Righteousness Vs Unrighteousness

At times it is good to apply unrighteousness!!! You disagree ? Here is one explanation!

There once lived a great hermit, who was famous for telling the truth. He had taken a vow not to lie and was popularly known as “Mr. Truthful.” No matter what he said, everyone believed him because he had earned a great reputation in the community where he lived and did his spiritual practices. One evening, a robber was chasing a merchant to rob and kill him. The merchant was running for his life.

To escape from the robber, the merchant ran towards the forest where the hermit lived outside the village. The merchant felt very safe because there was no way the robber could find out where he was hiding in the jungle. But the hermit had seen the direction in which the merchant went. The robber came to the hermit’s cottage and paid his respects. The robber knew that the hermit would tell only the truth and could be trusted, so he asked him whether he had seen somebody running away. The hermit knew that the robber must be looking for somebody to rob and kill, so he faced a big problem.

If he told the truth, the merchant would certainly be killed. If he lied, he would incur the sin of lying and lose his reputation. Any immoral act that may harm others is called sin. Ahimsā (nonviolence) and truthfulness are two most important teachings of all religions that we must follow. If we have to choose between these two, which one should we choose?

This is a very difficult choice. Because of his habit of telling the truth, the hermit said: “Yes, I saw someone going that way.” So the robber was able to find the merchant and kill him. The hermit could have saved a life by hiding the truth, but he did not think very carefully and made a wrong decision.

Lord Krishna’s purpose in telling Arjuna this story was to teach Arjuna that sometimes we have to choose between a rock and a hard place. Lord Krishna told Arjuna that the hermit shared with the robber the sin of killing a life. The robber could not have found the merchant if the hermit had not told the truth. So when two noble principles conflict with each other, we have to know which one is the higher principle.

Ahimsa has the highest priority, so the hermit should have lied in this situation to save a life.

One may not tell a truth that harms a person in any way. It isn’t easy to apply Dharma (or righteousness) to real life situations because what is Dharma and what is Adharma (or unrighteousness) can sometimes be very difficult to decide.

And here is the situation where one needs a Guide, Leader, Mentor, AtmiyaGuru whatever you call..........

Why should we read Gita ?

Why do we read Geetha, even if we can't understand a word in Sanskrit???

An old farmer lived on a farm in the mountains, with his young grandson.
Each morning, the grandpa was up early, sitting at the kitchen table, reading his
Bhagavadh Geetha. His grandson wanted to be just like his grandpa and tried to imitate him in every way he could.

One day the grandson asked, "Grandpa! I try to read the Bhagavadh Geetha just like you but I don't understand it, and whatever I understand I forget it as soon as I close the book.
What good does reading the Bhagavadh Geetha do?"

The Grandpa quietly turned from adding coal to the hearth and replied,
"Ok I'll answer you. Can you please take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water."

The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he returned.
The grandfather laughed and said, "You have to move a little faster, next time,".

This time, the boy ran faster. But again the basket was empty before he returned.
Out of breath, he told his grandpa that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead.

The old man said, "No child, I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got back to the house.

The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, "See Grandpa, it's useless!"

"You think it is useless?" The old man said, "Look at the basket."
The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket looked different.
It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket to a clean one, inside and out.

"Son, that's what happens when you read the Bhagavadh Geetha.
You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be cleansed, inside and out.
That is the power of the message of Lord KriShNa, versified by Lord Vyasa (KriShNa himself)".