Those who accept dishonesty as dignified, and adopt it as their ideal, fail to analyze the situation in a thorough enough manner. The truth is that money simply cannot be earned by dishonest means. Even when we do acquire some wealth temporarily, it cannot stay and really be ours. Ennobling livelihood can only be earned through courage, wisdom, discipline, dexterity, and skillfulness. Earning through dishonest/devious means leads to results that are not only unstable but are also demeaning and painful. There might be a temporary escape from direct punishment, but eventually, in the long run, dishonesty invariably leads to public anger, outrage, hate, isolation, and sadness. In practice, deceit and corruption are sugar-coated with a fake layer of honesty for it to work. Conning does require establishing trust and confidence. If any suspicion arises, the person being conned is likely to jump out of the trap. Once proven guilty, the conman loses credibility forever and ends up bearing more eventual losses than profits. There could be scores of everyday examples where people who are caught bribing, cheating, evading taxes, doing black marketing, and illegally hoarding not only get severely punished by the law but they also lose their social status and prestige. Once their deeds become public, everyone starts hating them.
Pt. Shriram Sharma Acharya
Akhand Jyoti Magazine May June 2014