Can We Be Good Again?

There is a story of a young man whose beloved Master came to stay with him, and he was given the privilege of serving him. With purity and goodness in his heart, he cooked his Master’s food, prepared his room, scheduled his outings and did everything that he could think of to make his Master comfortable. When the Master would go out for some purpose, the young man would wait anxiously for his return, just to be in his presence once again. It was a wonderful time in life, to be young, full of love, and enjoying his Master’s presence. But like all good things in life, the Master’s visit had to come to an end. With tears and a very heavy heart, the young disciple prepared to say goodbye. The Master took him in his arms, thanked him dearly and said, “Always stay so good.” Years went by and circumstances changed for this young man.

Time, life’s ups and downs, our own disappointments and unrealistic expectations all have the inevitable effect of making us “grow up”, so to say, in one form or another. But as we grow older, does that necessarily mean that we also grow bitter and skeptical? Is there a fountain of youth that we can drink from, one that does not necessarily reverse the signs of physical aging, erase our wrinkles or turn our white hair black again – but instead one that can reignite that spark within us? Can we ever be good again?

All fruits start out the same, as a seed, and ripen in the hot sun. The maturing process can either turn that fruit bitter or sweet. Just as all seeds need to experience the heat of the sun to mature, we too have our own load of karmas to go through in order to ripen. As life’s experiences break our outer shell, we can either grow bitter with age, or sweeten in time.

The truth is that when we were young, we were blinded by idealism. But practical and harsh realities have opened our eyes. Viewing the world with a sense of realism and honesty, ‘being good’ perhaps doesn’t come as naturally to many of us as it once did. When ‘being good’ requires so much effort on our part, we now have a conscious decision to make – do we want to put in that effort? Again, the choice is ours. Mother Teresa advises us on this point. She says:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centred. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

Our Masters too have always chosen to ‘give the world their best anyway’. Someone once asked Maharaj Charan Singh if it was correct to adopt an attitude of indifference towards those suffering for they were simply going through their karmas. He replied:

If that had been our attitude, I would not have opened the eye camp at the Dera or taken on the very big hospital project. We are very much concerned with the suffering of humanity, and we want to do whatever we can.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. III}

On another occasion, he elaborated by saying:

We must help people in the world. We are born for that purpose. Only humans can be helpful to humans.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. III}

Of course, we may conceptually understand the importance of serving others, but it may not flow as naturally as it does from saints and mystics. How did they overlook the realities of this world and decide to be so good anyway? They were driven by the same force: love for the Lord. Maharaj Charan Singh explains:

When the devotion of the Lord comes in us, we find that same devotion of the Lord in everyone. Then we actually want to help everybody. We feel like helping because we find the Lord within everyone. The Lord is our object of love, he is our beloved. So we want to do everything for others, just for the love of the Lord.… But that is possible only if we develop that devotion and love for the Lord within ourselves. As long as we do not succeed in doing that, I do not see how we can help others.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. III}

As we look back at our lives, we will probably find that the times we were most sincere, helpful and compassionate were when our hearts were filled with love for our Beloved. We have no choice, our karmas will make us all ‘grow up’ – but if we anchor ourselves to the Lord, hopefully life’s lessons will make us more determined in our resolve to ‘be good’. Our Master knows every single one of our shortcomings, but in all his wisdom, he embraces optimism. He chooses to believe in us and loves us. Why can’t we do the same? Because he chooses to believe in us, we too must believe in our own capacity to be good.