Honesty

Why do we lie?

   We lie because we are afraid of someone, something or to escape from an embarrassing situation. Leave the exceptional cases. When you lie, you learn escapism. It becomes a habit. You start lying for small things unintentionally by your sub conscious mind.  

    When you starting being honest, you will grow. You will learn more than what you learn when you escape.

    Whenever I hear the word honesty, I remember Gandhiji. It requires immense mental strength and daring to always stick to the truth.

    As a teenager, Gandhi stole a bit of gold from his brother's because he needed money. Haunted by what he had done, Gandhi later confessed his crime to his father, fully expecting his father's unbridled fury. Instead, his father broke down and wept. The experience was a major turning point in Gandhi's life. He later wrote: "Those pearl drops of love cleansed my heart and washed my sin away."

-Biography of M.K. Gandhi

http://www.gandhi-anibhavan.org/gandhiphilosophy/philosophy_truth_gandhintruth_stealing.htm

The Buddhist Sage and the Snake – Good or Weak?

What is the difference between being ‘Weak’ and being ‘Good’?

There is a story that shows the difference.

 There lived a large snake poisonous snake in a village.  It used to bite anyone who passes by. It is strong, fast and ferocious. So, no one was able to stop it.

Once a great sage was going through the village and saw the snake. The snake stood its ground, raised its head, and spread its hood about its head and lunged at the sage. The sage did not show any signs of fear and had the same blissful smile on his face. The snake tried to bite the sage but it was not able to as it was not able to touch him. The snake realised that the greatness of the sage and devoted to him.

The sage adviced the snake not to bite anyone. From that day the snake became very saintly. It stopped biting people.

Slowly people came to know that the snake became good and stopped biting. They used to move around its place without any fear. The children started playing with it. They used to throw stones at it. sometimes they beat it with a stick.

One day the same sage who adviced the snake came to see it on his way back home. The snake was wounded bad. It became thin and weak. The sage enquired about what happened and why it became weak. Snake narrated everything that happened.

Sage replied “I asked you not to hurt anyone, but i did not ask you to ‘not to hiss at anyone’.”

Any dharma will not ask you to be weak, it says you to be good. So, be good, not weak.

Understand the difference for a happy and respectable life.