Honesty is the best policy is a very well known saying. In ancient India we had a highly valued tradition of honesty. Indian spiritualism played an important role in inculcating this virtue among the people. This dictum gradually attained at the status of a religious sanction. For a very long period of our history we find that honesty continued to be the main feature of Indian social life. A number of examples may be quoted to show that people cherished the idealism of honesty and they sacrificed every thing for it. For them it was the most valuable jam of character. no worldly gains could lure them to forsake their dear ideals. Indian tradition of religion and spiritualism believed that real happiness comes from leading a pure, simple, truthful and honest life. The worldly pleasures, according to it, are false and temporary. They may satisfy one's body and mind but not the soul, the real being.
But things have undergone a sea change. This dictum is no longer regarded as a valuable asset in life. Worldly wise people consider it as a useless and dead corpse. Even the staunchest followers of honesty have deviated from this path. The causes are evident. Gone are the days of religion, spiritualism, honesty and God. We live in an age of materialism, and perhaps, materialism lives in us. The economic stress and strain has increased our materialistic demands. Everybody is after ease, comfort, luxury and enjoyment in life. There is often a gap left which everybody wants to fill by all means legal or illegal and moral or immoral. The lure of materialism has developed a deep sense of attachment to worldly gains, achievements and success.
The situation today is that we are surfeit with materialism and materialistic attitudes. In a sense we are completely submerged in it. Everybody is trying to amass maximum wealth in an easy way which certainly cannot be an honest way.
Worldly progress is a very wide term. It includes almost everything from admission of children to a decent school, entry into a service, promotion, position of authority and power, quick success is trade and industry, expansion of one's social influence and political leverage, to the acquisition of political authority. There is a craze for all these I.e., worldly progress. With the abnormal expansion of demand of these, the law of demand and supply has come into operation resulting in steep rise in prices of these. These all are matters of money and dishonesty. It is, therefore, almost an impossibility for an honest man to aspire for any of these things without adopting dishonest means.
The forms of dishonest are many. Flattery sumptuous dinners, lavish entertainment, graft, bribery, illegal gratification and several others are the various modes of dishonest. Nothing in our society, official circles, trade, industry, business, etc, moves without the price for the same has been paid in cash or kind. This malady has gone so deep that each of us to pay something more ever for getting an entry into a cinema hall, getting a reservation for a journey or even for getting across a barrier.
If anybody happens to be an honest man in the real sense, he is sure to meet disappointments on every step. If he happens to be in government or private service, he will not allowed to get the benefit of his due promotion unless he is willing to adopt dishonest means, which would contrarily, bring to him even undue and premature promotions. An honest businessman will end up in bankruptcy without adopting unfair means. No license permit or quota without greasing the palm of those responsible for taking decisions on these issues. We know how people evade sales tax, income tax, and excise duty, and with whose connivance. We know the modus operandi fully well. Each of us must have felt indignant, i am sure, at having come to know of the fact that the purchases made by us are substandard or in some cases the seller has charged more for the commodities. A number of scandals that get publicity in the press often reveal how things are manipulated in higher quarters.
Much more than what has been narrated above can be seen and understood with a little imagination. It is enough to come to the conclusion that honest is good and commendable in so far as merely a virtue of character, it is a positive disincentive to success in the practical life. It not only deprives one of one's rightful opportunity but makes one most unhappy on the result. That is why it is said, especially in the context of the present, that honest is a hindrance to worldly success.
But things have undergone a sea change. This dictum is no longer regarded as a valuable asset in life. Worldly wise people consider it as a useless and dead corpse. Even the staunchest followers of honesty have deviated from this path. The causes are evident. Gone are the days of religion, spiritualism, honesty and God. We live in an age of materialism, and perhaps, materialism lives in us. The economic stress and strain has increased our materialistic demands. Everybody is after ease, comfort, luxury and enjoyment in life. There is often a gap left which everybody wants to fill by all means legal or illegal and moral or immoral. The lure of materialism has developed a deep sense of attachment to worldly gains, achievements and success.
The situation today is that we are surfeit with materialism and materialistic attitudes. In a sense we are completely submerged in it. Everybody is trying to amass maximum wealth in an easy way which certainly cannot be an honest way.
Worldly progress is a very wide term. It includes almost everything from admission of children to a decent school, entry into a service, promotion, position of authority and power, quick success is trade and industry, expansion of one's social influence and political leverage, to the acquisition of political authority. There is a craze for all these I.e., worldly progress. With the abnormal expansion of demand of these, the law of demand and supply has come into operation resulting in steep rise in prices of these. These all are matters of money and dishonesty. It is, therefore, almost an impossibility for an honest man to aspire for any of these things without adopting dishonest means.
The forms of dishonest are many. Flattery sumptuous dinners, lavish entertainment, graft, bribery, illegal gratification and several others are the various modes of dishonest. Nothing in our society, official circles, trade, industry, business, etc, moves without the price for the same has been paid in cash or kind. This malady has gone so deep that each of us to pay something more ever for getting an entry into a cinema hall, getting a reservation for a journey or even for getting across a barrier.
If anybody happens to be an honest man in the real sense, he is sure to meet disappointments on every step. If he happens to be in government or private service, he will not allowed to get the benefit of his due promotion unless he is willing to adopt dishonest means, which would contrarily, bring to him even undue and premature promotions. An honest businessman will end up in bankruptcy without adopting unfair means. No license permit or quota without greasing the palm of those responsible for taking decisions on these issues. We know how people evade sales tax, income tax, and excise duty, and with whose connivance. We know the modus operandi fully well. Each of us must have felt indignant, i am sure, at having come to know of the fact that the purchases made by us are substandard or in some cases the seller has charged more for the commodities. A number of scandals that get publicity in the press often reveal how things are manipulated in higher quarters.
Much more than what has been narrated above can be seen and understood with a little imagination. It is enough to come to the conclusion that honest is good and commendable in so far as merely a virtue of character, it is a positive disincentive to success in the practical life. It not only deprives one of one's rightful opportunity but makes one most unhappy on the result. That is why it is said, especially in the context of the present, that honest is a hindrance to worldly success.
No comments:
Post a Comment