Hypocrisy is the worst enemy and sincerity is the real friend and promoter of a sound society, says Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji
It is a very good sign that today members of the intelligentsia have started raising their voice about the need to practise values in order to improve the quality of life and to make the world a better place to live in. It is a sign of this age and also of intellectualism that once people take up a topic for serious discussion, they begin to analyse it, dissect it, describe it and give a detailed explanation of it from various aspects. For an in-depth study, and in keeping with the spirit of the times, it is alright. But all these discussions and descriptions lose their purpose and charm if we merely intellectualise them and do not take care to give spiritual content to them or put them into practice.
We all know that vitamins are of great value as they remove certain deficiencies and provide us certain essential nutritive components. However, mere talk of vitamins, without taking the required ones in our physical system, would not help us in any way. Similary, merely talking about values has its own value but it does not take the place of the values we should inculcate. Modern society talks about values for two reasons. One of these is that it has become fashionable to talk about them as there is a powerful wave or current and one would like to go with the current and not against it. A few years ago, nobody would talk about moral values, attitudes and moods, but today these are hot topics which are discussed everywhere. Some people might talk on these subjects to show that they also are with the spirit of the times but are they practising what they preachIJ
As famous psychologist Karl Jung has said in his writings on psychology that “man wears masks” and that “persona” is acquired. It’s a fact that most of us wear various masks in order to seek acceptance, commendation and praise. However, this mask does not represent our real self. So, even though a person talks of values, he may, in truth, be the very opposite of it and might not be practising it. In that case, it would be mere hypocrisy and it will do dis-service to the very cause. For, when people discover that men in power and high position talk of values but do not practise them, they become disillusioned. They lose hope. This then gives rise to a negative wave that counteracts the noble work of promotion of values. So, in such matter, hypocrisy is the worst enemy and sincerity is the real friend and real promoter.
We must, therefore, properly emphasise two things while we discuss about values. One is that we must practise them. Second, we must do so sincerely. Sincerity prepares the mind for other virtues also. That wins the hearts of others and enables a person to be nearer to God. This virtue is a friend of honesty, integrity, truthfulnesss, simplicity and clean-heartedness. Sincerity makes the very least person more valuable than the most talented hypocrite.