THIS IS THE SUBJECT WHICH WAS ALWAYS IN MY MIND. I was, as a child,
told by my parents, my father, as matter of fact, always
advised me about not telling lies. Though, I was not aware of a lie, when I actually lied.
When I was growing up, I was caught between the devil and deep sea, i.e., being
honest and trustworthy to my Father or pursuing my own needs which might not,
as I have presumed, be approved by him.Ultimately my love and respect for
my Dad prevailed. To the best of my knowledge, I abstained from speaking
lies, even if it meant I got pretty bad spank at times for things which I shd not
hv done, or if I did, I made no attempt to conceal it from my him.
The same thing continued, i.e., the conflict,after the marriage too. How? when I
had the oppportunities to take bribes; when I was taken to the forbidden den
by my friends/colleagues etc etc. Ultimately, when I put myself in her shoes,
I decided that I will never tell any lies to her or do such things or indulge in any
such actions where I might have the necessity to conceal by tellings lies.
As a result, to the pride of my bride, I emerged as a proud Tee-totaller, which she
used to yap among her contacts proudly, though perhaps, the loss and misery of
not eating the forbidden fruit may haunt me
But is a lie such an evil? I don't think so; It is not, always.
Imagine an hypothetical situation. A would be killer chasing his would be victim.
The likely victim is hiding from a place close to you and you know where he is hiding.
The would be killer in his hot pursuit, closing on you and ask about the man who is hiding.
You plead ignorance and the would be killer goes off track and the person whom he chased
escaped certain death at his hands. In this case, what you said is a blatant lie,
but it resulted in saving the life of a fellow human.
This is what the great Tamil Saint Poet THIRUVALLUVAR said in his epic
THIRUKKURAL, some 2000 years ago
"POIMAIYUM VAIMAI IDATHU, PURAI THEERNDHA NANMAI PAYAKUM ENIN"
I.E, EVEN A LIE IS IN PLACE OF TRUTH IF IT RESULT IN FAULTLESS BENEFIT
TO OTHERS"
In my opinion, most of the tactics and strategies, be it Military, Police any any other,are
based on deception, which is primarily based on lies. Whether in defence or in attack,
you rely on deception/lies i.e by way of distracting the enemy from attacking you
or luring him to the KILLING ZONE which you have so deceptively set up to prey
upon them. Here the whole concept is based on the (in) famous word LIE..
The classic, rather Epic example of this is, when Yudhister's lie
ASWATHAMA HADHA KUNJARA HA
immobilised the great warrier guru DRONA( his son's name was Aswathama) when
he was causing havoc among Pandava troops and taking advantage of this, his
born enemy, Draupathi's brother, beheaded him.
Yudishter uttered this lie at the pursuasion of Lord Krishna as a war tactics to
immobilise the Guru, who was, otherwise, unstoppable
Let me not be misunderstood that I am a propogator or the one who encourage lies
No it is not. What I mean to say, if you are an adult, when you know to distingusih
between faultless and harmful lies, you can, based on the circumstances, have
the liberty of taking refuge in lies.
How far do you think that you will be? Like me or a PURITAN who remain and
advocate lie as a sin and no mean will justify the end. I leave it to you. .
