Do No Evil – बुरा मत करो (March 2016)

Last in the series of articles we are covering this year is Speak No Evil. We’ll extend that to Do No Evil where “do” means action (कर्म).

When we hear the term action (कर्म), generally we think of physical activities only. Because we seldom carry out physical activity with wicked intentions, we may conclude that this month’s lesson doesn’t really apply to us. That won’t be any less than fooling ourselves. Unless we are extremely careful and vigilant, we occasionally do evil – if not by actions, by words; and if not by words, by thoughts. The goal is to do no evil at all.

In the last two months we emphasized on the importance of not seeing and/or hearing evil. While those aspects are important, what really matters in the end is our actions. Our actions are the real barometer of our character.

In the majority of day to day scenarios, our actions are the net result of our deep rooted beliefs and interpretation of situations. We may see people apologizing for their physical actions or words saying they didn’t mean it; chances are they did. And we occasionally fall prey to the same thinking trap. To carry out pure actions, we must clean our minds and beliefs.

If we perceive the world through hearing and seeing, the world perceives us through our actions. But how do we perceive ourselves: we do it by watching our thoughts and thinking patterns. Analyzing one’s thoughts is like watching one’s true-self in a mirror.

While we occasionally apologize to others for our wrongful physical actions or words, seldom do we apologize for our wrongful thoughts. When we start to feel sorry for our evil thoughts, that’s when we begin to grasp the essence of this series of lessons and that’s when our true ascension starts.

In summary, we must avoid wrongful actions as well as wrongful thoughts. As for the assignment, young kids can focus on the physical activities only, but I would request elder kids to incorporate the importance of thoughts in the context of this month’s topic – Do/Speak no Evil.

As always, looking forward to interesting and illuminating interpretation and explanation of the topic by kids.

Best regards,
Harsh Mendiratta