The Essence of Dharma-8.
18/05/2017. (Spoken on February 11th, 1973) 1. How do we know what action is justifiable and what is not? There are some people who have laid down a principle. If a particular character, attitude or conduct of ours can be imitated by everybody else in the world with impunity, well, we can regard it as a justifiable action. Suppose you tell a lie. Would you like everybody in the world to tell lies? If you yourself would not like it, then it is not justifiable. 2. Suppose everybody in the world is a thief, without exception. Would it be all right? We will naturally say it is not all right; therefore, theft is not justifiable. Incontinence universally practised is not justifiable. So anything that is universally applicable with impunity to everyone is often regarded as a test of dharma or justifiable action. The principle, however, ultimately is that it should be universally applicable and the law operating in the cosmos should determine action. 3. There is also a prin