No Right - No Wrong ......Only Appropriateness
There is a
beautiful story. The two wives of Vishnu, Laxmi, the goddess of fortune, and
Alaxmi, the goddess of misfortune – both of them believed they were the most
beautiful. So, on a certain day, they came and asked Vishnu, “Which one of us
is the most beautiful?”
Vishnu
said to Laxmi, “When you are coming, you are the most beautiful.” And he told
Alaxmi, “When you are going, you are the most beautiful.”
Fortune
is coming, misfortune is going – aren’t they most beautiful?
That’s
a smart answer, but what is the correct answer? Who is really beautiful?
It is
not just about a woman’s beauty, not about anything in the existence, there is no
correct answer. There is not any wrong answer too. There is only an appropriate answer. Life is not about correctness or wrongness, life is about appropriateness. So then
what is the correct thing to do? There is no correct thing to do.The real question is : "What is the appropriate thing to do..?" Only then you will be able to enjoy life. If you do correct things, you will make an utter idiot of yourself. If
one starts looking for correctness of life, you become barren and empty. Life
is essentially in its appropriateness.
People who believe
they are good, have morals, values and ethics, they hang on to this right and wrong, this morality and
value systems because they give them a false sense of superiority. People who
believe they are good are always looking down at the world. It is a sure way to
miss the world. Even the most beautiful woman will not look very beautiful when
you look from the top. Because you are continuously looking down, everything
looks ugly and black – unless they are bald and shiny. Good people are
everywhere. They have their values, they have their principles, they are very
ethical, but they could live here for years being completely untouched by what
is happening here. It doesn’t matter what you do, they remain untouched in
their goodness. They live with the hope that good people go to heaven.
All you
are trying to do with your morality and values is to simplify life and find
some order in a place where you are not able to figure out what is the
beginning, what is the end. The life process seems to be so chaotic and
unbearable for you that you are trying to bring some silly sense of order by
establishing your own principles, your own morality, your own ethics. If you
bring your own silly sense of order to life, you will completely miss the
magnificent order of the existence. There is no need to be orderly. Existence
is in perfect order.
Shankaran Pillai was a very good man. After a brief illness, he
died. Being a good man, he naturally went to heaven. At heaven, the angels
welcomed him and then opened his account book. You know, they keep accounts of
everything there. As they turned pages they found only good deeds, cover to
cover. This caused a little confusion among the angels. They came to Shankaran
Pillai and said, “Mr. Pillai, there is a little problem. We have various types
of accommodation in heaven. For one bad deed, you get the highest level of
heaven. For two bad deeds, the next level. Three bad deeds – the one below
that. In this way, there are many levels of heaven. But for no bad deeds, there
is no accommodation here. We have never received a man like you until now,
without a single bad deed. So we don’t know what to do with you.”
“What nonsense,” said Shankaran Pillai. “I was such a good man in
the world, nobody wanted to come anywhere near me. I only lived with the hope
of going to heaven. And now, there is a problem here as well?”
The angels met amongst themselves and after a discussion they
said, “Don’t you worry Mr. Pillai. We have found a solution. We are giving you
three extra hours life. Your body is still intact, anyway. You go back and
commit just one bad deed. We will then place you in the highest heaven. Nothing
is lost.”
And lo, he became alive once more. He sat up and began to think of
ways to commit a bad deed. He had never committed one before. An
hour-and-a-half later, he suddenly realized that there was a woman well past
her prime in the neighborhood, who had been casting inviting glances at him.
Being a good man, he never looked her way. Now he thought, “Okay, adultery is a
bad deed.” So he went to the lady’s house and knocked on the door. As she opened
it, Shankaran Pillai said, “I want you.”
“Why Mr. Pillai, they told me just yesterday evening that you were
on your death bed. What is this?” she said.
“It doesn’t matter, I want you,” said Shankaran Pillai, and he
went in. Whatever he lacked in practice, he made it up with his enthusiasm to
go to heaven. Nature took over and things happened. Now, he looked at his
watch, time ticking away. He didn’t want to die in her house. So he began to
leave in a hurry. “I need to go. I need to go,” he said.
He rushed to the door and the lady came to see him off. As he was
leaving, the woman said, “Mr. Pillai, do you know what a good deed you have
done for me today?”
One more good deed. If you are too good, you will neither make it
here nor there. Your goodness always comes in comparing yourself with somebody
or something isn’t it? How do you certify yourself as a good person? You look
at others – he’s not okay, she’s not okay – compared to all these people, I am
a good person. If you have to be really good, you have to make everybody else
in the world bad. Please see, those who think they are very good in their
minds, nobody is okay in their opinion. In fact, they have done only appropriate what they have thought for.
The beauty of existence lies in doing what is appropriate.
The important thing is to accept the results without thinking about right or wrong.
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