Moral thoughts

Why some people tell lies? Why some people are dishonest ? Why some people have got a passion for truth and some are hypocrite? It is understood that when children tell lies they might be trying to avoid punishment, simply exaggerating, trying to attract attention or fantasizing.

But what about the adult people? Why do we tell lies and show dishonesty? The examples of dishonesty and lies are many. The most common being the tax deception. And the most shocking fact is those who are economically more stable and whom we can categorize as rich person are evading huge amount of tax. Generally there is a tendency or prejudice in our mind that we relate poverty with crime, dishonesty, greed or any other undeserving attributes. But then how can we justify the incidents of fraud in Satyam Computers.

Does honesty actually result from active resistance of temptation or it is the absence of temptation which underlines the determination of the person? Recently I came through an interesting finding by  psychologists at Harvard University. The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and carried out by Joshua Greene, Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The researchers examined neural activity in individuals confronted with opportunities for dishonest gain through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and observed individuals who behave honestly show no additional control related activity or other activity when choosing to behave honestly. Whereas dishonest people show increased activity in the control-related regions of prefontral cortex both while choosing to behave dishonestly and when abstained from dishonesty. According to them, “the behavioral and fMRI data support the Grace hypothesis over the Will hypothesis, suggesting that honest moral decisions depend more on the absence of temptation than on the active resistance of temptation”.

Gandhari, the epic character from Mahabharata , an exemplary character who spent her whole life as a blind person just because the man whom she married was blind (Dhritarashtra).There was absence of temptation in her mind which may have insisted her to do it. Not only that, she was an ardent lover of truth. Through out her life she followed truth only. Her passion of truth was so much that when the war of Kurukshetra began, Duryodhan came to her for blessings, she blessed him saying “Yato Dharmastato Jayah”…May Dharma be victorious. “Dharma” is here truthfulness . She did not bless her son as “May you become victorious”. She knew that she cannot leave truth whatever the situation may be and here Truth was with the Pandavas. Her honesty was reflected in her speech. In real life, Gandharis are very rare.

Jayati

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