Talk:The Complexity of Karma:Inapplicability of Lists of Good and Bad Karma
By Vishal Agarwal
Noble action, inaction and evil action are sometimes difficult to distinguish from each other because one can also get bewildered about the moral propriety and consequences of our actions. For example, stealing in general is considered evil Karma, but there are times when it is not so, even according to our sacred texts -
Upon being hungry for three days, he may steal food from the home of a non-Brahmana. And if he is caught in the act, he should confess about what exactly he has stolen. Yājnavalkya Smriti 3.43
He who, when in danger of losing his life, accepts food from any person whatsoever, is no more tainted by sin than the sky by mud. Manusmriti 10.104
Likewise, on the matter of speaking Truth, Lord Krishna advises Arjuna in the Mahabharata:
Speaking the truth always is indeed a great virtue. Indeed, nothing, no virtue is perhaps superior to speaking the truth. But the practical aspects of speaking truth are very difficult to understand. Mahabharata 8.49.27
Sometimes truth is protected by speaking the truth, sometimes by not speaking it at all or sometimes even by speaking a lie. If a person is losing everything, then it is better to speak a lie if that lie will save that person from utter ruin. Mahabharata 8.49.28
If speaking a truth will cause someone’s death or break someone’s marriage, then it is better to tell a lie. In such situations, speaking the truth is equivalent to a lie, and speaking a lie is equivalent to speaking the truth. Mahabharata 8.49.29
Only a fool thinks that speaking a formal truth alone is Dharma at all times. Instead, he alone is a knower of Dharma who speaks the truth only after considering the situation (as stated in the above verses). Mahabharata 8.49.30
If a false promise can get you freedom from kidnappers, then better tell a lie. It would be a greater evil to promise a ransom to kidnappers and then pay the amount to them after freedom, because wealth given to evil men begets misery for the speaker of the truth himself. One must not therefore hesitate to speak a lie if it promotes Dharma. Mahabharata 8.49.54-55
Lord Krishna then narrates two stories where there was an inversion of Dharma and Adharma, and Truth and Falsehood. In the first story, he talks about a hunter, who had the responsibility of taking care of his blind parents and other family members. He always spoke the truth; he never caused pain to anyone and never neglected his duties and obligations. He was the sole bread-winner for his parents, wife, and children. One day, he could not find any food, and had to kill a blind animal to get some food for his dependents. The hunter went to heaven, even though he did the heinous crime of killing a blind animal, because he did it for the sake of his blind parents and to feed his family.
In the second story, Lord Krishna describes a Brahmana named Kaushika who took a vow of speaking truth at all times. One day, a band of bandits came to his home, chasing a group of innocent people who were trying to escape bandits and had passed by Kaushika’s home. Upon being asked as to whereabouts of these innocent people fleeing the bandits, Kaushika spoke the ‘truth’, resulting in the bandits capturing the innocent victims and killing them. Lord Krishna calls this ‘truthful’ Kaushika as a fool, as one ignorant of Dharma who misused his vow of speaking truth to cause harm to innocent people; and as a result of speaking this ‘truth’, Kaushika went to Hell.