Is honesty still the best policy?

How do you feel when you suddenly find out a shopkeeper just fooled you about that thing you purchased? Or the cab driver charging you much more than the right amount? Or your colleague harming your job behind your back? We all feel cheated. We grumble. We crib. But what about our part? Are WE always honest?

Well, I know these are common questions and we have vigorously thought, talked and opinionated about it. But today my question is… “Is honesty still the best policy?” Now, suppose you are the woodcutter, what would you choose- the gold, the silver or the wooden axe? Would you be honest hoping that God would eventually give all the 3 to you? If that be the case then where is the honesty actually?

So now, we come to the famous teachings of Srimad Bhagavad Gita “Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kada Chana

Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani”  (In simple words, You do your deeds, but do not think about its outcome. Do not let the outcome or the fruit of your deeds be the purpose of your actions).

Personally speaking, when it comes to honesty, I somehow still believe in both these theories. I prefer being honest, knowing that it is the right thing to do. But when I do not get any of my axes back (when others are dishonest to me), I question my own survival intelligence! That is the time when I do feel cheated, I do grumble and I do crib.

But somehow, don’t we all get a satisfaction if we are honest? I know I do! The constant moral science classes in school or the long lectures from dad must have kept the “CONSCIENCE” or “THE-GOD-INSIDE-ME” still alive even amidst so much. But perhaps unknowingly, we are teaching our next generation our doubts about honesty with so much of grumbling and cribbing. Just as a simple lay person, who prefers to be optimistic even about the most negative things, I still believe HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY. I still believe cheating is wrong. I still believe I should always speak the truth. I still believe I will take only what I deserve (though I don’t know how much I succeed!!)

Therefore, for the sake of those moral science classes, for the sake of dad’s lecture, for the sake of the woodcutter’s good fortune, let us keep HONESTY as the best policy.

So what do you say? Which axe is yours? And why?