Are people good by nature and circumstances that make them evil ?
By: Dada Bhagwan
Tags: Improvement, Positive Psychology, Self-awareness, Positivity, Positive Thinking

It is commonly believed that the fault lies with the circumstances; people by themselves are good in nature, but it is the circumstances that they were put in which made them evil.

But just think about it… If that was truly the case, it would mean we are mere puppets in the hand of circumstances. If circumstances are negative, it can easily make us evil; we have no independent control over our own Self. Is that really true? And how do we explain the examples of people who remain steadfast and do not go the evil path irrespective of the circumstances that surround them? It means there is something more to it than what we commonly think and know. So, let’s get an enlightened view on this subject.

In the circumstance when we feel slighted, or when something does not happen according to our plan, when our respect seems to have not been maintained properly, when the expectations that we have from people we are attached to are not met for some reason, or when someone ruins or destroys that which we have held to be of value, what happens within? Negativity arises, isn’t it?

Negativity arises within us and it is this negativity that makes us evil.

But we, very smartly, put the entire blame onto the circumstances that it is these circumstances that made me evil.

Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan says, “I have never experienced even the slightest negativity in any circumstance. If your mind becomes positive, you become divine, which is why I tell people to get rid of their negativity by maintaining equanimity. Then only the positive will remain. In your worldly affairs, stay positive. Those who are positive will flow towards ultimate liberation and those who are negative will go totally on the wrong path. Therefore one should adopt one principle in the life. One should always remain positive. Never give any support to the negative. Whenever any negativity arises, one should remain silent.”

So, there could come negative circumstances in life. But it is upto us whether we want to become evil or we want to stay on the side of positive. People who are good by nature always stay on the side of positive. Should a negative circumstance occur, to turn it around into a positive should be our effort. It is easy to slip down; anyone can do that. But to stop yourself from slipping is the right effort.

Just as a coin has two sides, there are two kinds of results in daily worldly life interactions: a positive and a negative. Any positive line is towards God-divinity and any negative line is towards devil-evil. Negativity (evil) will give unhappiness and positivity will give happiness in life. The Self is towards positive and intellect is towards negative. The one whose mind attains the state of continuous positivity all the time is verily God. Negativity will waste your time in worldly matters, will create entanglements, will not let you experience happiness and come out of the worldly life. The negativity will break automatically if one remains positive in worldly life, instead of wasting time in destroying negativity. That is why Dadashri says, ‘Remain positive in worldly interaction, do not become negative.’ If you remain positive, then any worldly obstacles will not affect you.

There are only two things in the world:

1. Circumstances and

2. The one who faces the circumstances.

If we are straight forward, so will be our circumstances. And if we come across negative circumstances, we must immediately realize that because we had done some negative meditation in the past, we now have to face such adverse circumstance in life. If we become straightforward today, we may encounter adverse circumstances for some time, but after a while the circumstances will automatically change for good. We all like good circumstances, isn’t it?

To have good circumstances in life, we shall henceforth:

· Avoid negative meditation that could hurt someone directly or indirectly.

· Wash and clean the negative circumstances that come forth in life, through the act of forgiveness.

· Maintain an attitude of helping others in life, and

· Remain as the Self i.e. remain as that what you really are!

Positive or negative circumstances, both are ultimately the result of our ignorance of the Self. Once the ignorance of really ‘who am I?’ leaves, and the real knowledge of ‘I am indeed a Pure Soul’ sets in, no circumstance shall affect us anymore.