“If it is not right, do not do it. If it is not true, do not say it.”
— Marcus Aurelius
The other day Sant Rajinder Singh Maharaj was speaking on TV. He was recalling an incident. A professor gave a test in maths to his students. He explained to them that it was not one test but two tests. One in Maths and the other in honesty. He expected students to pass in both. But if they could pass only in one, then it was better that they fail in maths but pass in the honesty test, than the other way around. If a student cheated and passed, he was covering up what he did not know, and he would never learn what he was required to learn. Failing in honesty may result in a permanent damage to oneself. Translated in our dayto- day life, it means that if one succeeds in the world with honest means it would be excellent. It is better to be less successful or even fail by honest means, than to succeed by dishonest means. In the ‘Gospel of Mathews’ it is said:
“For what is a man profited
If he shall gain the whole world,
And lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul.”
A question arises in our minds. Why does a person cheat? Why does he become dishonest? The simple answer is that he wants to show to the world an image of himself which is not real. This is what leads to cheating.
Honest living is exhorted by saints. It is truly said that honest living is a stepping stone to the path of spiritual progress. Putting it differently, an honest person may or may not be a spiritual person, but at least he is on the path of being a spiritual person. On the other hand, a spiritual person has to be an honest person. One cannot think of a dishonest spiritual person.
What is living honestly? One is living honestly if there is no difference between his thought, speech and action. One is dishonest if one thinks one thing, speaks something else and acts totally differently. To live honestly, the first step is to think right. We all know how difficult it is to control the mind. It is truly said that: ‘mind is like a monkey who is drunk and bitten on the tail by a scorpion’. This saying means that it is the nature of the mind to jump from one thought to another and hence it is difficult to keep wrong thoughts from creeping in. The initial step is to control the mind. Guru Nanak says:
“If you vanquish your mind, You have vanquished the world”
The next step is to align our words with our thoughts. Speak what you mean. Do not think one thing and speak another — there should be no flattery, and no sycophancy. We have then to act according to our words — our speech. We must practise what we preach. We must walk our talk. Speaking something and behaving differently is hypocricy. Hence a person who is speaking, and particularly when he is speaking from a dais, — ‘a Vyaspith’ has to be extremely careful of not speaking what he does not believe in, and what he is not putting in practice himself. He can, otherwise, misguide and mislead a whole lot of people, and thus become responsible for their actions. Living honestly also means earning one’s livelihood by honest means. Kabir was a weaver. Guru Ravidas was a cobbler, and Paltu Sahib was a grocer.
In recent times, we have had Nisargadattaji Maharaj who was a shop-keeper in Girgaum! An honest person has to earn his own living and not be a parasite on society. I was really pleased to read this quotation of Master Charan Singh.
“In our dealings with the Government (tax department) we should always do the right thing, not caring what the government does or does not do.”
Cheating in tax matters is not honest living. Stealing and bribing are also not honest living. Quran decrees:
Whenever you weigh, do it properly and use a precise scale. Do not steal money from others and do not give bribes.
Let us, therefore, think honestly, speak honestly and act honestly in all walks of life.
