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Happiness comes from peace.  Peace is freedom from mental and emotional stress. This prompts an honest man to entertain good thoughts for the achievement of his goal in life and that is his real success. Therefore, success is weighed not in terms of mere materialistic gains but in honest living.

Justice eludes the seeker, if a dishonest man is sitting in judgement. A conscientious leader takes the right and just decisions in times of crisis. A good scientist chooses the correct path leading to a new discovery for advancing the effect of drugs on patients. A right-thinking scholar or writer produces his masterpiece for enlightening the minds of people. There are examples of such honest men who have brought about changes in our environment in each generation.

Honesty as generally understood is an ideal habit. It is a part of truth and the virtue of the truth is that it does not invite discontent.  According to Gandhiji, there should be truth in thought, action and speech.

Selfless service to humanity is the spiritual quality of an ideal man. Though one can ill-afford to emulate Raja Harish Chandra whose honesty has no parallel, yet a near-perfect attitude to life can pull contemporary Indian society out of its malaise of dishonesty.

There is an interesting story of a sadhu who was once passing through a jungle with his wife walking a little behind him. On the way, he saw a few chips of gold on the ground. He was under the impression that women were addicted to the yellow metal and perhaps his wife would be tempted by it. So he hastily covered the gold with soil.

Meanwhile, his wife caught up with him and asked what he was doing. The sadhu reluctantly told her what he thought of her. But his wife turned out to be more honest than he. She wondered why her husband had covered 'soil' with soil. Other people's wealth has no meaning for us, she cautioned her husband. The abashed sadhu understood that he had been guilty of presumption.

innervoice@hindustantimes.com