Being good is not good enough
In the pursuit of Self-realisation, there is a common yet subtle trap: the aspiration to simply be a ‘good person’. We often measure our progress by a checklist of virtues – harming no one, giving to charity, and maintaining a pleasant demeanour.
We convince ourselves that moral correctness is the ultimate destination, using our good deeds as a shield against the deeper, more uncomfortable work of self-inquiry. Is social nicety truly the peak of human potential, or are we merely decorating a prison with pleasant behaviour?
If you simply want to be ‘good’, then a cucumber is also good. A mango is very good. The pineapple is so good, and a pistachio ice cream is marvellously good. There is no transformative power in that kind of good. Without realising your own identity, just being a ‘good person’ is often one way of running away from truth. It is running away from the hard work of seeing how entangled and disillusioned the mind truly is.
That is why there are millions who say, “I just want to be a good person. I do good things, i don’t harm anybody, i give charity to my church or my temple, and i help orphans. Isn’t it good?” But good is not enough. The factual, realistic encounter with our own true identity is required. It is not just about keeping the mind quiet for some hours, days, or weeks, only for the mind to go back to those same affairs. It is not about temporarily quieting the mind; it is about realising the reality of your own being, your own existence.
If you haven’t practised various techniques of meditation, all the wandering to different spiritual places – you realise that you go there, you practise, and you feel good about it. But again, it is just feeling good about your mind. You think, ‘My mind is so quiet, so nice.’ But when the retreat ends, you are still facing the demon of your own mind because the root cause has not been extinguished.
Consider a child who thinks there is a ghost in the tree, or in the house, or in the attic. There is a weird creaky sound, so the child becomes convinced there is a ghost. But in the daytime, the child is not afraid. At night, there is darkness, and the mind goes wild in that darkness, creating imaginative figures and becoming self-hypnotised that there is something out to kill or harm.
If we don’t remove that darkness, fear of the ghost will always be there. Every night, the child will run away from the attic, believing the place is haunted. But it is not the place that is haunted; it is the mind which is haunted.
It is nice to be on the path, to find things, to experience and explore. But what is more important is removing the veil of darkness from the mind. That is what is required. Knowing about truth is not the same as living it. Do not just be a seeker of information. You must do the hard work to dispel the darkness entirely.
