right and wrong, should and shouldn’t, good and bad. They also tell us which are more or less important, which is useful when we have to trade off meeting one value over another.
In other words values are beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment (either for or against something); “he has very conservatives values”
There are certain instrumental values which we can apply in our life from the in case of Dr.Abdul Kalam
- Ambitious (hardworking aspiring) : Since child hood we can see that he is a hard worker and later he works 18 hours a day, it shows that how much he is ambitious
- Broad-Minded (open minded) : Scientists are always broad minded and they always think about the inventions, innovative idea
- Capable (competent, effective): Abdul Kalam is able manage his professional life as well as his personal life means, in his work station he is effective himself and with his team.
- Cheerful (light-hearted, joyful) : In the 80 years old age also he is always seems cheerful, once we see him we will get the motivation like joyful
- Clean (neat, tidy) : From his personal life to professional, house to work station with the public he is always a clean, neat personality
Courageous (standing up for your beliefs) : Abdu Kalam is himself courageous and a man of integrity , by his quotation “If you want to shine like a sun, first burn like a sun”, “ What actions are most excellent?
To gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to help the affected, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrow full and remove the wrongs of injured.
- Forgiving (willing to pardon others)
- Helpful (working for the welfare of others)
- Honest (sincere, truthful)
- Imaginative (during creative) : he is a scientist so, this quality is with him always.
- Independent (self-reliant self-sufficient) : Since his child hood he started to earn by selling newspaper, it shows that he is an independent.
- Intellectual (intelligent, reflective)
- Logical (consistent, rational)
“I inherited honesty and self-discipline from my father and from my mother, I inherited faith in goodness and deep kindness from sisters & brothers”
- Practicing vegetarianism
- Patriotism
- Secularism
The above sentence of the DR.Kalam explains that the following all values he has and he is following in his life.
- Loving (affectionate, tender)
- Obedient (dutiful respectful)
- Polite (courteous well-mannered)
- Responsible (dependable, reliable)
- Self-controlled (restrained, self- disciplined)
As above there are certain terminal values which we could apply in from the Dr.Kalam’s life
- A comfortable life (a prosperous life) : He prefers simple lifestyle and he is comfortable with that
- A sense of accomplishment (lasting contribution): He contributed his life for the nation
- A world at peace (free of war and conflict) : He always avoid conflict, sometimes while working in the office with satellite he faced many criticism still he is able to manage it.
- A World at Beauty (beauty of nature and the arts)
- Equality (brotherhood equal opportunity for all) : In his team he always maintain a equality and since his childhood he lived with all caste of people so, he applied equality in his life.
- Family Security (taking care of loved ones) : In his family he is good son, when his father was ill, he used take the special doctor to their home, he used take care of his family members always.
- Freedom (independence free choice) : His parents thought that he should become a collector but his interest was different, then also he had a freedom to go which he likes.
- Happiness (contentedness) : “We should not give up and we should not allow the problem to defeat us” this line says that whatever problem comes we have to face it happily then only we will become happiness, this has said by Dr.Kalam
- Inner Harmony (freedom from inner conflict)
- Nature and Love (spiritual intimacy) : Dr. Kalam has got a spiritual values from his parents.
- National Security (protection from attack) : He always dreamt India in an developed country, in his book vision 2020 he narrates that in the year of 2020 how India should be.
- Pleasure (an enjoyable, leisurely life) : He never went behind the leisurely life, it came to according to the situation
- Salvation (saved, eternal life)
- Social Recognition (respect, admiration) : He did not run behind the recognition, according his achievement and contribution it came to him so, he is become one of the great leader of India
- Self-Respect (self-esteem)
- True Friendship (close companionship) : “ If we are not free no one will respect us”, this shows that he is giving the time to others and with his team and surroundings he is a good friend, to the children he is best friend.
- Wisdom (a mature understanding of life): His wordings like “ to succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal”, he further says that “your willingness to use your own inner resources to invest your life, especially your imagination, will bring you success, when you undertake a task from your own individual standpoint, you will become a person”, this shows that he is the man who understood the wisdom.
Ethics
“Ethics is the study of individual and collective moral awareness, judgment, character and conduct”
“Ethics are thus internally defined and adopted, whilst morals tend to be externally imposed on other people’.
There are many theories in ethics like Deontological which is based upon duty to do the right thing at all time, clearly defined right and wrong and look at the action.
The another one is Teleological which explains Based upon the consequences Utilitarian (greatest good to greatest number), Right / wrong is relative, in case of Dr Kalam the Deontological theory we could see as he explained his autobiography ‘Wings of fire’.
In APJ Abdul Kalam Virtue Ethics Theory is more functional, virtue ethics theory means habitual development of sound character’s traits determines the value of person.
- Individual characters ethics- Gratitude, courage, self-discipline, reliability, kindness, caring, and sincerity.
- Work characters ethics- Honesty, creativity, trustworthy, co-worker appreciation, task competition, empathy, cooperativeness, supportiveness, and tolerance.
- Professional character ethics- Self-regulation, trust, independence of judgement, collegiality, and impartiality.
- Imbibe of learning
- Total commitment is not just hard work, it is total involvement.
- To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal. Individuals like me are often called workaholics.
- To put the heart and soul into the mission.
- Your willingness to use your inner resources to invest your life, especially your imagination, will bring you success.
Above are the ethics which we can imbibe from the Dr. Kalam’s life, he himself said that he is not a philosopher, he is a man of technology but for me he his man of integrity means what he say that he does, he is philosopher also at the same time technical man also because he is following the above ethics, values which are all the success philosophy behind the technical man.
“Motivational sources should lie within yourself then no one can stop you from achieving your goal” “We should not give up and we should not allow the problem to defeat us”
Above sentences said by Dr.Kalam which influenced me a lot and I remember it in my life always.
halligadde 