Right & Wrong, Good & Bad🔗

I went to my Master one day and told Him, ‘Master, there is so much of negativity around us in the society that we live in. There is so much of corruption, bribery and misuse of power. I mean every politician, every government official is in a money making business and because of this the common man in the society suffers.’

‘There should be something that we can do, isn’t there?’ I asked Him questioningly.

He said just three words, ‘Transform yourself first.’

He continued, ‘The problem is not outside. The problem is inside you. What you are seeing outside is your own projection. You want to see that negativity. So all you see is negative. First see what is inside you. First peep into yourself.’

‘But Master, how is my seeing inside going to help solve the wrong doings of the politicians and the others?’ I retorted.

‘First of all, nothing is right or wrong in an absolute sense’ Master replied in a strong voice. ‘All that you know as right or wrong are social conditioning. That’s all. All these moral values are societal. All this right and wrong is created by society to keep you under its control. Society labels some things as right and some things as wrong. What you are doing may be wrong to others but you will find it right at that point in time. And secondly, when you stop finding fault with others and start looking into yourself, you will realize there is a lot that you can do to create a positive atmosphere around you. So start with yourself and stop branding others’ actions as right and wrong’

‘Master, does that mean that all these officials are justified in their acts of corruption?’

‘You want to justify things because once again your ego is evaluating based on a framework that you have created or borrowed from society and you want to satisfy it. You cannot sit here and do anything about those politicians, but you can certainly transform the way you approach things. Understand one thing, when you start to infuse awareness into each of your actions, it is always for the good of mankind. It can never hurt anybody. That is the power of conscious action. Follow your inner guide, your intuition and do not worry so much about whether society calls it good or bad. This is what I mean by transforming yourself’.

‘Do you know of a single case when any revolution has succeeded, when any social transformation has succeeded? Every revolutionary claims that he came to power with the desire to change, with the energy of his idealism. Soon, very soon, he becomes the dictator he replaced. There is not one exception to this rule in history. When you transform yourself, at one level you stop falling prey to what you see as the veil outside. In addition, in a strange but natural way, that we humans find it difficult to understand rationally, out transformation influences others into their transformation. Collective transformation is a virtuous cycle; it builds upon itself; but, then, it has to start with the individual.’

'Master, you say that good or bad are societal conditionings and not to use them as a benchmark. But surely I can say that when my action is hurting somebody then it is bad, can't I? For example, I really wanted to pursue art, but my parents always wanted me to become a doctor and would have felt hurt if I became a singer or a painter by profession. Since I didn't want to hurt them, I took up medicine. Now this is not based on my inner guide as you put it, but I feel good that I satisfied my parents'.

My Master said 'Your whole life you spend in satisfying others, not yourself. At the end of it, you realize that you ran someone else's race in life and by that time, it is too late. When someone imposes something on you, it is because they are dumping their unfulfilled desires on you. You carry its burden and superficially feel happy that you did not hurt them. In reality you are only happy that they haven't taken away their certificate of appreciation from you because otherwise you will be in their bad books,_that's all. It's nothing to do with you hurting them; it only reflects your weaknesses

I was still confused 'So Master, doesn't that mean I will become insensitive to others' emotions and feelings?'

The Master laughed. He patiently explained 'Only when you start living for yourself will you feel real empathy for others and their emotions. However ironical it may sound, only true selfishness can be called true selflessness. Till then, it is only a transaction that you do in the name of respecting others' emotions. You see, you do not want them to think badly of you, so behave in a particular way in the name of respecting their emotions. When you start living from your depths, you will suddenly realize that the same essence in you flows in everyone around you. You will see yourself in everyone and cannot see anybody hurt. You decisions will also be for the good of everyone'

I still had my traces of doubt. I went on 'Master, now let's say I think something is good for me from deep within and decide to do it. But if I see that circumstances are strongly hinting me against it, then should I go ahead with it or not?'

'Understand, if you have truly listened to your inner guide after having surrendered to it completely, it means you are flowing with the Universe. Circumstances will surely make way for what is best for you always, just that you are blind to it most of the times. It is when your ego starts to give instructions about what is good or bad for you that puts you into crossroads in life, where a choice becomes necessary to take. Be very clear, choicelessness is bliss. Just let go and listen to the cosmic plan you will realize you have no choices to make but only actions to take'.