In our childhood, our teachers taught us that: “when Wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when Health is lost, something is lost; but when Character is lost, everything is lost”. Needless to say, everyone strives to have good character, but how to determine if someone, or we ourselves have good character. In this article, we will use Vedic literature as the basis to understand about the qualities that are the Core of Character, and the prescribed ways to develop them.
Below are the 4 qualities that a person must have, to be considered as having good character:
1) Satyam – Truthfulness, 2) Daya – Kindness, 3) Saucham – Cleanliness, and 4) Tapa – Steadfastness.
1) Satyam – Truthfulness (aka Integrity):
Satyam, truthfulness, means presenting the facts as they are, for the benefit of others. Facts should not be misrepresented. According to social conventions, it is said that one can speak the truth only when it is palatable to others. But that is not truthfulness. Similarly, someone may be honest in general but becomes deceitful when their interest is jeopardized. That is also not truthfulness. Truthfulness means under all circumstances one is honest and consistently adheres to strong moral and ethical principles and values. “Honesty is the best policy”. That is the goal. It requires courage and strong conviction to reach this level of truthfulness because we might be afraid of its consequences. However, we tend to easily forget that not being truthful also has its consequences as we cannot escape from the law of karma.
Truthfulness is also to not be a hypocrite, and to practice what we preach. We must at least start by being truthful wherever we have authority and set an example for others who follow us. This can be within our family, friends-circle, business, occupation, etc. With such practice we can become perfectly truthful one day.
2) Daya – Kindness (aka Compassion):
Imagine we live in a world where everyone is kind to each other. Will there be a reason for conflict? Will there be a reason for war? The answer is no, because we can practically experience - that when we are kind to someone, we don’t quarrel with them even if they commit a mistake.
Unfortunately, we live in a society where our kindness is selective. We draw a boundary around ourselves. We show our kindness only to those people who we consider as our own, and to those people who we may need help from. For example, we are kind to our family, close friends, and those who are affluent or prominent. We overlook their mistakes and even stand by them. However, when it comes to those who cannot do any good to us or those who cannot fight back, we are the first ones to be critical of their mistakes and make fun of them to show our pride or to gain the adoration from others. That is not kindness.
Real kindness is to show our mercy towards everyone, even if we do not relate to them. Everyone feels pain when hurt physically or mentally. When we have empathy for that pain, we automatically become compassionate and stop hurting them. We can practice kindness by first helping the poor and needy of our society. When we sacrifice something that belongs to us, like our time, money, etc. in charity to those who are in need, our hearts begin to soften. So, let’s keep expanding our boundary of kindness.
3) Saucham – Cleanliness (aka Purity):
As the popular saying goes, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”. Cleanliness is of two kinds: external and internal. While we know that external cleanliness is to keep our body clean by taking bath daily, it is equally important to have internal cleanliness. Internal cleanliness pertains to our mind, our relationships and our dealings with others.
Cleanliness in dealings means one should not deal with black money. Cleanliness in relationships means one must be loyal to one’s spouse and stay away from illicit relationships. Cleanliness of mind is the means to stay pure and be happy. Our mind is the cause of our happiness or distress. Any action we perform is already perceived in our mind. The more we let our mind wander and contemplate on wrong things, the more troubles it will bring upon us. We know the saying that “an idle brain is the devil’s workshop”. Similarly, Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita that our mind is our best friend if we control it, and is our worst enemy if it controls us.
The easiest way to control our mind is to engage it in some activity like reading spiritual literature, chanting, meditation, etc. If we are not interested in those activities yet, then it should at least be engaged in developing skills like fine art, music, dance, sports, etc., so that it does not dwell on evil or impure thoughts.
4) Tapa – Steadfastness (aka Determination, Dedication, and Discipline):
Determination, Dedication, and Discipline are called the 3 D’s of success. Anything we pursue is guaranteed to be successful if we have these 3 D’s. This quality is the ability to constantly and consistently focus our intelligence, mind, body and senses towards the achievement of our goals.
There are so many dangers in this world that obstruct our progress towards our goals. There are so many people who wasted their lives and even more people who are currently wasting their lives by getting addicted to things like alcohol, tobacco, drugs, pornography, etc.
The recommended solution to acquire this quality of being steadfast in our endeavors is to stay completely away from all intoxicants and intoxication, and to always be sober. This may sound impractical in our current society, esp. in the West, but we could see many examples of people who were successful even though they were teetotal and did not hide their beliefs.
In conclusion, a person’s character can be judged by the company s/he keeps. If we really want to develop the above qualities that make up good character, we must seriously reconsider the people who we associate with. We must only take guidance from and make friends with people who apply these qualities in their lives. It is the only way we can build our own character. Having good character is the prerequisite or the preliminary qualification required to attain perfection in life. Let’s build and support societies where people with character are celebrated, irrespective of their religion, race, gender, nationality, caste, etc., and no matter whether they are rich, poor, perfectly-healthy, or differently-abled.
ISKCON is one such society, if not the only one, where everyone strives to treat each other with respect, humility and service mood while constantly endeavoring for perfection in life. Come join us every Sunday to learn more.
Blog post by Patita-pavana Balarama Das from ISKCON of Greater Cleveland
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