Once a poor person arrived at the residence of a rich man to meet him. That rich man had an array of domestic servants to serve him in his ornate home. When this poor person reached to meet him, his servants and housekeepers stopped him from entering despite his repeated requests to allow him to meet the rich man. These housekeepers believed he had come to ask some favor of money or employment. But the poor person repeatedly insisted that he had not come to ask any favor and just wanted to meet the rich man. Ultimately this turmoil outside drew the attention of the owner of that palatial house that some stranger is willing to see him, so he himself came out at the gate.
Outside he saw a person standing, and what surprised the rich man most that this person was holding the same bag he had forgotten a few days back somewhere near the railway station. He courteously greeted that person inside his palatial house. The poor person told the rich man – ‘Sir, I am a simple rickshaw puller. One day I found this bag near the railway station on the way to my routine job. I opened the bag and found it full of precious ornaments and some money also. I also found your address written on a piece of paper in the bag, and I am here to return this bag and your belongings to you. Please carefully check that all your possessions are in order.’ The rich man inspected his bag and found everything intact.
The rich man was amazed to see the honesty of that naïve person. He hugged him and took out some money to oblige him, but the poor person refused to accept. He said – ‘Sir, I am already overwhelmed to deliver this bag to you, and this joy cannot be compensated with any remuneration.’ Such sincerity and truthfulness made the rich man admire him greatly and felt highly obliged. The poor person then returned from there. On his way back, his soul was full of supreme blessedness, and he enjoyed every bit of this significant event. This pleasurable contentment made him feel as if he had found something incomparable. This story is sufficient to convince us that affluence lies in moral excellence and not the abundance of material possessions.
Quite often, we come across such stories in our life. Such decent persons are many times honored in society for their honesty and excellent behavior. They are widely appreciated in the community. Those uprightly executing their duties in every field irrespective of their professions earn outstanding reputation and great distinction because of their honesty. This is such a distinctive attribute. Honesty is the finest example of human excellence. Indeed, this divine attribute of honesty is over and above all humane characteristics. Honesty is such an attribute that even unethical and corrupt people also prefer honest people as their companions.
“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively. – Bob Marley”Pujya Gurudev Pt. Shriram Sharma has said – ‘An honest person is like a sparkling diamond among thousand beads.’ Honesty is not a condition of being honest only in maintaining accounts etc. Instead, an honest person leaves his influence in every field of life. If he is a physician, his integrity is visible in curing his patients. He remains faithful to his professional obligations and displays steadfast adherence to upholding specific ethical standards. If he is a student, he wholly adheres to the discipline of student life. If he is a teacher, his integrity appears in his teaching. If he is an engineer, his truthfulness can be seen in the superior quality and fineness of technical projects that he undertakes. As a farmer, his dedication can be noticed in his harvest. If he is an industrialist, his honesty appears in the quality of his products and is also visible in social welfare tasks undertaken by him. If he is a player, his honesty speaks in his dedication to his sports and sportsman spirit.
An honest person is equally sincere in maintaining his family relations also. He or she nourishes all his/her relations as a husband/wife, brother, uncle, mother, etc. As an austere person, he is always steadfast to ascetic disciplines. He remains very attentive in dispositions of austere self-discipline and daily chores prescribed by his Master.
Contrary to all this, an unethical person marked by a lack of honesty is unreliable and untrustworthy in discharging his duties whether he is a teacher, engineer, doctor, industrialist, or artist, etc. Such a person lacks allegiance to fulfill his duties, obligations, and strict adherence to promises. Everywhere he wants to meet his selfish ends by whatsoever wicked means. Honest people skillfully carry out their tasks to an end whereas dishonest person concludes his job half-heartedly. He develops the habit of carrying on the tasks in a makeshift manner, which is often contagious not only to him, but the entire society also bears with him. He has to pretend himself as an honest person as honesty is not in his behavioral pattern. The caption ‘You are under CCTV surveillance’ is usually displayed at various places to keep watch on such unethical, unscrupulous and contemptuous persons. Such captions mentally trouble these persons as they are afraid of being caught red-handed. They are constrained to surreptitiously execute their jobs because of the panic of surveillance or punishment if apprehended. Fearfully they are forced to live in discipline contrary to their lifestyle. An honest person never has to pretend for honesty as honesty is in his manner of behaving, which he can never give up.
Honest people never believe in makeshift working. So, the pleasurable contentment derived by him on completion of a task cannot even be imagined by a dishonest person. Whereas honest people are honored and rewarded for successful and efficient working, dishonest ones are severely rebuked and humiliated everywhere.
Such people lose their trust in the family as well and are not regarded as trustworthy. Whereas truthfulness and sincerity gleefully fill the heart of an honest person with a high spirit, a fake person always remains in a gloomed and depressed state of mind from loss of hope, confidence causing him inferiority complex and guilty consciousness. Despite attaining sporadic successes by resorting to cheating or unfair means, his heart is always full of outcries. His spirit remains impatient. Every time he is frightened with the fear of apprehension and failures.
“People of integrity and honesty not only practice what they preach; they are what they preach. – David A. Bednar”
Due to the languor of spirit, he falls in his own eyes and others as well. He becomes a victim of mental disorders like anxiety, depression, frustration, etc. Despite being wealthy, he never gets peace and happiness. On the other hand, an honest person remains happy and cheerful even with small means because his steadfast adherence to strict ethical standards gives him eternal happiness, contentment, and peace. Let the people offer cheers or express warm compliments to a wicked person; even then, there always remains an outcry in his heart because whether someone knows it or not, he knows what trend or what behavior he is originally from.
The sweetness of his truthfulness marks its presence in the heart of an honest person; his soul cheers him for his virtuous traits and veraciousness. Man often encounters situations where his faith is at stake. Excessive desire to acquire more often causes a setback to persons of deceptive faith because the power of attraction starts dominating their honesty. Attractive monetary gains weaken their faith. Often people are tantalized towards short-term joy due to overly desires for material gains. Those who tend not to yield to external pressures, remain firm and resolute against such adverse situations are real heroes.A truthful person succeeds in enjoying his entire life like a festival. He enjoys every moment of his life as an occasion of celebration. He experiences complete contentment in his physical as well as in spiritual life. His life blooms like a Rosy tint whose pleasant characteristic odor enlivens every sphere of his life. His sincere attitude makes other to follow him in their life. This is the merit of honesty that it causes other virtues to draw along with itself.
An honest person neither shows fear nor indecision. Due to his adherence to honesty, divine virtues of compassion, love, service, empathy, forgiveness, sacrifice, justice, etc., develop in his inner self on their own. All his flaws, whether of previous life or the present one, come to an end. All this expedites his spiritual growth, and he begins to enjoy the comforts of worldly life as well. On the other hand, dishonesty is such an immoral practice that it starts soliciting many other vices with it like fraud, cheating, impatience, cruelty, fear, inferiority complex, despair, etc., and starts appearing in his behavioral approach. Suppose we, therefore, intend to fill our life with delight, enthusiasm and wish to convert it into a joyous feast. In that case, we must sincerely start disseminating truthfulness and integrity in our life.
If this is not part of our life so far, even then, we should practice living with it. Honesty has no substitute, and this must be indispensable in our life like other daily chores. This virtuous trait of honesty shall fill our and others’ life with all the pleasures once we include it in our lifestyle. This virtue has all the basic assumptions to make everyone’s life easy, joyous, and candid. Therefore, start practicing it immediately. Consistent practice of honesty will help us to make it our fundamental characteristic one day. “When you are able to maintain your own highest standards of integrity – regardless of what others may do – you are destined for greatness. – Napoleon Hill”
Source: Akhand Jyoti Magazine May-June 2021