Prayas Foundation Course

(Integrated Personality Development Program)

(For old Individuals aged 75 years and above)

Course code: PFC/05

[Death is certain to visit all of us without giving any prior notice whether we like it or not and we all have to be ready to welcome it and proceed on further journey of next life peacefully. According to Hindu religion, the next life is guided by the thoughts one has at the time of death and the death becomes very painful if one is seriously attached with relations and material things. An adult who once was very busy in his/her job or occupation or family responsibilities as its head, feels very lonely after his son takes over command of the family or after his/her retirement as he/she loses his/her power and importance in the family. After living such a powerless life for about 15 years after his/her retirement up to the age of 75 years, he/she also starts losing his/her physical strength further day by day and may start suffering from some ailments. Such deterioration in physical strength and health may start occurring even before 75 years or even after 60 or 65 years depending upon his/her life style.

Now this is the stage of life when an individual should learn to detach him/her totally from most of the physical comforts and totally focus on his/her health and only do light physical activities which can be done comfortably and without any tension and should eat food which is easy to digest. If he/she does not know how to graduate to such a moderately active and tension free life and live it well, he/she could be victim of not only acute depression but also fast deterioration in his/her health. This particular module of Prayas Foundation Course is an unique program which prepares participants of above 75 years, who participate in this program, to live this last phase of life in a satisfied, peaceful  and happy manner by bringing requisite shift in their thinking and behavior and improved emotional, social and ethical intelligence appropriate for this stage of life and to develop a internally driven, self-motivating and proactive personality through guided brainstorming sessions on real issues related to the last phase of their life and possible ways to enjoy it in tune with one’s aptitude and interests. Aptitude and interests are determined through daily non-prescriptive writing on subjects of self interests. It empowers participants to achieve success in shouldering social service and mentoring responsibilities suitable for this stage of life on their own. Life is full of difficulties and challenges which become more serious for old people and one should be able to live it in a happy and healthy way. This program prepares participants for the same. The brainstorming sessions are conducted in a group consisting of about 10 participants and are focused on making last phase of life a festival.

Most important feature of this program is an assurance to participants of this program that all their queries or doubts regarding the subject or the topic being brainstormed will be replied and they can avail mentoring facility even after completion of the course, if they so desire, on payment of annual charges of Rs. 1000 (One Thousand) by normal candidates and Rs. 500 (Five Hundreds) by candidates belonging to weaker sections of society, on long-term basis. It is fact that ‘Prayas discourages spoon feeding but takes care of the pressing problems of its customers and will not leave them high and dry and tries to help them to the extend feasible.]   

 

Special Features of Program            

This is a unique Integrated Personality Development Program (IPDP) which facilitates and prepares the participants aged 75 years and above for living the remaining part of their life in a tension free, happy, peaceful, healthy, ethical/spiritual but socially useful manner by bringing requisite shift in their thinking and behavior with regard to attaining total detachment from day to day affairs of their families, relatives and society at large through guided brainstorming sessions of 90 minutes duration each in a group consisting of about 10 participants. 

This six monthly Integrated Personality Development Program titled “Prayas Foundation Course” facilitates living a totally detached life with peace and happiness by developing positive thinking about ailments and death, liking for healthy life style besides developing balanced understanding of the desired change in one’s role at this stage of life in the current family, institutional, social, legal, economic and political environment. It encourages participants to deliberate and discuss about basic purpose of human life, fundamental human values, rights and duties of senior citizens  and desirable personal, family, institutional, social, economic and political behavior at this stage of their life through unrestricted brainstorming on interesting questions related to important issues. It encourages and motivates them to take group decision through consensus about adopting suitable behavioral changes suitable for this stage in their life.  This program makes the participant realize the important of almost total withdrawal from various issues of family life and provide only soft guidance to children and working adults wherever required or sought after and desist from interference in day to day affaires as they were doing earlier as head of family.  This is a phase of life which requires drastic reduction in expectations even from near and dear.

General Need of this program

According to ancient Indian Life Tradition, for living a peaceful, successful and happy life from birth to death, an individual has to shoulder the responsibilities of various phases of his/her life i.e. Bramhacharya, Grihastha, Vanprasth and Sanyas Ashrams to best of his/her ability and with full honesty. This course contains customized module for various phases in life of participants of a particular group. This particular module is dedicated for individual who have just entered into the last phase of their life i.e. Sanyas Ashram and it is holistic in its approach for this stage of life.

The qualities and values required to be developed for a peaceful, satisfied, and happy life at its last phase include:  recognizing the absolute importance of maintaining good health and accordingly adopting a healthy life style appropriate for this stage, positive thinking about various age related ailments and the event of death, inter-personal harmony, universal brotherhood, patience to hear other’s view carefully and react in an objective manner, ability and willingness to understand and appreciate other’s emotions and thoughts and respect them, ability to present one’s view point before others in an objective, courteous and effective manner, faith in democratic thoughts, principles and processes, general understanding of common features of all religions, respecting them and belief in co-existence of a multi-religious society, belief in human rights  and freedom, understanding the importance of ethical values in life, affection  for younger as well as adult members of family and others and willingness & eagerness to guide them from vast experience, habit of regular reading of religious and motivational literature and learning new things for use in life and undertake social service in spare time. Besides above an individual should be sensitive to changes occurring in current family, institutional, social, economic and political problems. Unless above mentioned values and qualities are developed in a person, he/she would not succeed in living the last phase of his/her life peacefully. Also he/she would neither be peaceful and happy himself/herself nor can he/she earn respect of others.

Considering the problems which we all face during the last phase of our life, ‘Prayas’ has launched a unique Personality Development Program (PDP) titled “Prayas Foundation Course (PFC)” to develop emotional, social and spiritual intelligence to navigate the last phase of life successfully. It adopts a unique process of self analysis, group discussions in brainstorming mode.  This course is part time, flexible and informal and does not interfere with regular routine of the participant. Length of its sessions, duration and timings etc. can be customized as per requirement of the group. However the duration of one single brainstorming session will not be less than 90 minutes.

Just after conclusion of the admissions to a batch of this program and its commencement, a group personality profiling test, consisting of a number of time tested psychological instruments, is conducted through mobile App to ascertain the current level emotional, social and spiritual intelligence of participants and other general personality features developed so far (Called entry profile). VVM, who himself /herself is an experienced and aged person, guides them through the program as per advice received from “Prayas”. Again just one month before conclusion of the program, a repeat group personality profiling test is conducted again through mobile app to ascertain actual changes which have occurred in the personality of participants due to participation in this program (Called exit profile). A Personality Development Report (PDR) is prepared by “Prayas” which highlights personality features of individual participant and changes which have taken place due to participation in his program and contains recommendations for post course life schedule.   It is ensured that participants completing this course successfully are totally ready to face and resolve day to day challenges of last phase of their life with full confidence. 

Objectives of this Program

This program aims at developing following special abilities in the participants which are required for success in last phase of life.

• Ability to affect total withdraw from semi-intensive and semi-active life and focus on healthy and peaceful life.
• Ability to equip oneself with capability to guide others in family, social and work life as per their interests and aptitude in a non-coercive manner.
• Ability to create a caring environment in family and social life.
• Habits of regular study of spiritual and motivational literature.
• Ability to manage one’s time well and mange a good sleep.

Once above abilities are developed, the personality of the participants becomes motivating for others and internally driven, self-motivating and proactive.

Syllabus of the Program

Individuals aged 75 year and above are encouraged to brainstorm on following general topics relevant for living the last phase of life in contented manner. This process of brainstorming inculcates the habit of soft mentoring the younger generation on practical problems of life in a rational manner. The syllabus is updated based on the continuous feedback from the participants.

• Role of various ashrams of life : Role of Bramhacharya, Grihastha, Vanprasth and Sanyas Ashrams, distinguishing features of these stages of life, role of ‘Sanyas’ ashram and its importance, role of mentoring the family and society in this phase of life. Importance of healthy diet and good health in this stage of life.
• Power of mind over Physical health: Impact of our inner thoughts on our health and happiness, difference between sorrow and pain, how to think right to remain healthy, peaceful and happy irrespective of situations one faces? Feasibility of changing the configuration of our genes made by our heredity through positive thinking and meditation.
• Benefits of understanding special features of one’s personality: Importance of understanding special features of one’s personality including interests and aptitudes through sciencitific methods in order to understand oneself, importance of different types of intelligence and need for improvements in the same, psychology of successful mentoring of others and the process of behavioral change in an individual, role of emotional, social and spiritual intelligence in creating a caring and sharing society and role of elders in the same, creating heavenly environment around us by our own behavior. Importance of living the last phase of life as per one’s interests and likings and leaving this world totally satisfied.
• Various dimensions of personality development: Family environment, importance of education & training: formal & informal, importance of environment conducive for continuous learning & self-development, benefits and method of focusing one’s energy on job or task on hand, need and benefits of balancing skills and intelligence, achieving emotional stability and importance of understanding the importance of ethical value in life. Role of individuals aged 75 years and above in mentoring others to ensure healthy and balanced development of personality.
• Individual thoughts and behavior : Principle of karma and fate, role of work or constructive engagement in human development, importance of time management, migration from failure to success, causes of tension in our life and ways to manage tension, sources of negative thinking and method of inculcating positive thoughts, harms from negative thoughts, and benefits of positive thinking, creation of own destiny, negative impact of resistance to change and orthodox behavior, benefits from developing sportsmanship spirit, role of creativity and imagination in achieving success in life tasks, human needs for social acceptance, benefits of simple and natural behavior, importance of developing managerial, financial and legal sense in individuals. Role of aged ones in spreading healthy life values.
• Religious thoughts and behavior: Fundamental principles of different religions, role of secularism in governance, thought of universal brotherhood, equality of mankind, human rights, ethical behavior, no harm to anybody, benefits of social harmony & peace. Role of aged ones in spreading these values.
• Social relations and behavior: Human as a social animal, family relations, and social relations, faith in inherent goodness of mankind, role of friendship, and negative impact of corruption on society in general and on poor in particular, negative effects of social and religious malpractices and benefits of social transformation & change. Role of elders in mentoring the young in family and society and inculcating these values in them.
• Economic environment & behavior: Role of saving and investment in securing economic freedom in non-working phase of life especially the last one, impact of acute economic inequality on social cohesion, unemployment-causes and remedies, causes of dissatisfaction in individuals, different currencies, international trade, negative impact of acute consumerism, proper usage of saving for a secured old age, limit of the utility of money. Role of entrepreneurship in economic development.
• Political system and current environment: Current democratic environment, the process of casting vote, constitution of government – state and centre, rights and duties of responsible citizen, role of vigilance of public in ensuring quality of administration, importance of secular thought in governance in a multi-religious Role of elders in inculcating democratic values and conduct in citizens.
• Legal system: Law and order, crime and its control, psychology of crime, Civil Procedure Code (CPC), Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), current problems in maintenance of law and orders and their remedies. Role of positive mentoring by elders in creating a peaceful and law abiding society.
• Organizational dynamics: Roles of organizations in society, nature of organizations, forms of organizations, role of individual in group working, need of synergy in personal and organizational goals, balancing aptitude and organizational roles, role of emotional & spiritual intelligence of employees in performance of organizations and its overall impact on the financial health and reputation of organizations. Role of elders as mentors for working adults and organizations to improve their efficiency and effectiveness.
• Role of Objectivity in Decision Making: Problems and quality of human life, problem solving process, need of decision making ability, nature of objectivity, role of objectivity in determining quality of decision making rational decisions and their impact on our life. Role of aged ones in spreading this skill.
• General Knowledge : Government systems, country and states, languages and their usage, role of agriculture in economy, importance of clean environment, types of pollution, health and disease control, benefits of balanced and nutrition rich diet, benefits of yoga and pranayam, benefits of good sleep.
• Other topics: additional topics are included based on the periodic feedback from the participants. Elderly persons may be interested to know how o manage their acute loneliness or boredom or use their spare time in an interesting manner. As such the course content is customized as per te nature of expectation of participants of a particular batch.

Operation and management of program 

This program is operated by independent well trained and experienced ‘Vyaktitva Vikas Margdarshaks’ (VVMs) under our guidance. Retired persons desirous of running this course as a VVM have to sign a memorandum of understanding with us. It specifies the duties and responsibilities of both the parties i.e. VVM running this course and ‘Prayas’ providing full technical support.

Quality Control

Participants are asked to submit feedbacks about the methodology, contents and usefulness of this course for them at specific intervals during the course and at the end of the course digitally. The feedback is carefully considered and necessary modifications are done during the remaining period of a particular batch and also for next batch. The course is continuously updated as per requirement of participants and VVMs are also retrained if felt necessary.

Duration

The normal duration of the course is six (06) months provided one session of 90 minutes duration is held six days a week. It can be modified (extended or curtailed) depending upon the specific requirement of participants and the VVM duration of conducting the course by adjusting the individual brainstorming sessions as well as the number of days in a week on which sessions are held.

Conceptualization and Direction

This course has been conceptualized and designed by Dr. Ram Chandra Rai, an officer of Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS), a Central Civil Service. He completed his schooling and college education from rural area of eastern UP and thereafter did BSc. (Hons) in physics, Masters in Business Management and Ph.D in Management from Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He worked as financial consultant with a government industrial consultancy organization for 7 years and subsequently got selected in the Central Civil Services Examination and worked in different position for 32 years with Indian Railways. He retired from the highest position of the accounts department of North Eastern Railway [Financial Advisor & Chief Accounts Officer (FACAO)] and is now engaged in activities related to personality development with ‘Prayas’. While working as financial consultant he played important role in institutional financing of various industrial sectors of New Okhla Industrial Development Area (NOIDA). While working with Indian Railways, he worked as Professor and Sr. Professor at the National Academy of Indian Railways (the then Railway Staff College) for 7 years and has reasonable experience of designing behavioral change enabling courses. He himself is senior citizen and understands the problems of senior citizens. 

Philosophy of the Course

The fundamental philosophy behind this course is the proven fact of human behavior that an individual does not change his/her thoughts and resultant behavior, if directed or forced by somebody else to do so, due to ego problem. Even if he/she changes his/her behavior out of fear or some other compulsion, he/she would revert back to the old behavior the moment such force or compulsion disappears. However he/she is likely to change his thinking and resultant behavior on his own on a permanent basis if he/she is able to realize on his/her own out of freewill through a process of self discovery either individually or in a group, the likely benefits of desired change. Since the Vyaktitva Vikas Margdarshak i.e. VVM conducting brainstorming sessions of PFC encourages participants to brainstorm on various dimensions of an issue in a group and they are encouraged to arrive at consensus on desired roles of individuals in handling that issue, it is more likely that they may decide to adopt desired behavior on their own in reference to that issue.

Benefits to participants

Benefits of this course to the participants completing this program successfully include better understanding of oneself, one’s role in different phase of life, improved self-discipline, better time management, and better relations with members of family, relatives, friends and better management of the last phase of life, increased happiness, and improved social prestige. This program brings positive changes in the life of participants and makes the last phase of life peaceful and happy. Most important feature of this program is an assurance to participants of this program that all their queries or doubts regarding the subject or the topic being brainstormed will be replied and they can avail mentoring facility even after completion of the course, if they so desire, on payment of nominal annual charges of Rs. 1000 (One Thousands) for  normal category candidates and Rs. 500 (Five Hundreds) for candidates belonging to economically weaker sections of society on long-term basis. It is fact that ‘Prayas discourages spoon feeding but takes care of the pressing problems of its customers and will not leave them high and dry and tries to help them to the extend feasible.   

 

Course fee

At present the total fee of this course is Rs. 5000 (Rs. Five Thousands only) which is directly payable to ‘Prayas’ digitally through the payment link available on the registration format. However 30% of the seats are reserved for candidates belonging to weaker sections of society and suitable discount is given to such candidates depending upon their ability to pay. If, due to any reason, the duration of course increases then the mentoring fee will also increase prorata. Normally it is to be deposited in two installments. 50% advance at the time of admission and remaining 50% before 10^th of the third month or as agreed in the memorandum of understanding. The course fee can be modified in future but modified fee would be applicable from fresh batch only.  Individual or institution running this course under our guidance is paid 70% of the total fee by ‘Prayas’ after retaining 30% of the fee but after completion of a particular month on pro-rata basis.

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How to start the course?

Retired but healthy individuals desirous of running this program for individuals aged 75 years and above may download literature of this program along with blank Memorandum of Understanding from our website www.prayasvyaktitva.com and sign the same with modifications, if any, after discussion with us and pay fee per participants  in advance as per the terms and conditions of MOU and commence this course digitally trough their smart phones after forming batches and obtaining necessary training from us.