"We see so many people today who enjoy great material wealth but are impoverished in spirit"

Unless men are not only skilled but are also well-willed this world would not be a world in the meaning in which we would like to mean it. The world of men who are not humane would be a world with only the matter without the spirit, a world of humans but without the humanity.

We can create the world of humanity which is humane only by producing, promoting and cultivating the people who are "Open minded", "Fair minded", "Un trapped minded" and "Objective" as the PHP calls it. – "A mind that learns from any source," A mind that is docile in the face of truth," "A mind that sees the true value," "A benevolent mind" as Thoschikassu Kodamo, Executive Committee Chair of the 25th PHP Friendship Club National Convention held in Sendai in Japan Called it.

To create such minds we have to "join hands".

"As we "join hands" with pure and humble hearts, we will learn from each other and share in the wonder of it all" as Mr. Ando, Chairman Nippon PHP Friendship Clubs (Peace, Happiness and prosperity).

We can cultivate the untrapped mind only when there is an "Atmosphere of Freedom" as has been aptly defined as under by no less a person than the Noble Laureate of India, Rabindranath Tagore, as quoted by the Indian delegate to the conference Dr. Velchala Kondal Rao.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high,

Where knowledge is free,

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls,

Where words come out from the depths of truth,

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection,

Where clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit,

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action,

Into that heaven of freedom my father let me and my country awake.

The world undoubtedly needs more and more objective minds, open minds, fair minds, Sunao Minds as the PHP states. Dr. Rao brought it to the notice of the delegates that such minds can be cultivated only in an atmosphere of freedom as above described. Freedom, opportunity, growth, equity and equality have to move hand in hand to have an open and transparent society, where men are true, honest, candid and splendid to grow and help others to grow.

"It is the untrapped mind alone that leads an individual to reason and truth and provides an indispensable cognitive tool to anything a person may do."

"If all of us were blessed with untrapped minds, human affairs would proceed smoothly according to the Law of Nature". In fact untrapped mind and atmosphere of freedom as described above by Tagore are interdependent and constitute both a cause and a consequence for each other in the sense that only untrapped mind can create an atmosphere of freedom, and only an atmosphere of freedom can create an untrapped mind."

‘Freedom’ and ‘fairness’ have to move hand in hand for democracy to be democracy, socialism to be socialism, secularism to be secularism, egalitarianism to be egalitarianism, fellowship, fraternity and camaraderie to be fellowship, fraternity and camaraderie. And all of them are equally needed for peace, prosperity and happiness as the PHP holds.

The PHP, rightly says in one of its hand outs that "It is not easy to train our minds to be completely free", which only means that we have to make a careful, conscious, conscientious, continuous and consistent effort to cultivate the untrapped minds all over for peace prosperity and happiness to prevail all across.

PHP is promoted with the vision and the mission to promote peace, happiness and prosperity enabling the people to be as friendly as possible irrespective of the distances. It not only aims at reducing the distances but also the distant. It aims to empower people to look and analyze situations with an unbiased, unprejudiced and unconditioned minds. It aims to cultivate people to not only look out but also to look into, not only to look outwardly but also to look inwardly to arrive at appropriate conclusions and decisions.

The PHP advocates the following methods and measures to cultivate untrapped minds.

1. Learning from everyone. 2. Thinking and sharing thoughts 3. Doing anything promptly according to learning and thinking. 4. Cultivating open minds and hearts 5. Promoting self reliance 6. Being independent in thought and deed. 7. Keeping public and private matters separate 8. Keeping the promises made to one another. 9. Being kind and considerate to others. 10. Forgiving and forgetting each others mistakes, misunderstandings and errors.

The above are the basic principles according to which the PHP envisages to improve human relations. All ideologies, isms, philosophies and religions have to necessarily observe them if they have to be what they wish to be. They belong to the conduct, character and behavior of people so very essential to have a cultured and civilized society which is not only prosperous but also happy and peaceful. The underlying current of these principles is tolerance, restraint and trust.

According to the PHP philosophy, this world belongs to all, and hence those who are its inhabitants have to understand, adjust and live together in a spirit of fellowship and camaraderie progressing as well as helping to progress. Any egotism, envy, jealousy, hatred, selfishness or aggrandizement would damage prosperity and through it happiness and peace and every one would be at loss on that account sooner or later. All objectives of living ultimately culminate in the objective of peace, and if peace is engendered everything else would be engendered and all that man has built in the name of civilization and culture. Neither the ideology would flourish, nor religion, nor philosophy, nor all the cherished goals, valued achievements can endure.

Peace according to PHP has to be had in the minds and hearts of people first. Peace has to be nursed, nourished and cultivated in the hearts and minds at first. There can’t be peace outside as long as there is no peace inside. And to have it, men have to be tolerant, restrained and contained and be adjustable, accommodative, adoptive and compromising towards each other. And if men have to be tolerant, restrained and contained, be adjustable, accommodative and compromising, they have to be educated, trained and oriented to be so. And for this, men have to be first of all befriended, owned, accepted and amiably approached. That requires on the part of the promoters, humility, modesty, and a missionary zeal and a "May I help you" attitude.

It is not easy to do all these things, nor is it so easy to orient one self to do so. But is there any other way out for humanity to be humanity for human beings to be human beings otherwise? And if this is the only way out where shall we begin it and how?

To my mind all that a man desires, cherishes and values has to be started with himself first, with the home and the family at first before they are started with others. It is so obvious that one has to win at home first before trying to win away home. That alone can be a practical, realistic, constructive and positive approach, no other. We have to build the global view starting it right from the local, because there can’t be local without global, nor global without local. In fact global and local are not independent but dependent factors. One can’t do without the other, one can’t succeed without the other. They have to progress together correlating and cooperating with each other. In that sense, the philosophy of PHP is a global philosophy. It is a philosophy for the mankind as a whole for the betterment of the entire humanity. And it has to be worked out locally as well as globally taking the individual and the family as a unit and extending it beyond gradually, steadily and progressively.

To achieve the above objectives the PHP believes that we have to have "friendship clubs" all over the world. It believes that all other relations depend upon friendly relations. And to promote friendship, it undertakes to do research on issues, problems, conflicts, discords and differences within the families, societies, organizations including industries to offer advice and assistance to ensure good relations between people constituting them.

PHP is not a religious, political or ideological organization but a social organization which means to do social service by educating, enlightening, enabling, empowering and ennobling people to enable them to function cordially, amiably, amicably and friendly.

To do this, it has a planning, thinking, researching, designing wing and a promoting, cultivating and extending wing. The first part of it is done by its "Executive and Research Wing" and the second part of it is done by the "Friends Clubs Wing" established in different countries from time to time.

The functions of both the wings are important, as identifying, knowing, thinking and planning are as important as operating, advising and assisting. One constitutes a research service, another an extension service. Both are complementary to each other to supplement the efforts of each other.

Primarily, the service of PHP is educational, empowering, enabling, enlightening and ennobling as afore said, as ignorance, illiteracy and ill-literacy are the root causes of all that is undesirable and unbecoming anywhere and everywhere. And if ignorance, illiteracy and ill-literacy can be removed, all other factors which are unwanted and unwarranted can be not only tackled but also eliminated and eradicated over a period of time.

This can be done by improving the existing educational institutions of various kinds in various ways by extending such advise and assistance as may be needed, establishing the libraries of various kinds, starting and strengthening the film clubs, organizing educational excursions visits and outings, arranging visits to the houses of cultured civilized and enlightened families organizations and institutions, conducting seminars and symposia, organizing exhibitions, bringing out publications, negotiating for news space in the newspapers journals and magazines, introducing worthwhile hobbies, helping the poor but deserving students to study through scholarships, books, equipment etc, encouraging youth to participate in sports, games, cultural and communication skills activities in large numbers.

All the above are in a way education-oriented, enlightenment-oriented, exposure-oriented and experience- oriented, which can contribute to make people not only better professionals but also better citizens and human beings.

To my mind, PHP should mainly confine to enabling, empowering and ennobling activities that can take care of wealth health and peace, as they constitute the basic, fundamental and essential activities to enrich people over which all other enrichments would ultimately depend.

The need of the hour is to create a ‘Balanced Society’ which is not only wealthy but also physically, emotionally, culturally and spiritually healthy – a society that cares, not only for valuables but also for values, not only for calibers competencies and skills but also for attitudes; a society that comprises of not only people who not only think of good of themselves but also good of others; a society which is endowed not only with good amount of knowledge, information, techniques and technologies but also with immense good sense, goodwill and good humor.

(An article sent to Mr. Enojoemon Ando, Chairman, PHP Friendship Club by Dr. Rao after attending the 25th National Convention of Friendship Club held in Sandai, Japan) c