As I wipe my tears after watching the film 'Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara', I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt sweeping over me. It is true that movies move me to tears, especially movies like MGKNM, Munnabhai MBBS and the likes, but being emotional about issues such as Gandhi Ji's idealism and trying to live like him, are two different things. This is what these movies speak about. To live a true life. To live a life of brotherhood. It is a bitter fact that in the kind of world we live in, we will get killed, if we dare to live on the ideals that Gandhi ji gave us. And this might just simply mean that we cannot afford to live a truthful life.
We just cannot dare to live a truthful life...
In all modesty, I do try to speak the truth and do what I feel should be done, even if it means making the whole world my enemy. Believe me, it is not all that difficult. We are just afraid. Afraid that we might be left alone if we follow truthfulness. Because, like it or not, we all have become compulsive liars. From little things and little issues to bigger things and bigger issues.
I have a friend who lies to his wife about his whereabouts. Why? Even he does not know. He just lies. He could just say the truth if he wants to, but he does not. He has become a habitual liar. He feels there is no harm in it. He says he avoids confrontation from his wife. He says he just wants peace, and he gets it by lying. Peace by lying....
We reach late some place. And when we reach there, we lie. We say there was a traffic jam. In reality, we might just have got delayed due to waking up late. But we lie. And we do that because if we admit that we woke up late, it might not be taken in good sense. And so, to avoid any unpleasantness, and to achieve what we have set out to achieve, we lie. Pleasant achievements by lying....
The other day, my son broke his toy. I heard the noise. I was in the kitchen. I asked him what happened. He said nothing happened. I just ignored it and continued to do my work. Later on, during the day, while I was cleaning up, I found the broken toy. My son had lied to me. In a way, I was responsible. He was scared that I would scold him. I actually forced him to lie, and here begins another human beings journey of lying. Here is where it all starts.
It starts from the receiver. Whether it be a mother, a wife, the boss or just a friend. We lie because we are scared of confrontation from our recievers. We are scared of the consequences of telling the truth. If my son would not have been scared of me and knew that his mother would not confront him, he would perhaps have told me the truth. But I, as his mother, made him believe that he would be scolded for what he did, maybe unintentionally, and so, to avoid that, he lied to me. What wrong did he do? Nothing... Because, in reality, I made him lie. And I did that because I myself did not have the capacity to handle the truth, if my son had told it to me. I would have scolded him for what he did, without thinking twice about how it would have happened and that the broken toy cannot be mended again, by scolding him or confronting him. If I, as a mother had handled the situation with a calm and a patient mind, my son would not have been scared of me. My son would not have learnt how to lie.
Its the same with the wife or the boss or the friend for that matter. Right from childhood, we are dealt with by our parents, in the way, we all one day ourselves become. And the cycle of lying goes on.
Gandhi Ji talked about truthfulness. He talked about Ahinsa. We do remember him on his birthday or his death anniversary. But in our daily lives, we forget the basics of living. Its not practicing these ideals as mere ideals, but living these ideals as our natural way of life. It is just simply living a truthful life.
God does not make us liars. When we are born, we are born pure and undiluted. But as we grow up, we learn. Unfortunately, all the lessons we learn are wrong. We talk about living in a civilized society. But has civilization really done us any good? Were we not better living in the jungles as junglees? At least we were closer to how God had sent us...
...Undiluted. Pure. Truthful..
We just cannot dare to live a truthful life...
In all modesty, I do try to speak the truth and do what I feel should be done, even if it means making the whole world my enemy. Believe me, it is not all that difficult. We are just afraid. Afraid that we might be left alone if we follow truthfulness. Because, like it or not, we all have become compulsive liars. From little things and little issues to bigger things and bigger issues.
I have a friend who lies to his wife about his whereabouts. Why? Even he does not know. He just lies. He could just say the truth if he wants to, but he does not. He has become a habitual liar. He feels there is no harm in it. He says he avoids confrontation from his wife. He says he just wants peace, and he gets it by lying. Peace by lying....
We reach late some place. And when we reach there, we lie. We say there was a traffic jam. In reality, we might just have got delayed due to waking up late. But we lie. And we do that because if we admit that we woke up late, it might not be taken in good sense. And so, to avoid any unpleasantness, and to achieve what we have set out to achieve, we lie. Pleasant achievements by lying....
The other day, my son broke his toy. I heard the noise. I was in the kitchen. I asked him what happened. He said nothing happened. I just ignored it and continued to do my work. Later on, during the day, while I was cleaning up, I found the broken toy. My son had lied to me. In a way, I was responsible. He was scared that I would scold him. I actually forced him to lie, and here begins another human beings journey of lying. Here is where it all starts.
It starts from the receiver. Whether it be a mother, a wife, the boss or just a friend. We lie because we are scared of confrontation from our recievers. We are scared of the consequences of telling the truth. If my son would not have been scared of me and knew that his mother would not confront him, he would perhaps have told me the truth. But I, as his mother, made him believe that he would be scolded for what he did, maybe unintentionally, and so, to avoid that, he lied to me. What wrong did he do? Nothing... Because, in reality, I made him lie. And I did that because I myself did not have the capacity to handle the truth, if my son had told it to me. I would have scolded him for what he did, without thinking twice about how it would have happened and that the broken toy cannot be mended again, by scolding him or confronting him. If I, as a mother had handled the situation with a calm and a patient mind, my son would not have been scared of me. My son would not have learnt how to lie.
Its the same with the wife or the boss or the friend for that matter. Right from childhood, we are dealt with by our parents, in the way, we all one day ourselves become. And the cycle of lying goes on.
Gandhi Ji talked about truthfulness. He talked about Ahinsa. We do remember him on his birthday or his death anniversary. But in our daily lives, we forget the basics of living. Its not practicing these ideals as mere ideals, but living these ideals as our natural way of life. It is just simply living a truthful life.
God does not make us liars. When we are born, we are born pure and undiluted. But as we grow up, we learn. Unfortunately, all the lessons we learn are wrong. We talk about living in a civilized society. But has civilization really done us any good? Were we not better living in the jungles as junglees? At least we were closer to how God had sent us...
...Undiluted. Pure. Truthful..
