"Beauty lies in the eyes of Beholder"
One of us just repeated my sentence and made a kind of agreeing expression. The other one listening to both of us gave an explaining statement "It means the beauty that we see anywhere is actually the reflection of our own inner beauty". Hearing this a Buddha's statement just clicked my mind out of nowhere-
" I am not what you see I am, you are what you see I am."
Now the conversation was broadened. From just "beauty" it was shifted to 'perception'. Now, my mind was flooded with curiosity. What is Buddha trying to say in this sentence?? In the first glance, it seems to be an easily agreeable statement but then when we say it again and again, it's not as simple as it seems to be. "Does this mean, the badness that we see in a criminal is actually a reflection of our own badness?? Is the criminal not really bad? Are the thieves, the dacoits not really worth giving punishments?" On of us exclaimed. A doubt also came whether we were misinterpreting that statement or what he was trying to say actually. Whatever it was, we decided to go into the depth of it but before we could realize our conversation again took a little turn. Now the question was -
"What is right and what is wrong ?"
Now this is where the real conversation began. When do we say whether an act done by somebody is right or wrong? One of us said "Something that is morally correct is right otherwise it is wrong". But then this was very shallow way to measure as morality is, in general , what is according to the trends of the society and finding right or wrong in accordance with the trends of the society was not a good idea, we soon realized this. We decided to start from starting.
An act can be divided into three -
- Intention :- All acts that we do begins with an intention, which may be good or bad.
- Process:- Then comes the process in which the work is being done or what methods are we following ? This can also be good or bad.
- Outcome:- The last one is outcome or the result of the act. In general what we see, the act good or bad is general perceived just on the basis of result.
How to decide an act right or wrong?
If my intention is wrong, but process is right, is the work right? If my intention and process both are right but the result is not right, will the work be right? These questions are echoing in all our mind. So, we decide before diving into these questions, let's first breakdown what is right intention, right process & right result?
Right intension :- The act done with the intention of selfless service, not for one's our "selfish" needs can be categorized as right intention. It should be truly for someone's goodness. I am not saying one should not intent anything good for himself or herself but it should be truly for the goodness. Harming someone including oneself in any way or to pull others or oneself down or something else in negative sense is to be considered as wrong intention.
Example-
(A) I threw a stone at a snake that was about to bite me. My intention was not to harm the snake but to protect myself. The act was driven by self-preservation, not malice.
(B) Soldiers eliminate the terrorists with the intent to keep the people safe. The intent is not to kill but the safety.
Now, only with the right intention can we say what we did was right. Let's see.
Right process :- when do we say the process right? When the process is started with right intention and also it is done in accordance with the necessity to produce the desired outcome that is good intentions & result oriented.
Right outcome :- Obviously the right outcome will be that which is only positive and nothing negative, no harm done to anybody. But does it always happen that way? No. So is it a factor to be used to decide a work right or wrong, and to what extent, knowing that it is not in our hand. Let's see .
Now let's make cases to make the final decision -
| Case | Intention | process | Outcome | Act |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ✘ | N/A | N/A | ✘ |
| 2 | ✔ | ✘ | N/A | ✘ |
| 3 | ✔ | ✔ | N/A | ✔ |
Case 1 - If any work is started with wrong intention itself, then I think there is no question of further discussion. It is obviously wrong.
Case2 - If my intention was correct, but the measures I took was not right, then again I think the work should not be stated right. It has very negligible chance to produce any desired result.
Case3 - If my intention was correct and I took the best possible way/process (as discussed earlier) to produce the result then I think the act should be started right. Because this is all that we can do. Isn't it?
Is the result in our hands? No, as Krishna says in Bhagwat Geeta,
"कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥"
It has deeper meanings but here we just take this general Means:- You have the right to work only. Do not let the expected outcome of your action be motive.
The conclusion where we reached -
"Work done with right intention and right method make it eligible to be called as right"-
⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘
But one question still remains undiscussed.
What if an act is done under impulsiveness or in unsoundness of mind?
Let's discuss this on comment ⤵️