ENDS AND MEANS
In simple terms ends are
aims, purposes, objectives, goals, targets, intentions, aspirations or whatever
we want to achieve. Means are the
methods, resources, rules, procedures, regulations, systems, practices,
processes, ways, approaches, manners, measures, modes, styles, courses of
actions, or modus operandi which we may use to realize the ends set by us.
In many fields of life,
people do not believe in the morality of the methods used by them. According to them nothing succeeds like
us. They do not mind if they achieve the
ends intended by them by hook or by crook.
Here, fair may be foul and foul may be fair. In short, they can use unfair means to accomplish
fair ends. They decide to abide by the
saying ‘All is fair in love and war’. Such people are called smart, determined, pragmatists,
self-willed or worldly wise. They justify the use of wrong methods for right ends
by asserting that in a competitive world one cannot avoid the use of
practically nor morally useful methods to compete with their rivals as also
outdo them.
Such people are not afraid of God or any kind
of punishment mentioned in the scriptures of their religions. Their conscience
does not bite them when they consciously use wicked ways for virtuous ends. They
have hardly any fear of the horrible consequences which result from committing
a sin or a crime or any immoral deed or act. However, this state of their minds
may not last for a long time. A moment may come sooner or later when changing circumstances
and the fruits of their actions may compel them to feel that they have to reap today
what they sowed yesterday. This situation may be severe enough to ruin not only
their own life but also of their accomplices and kith and kith
In this context, let us have
a deep look at the views of Gandhiji, Lord Buddha and Leo Tolstoy.
According to Gandhiji, impure
means result in an impure end. One
cannot reach Truth by untruthfulness. The means may be likened to a seed, the
end to a tree, and there is just the same inviolable connection between the
means and the end, as there is between the seed and the tree. In Gandhiji’s
opinion, it is pernicious to hold that so long as the end was good, any means,
however violent or unjust, were justifying.
Relating the issue of ends
and means to spirituality, Gandhiji said:: “There are two methods of attaining
desired end. Truthful and Truthless. In our scriptures, they have been described
respectively as divine and devilish. The final triumph of Truth is always
assumed for the divine method. Its
votary does not abandon it, even though at times the path seems impenetrable
and beset with difficulties and dangers, and a departure, however slight, from
that straight path may appear full of promise.
His faith even then shines respectively like the mid-day sun and he does
not despond. With Truth for sword, he
needs neither steel nor gunpowder. He
conquers the enemy by the force of the soul, which is Love.”
Speaking about the relations
between politics and religion, Gandhiji says, “I cannot conceive politics as
divorced from religion. Indeed, religion
should pervade every one of our actions.
Here religion does not mean sectarianism. It means a belief in ordered moral government
of the universe.
Let us now listen to what
Lord Buddha says: “Surely if living creatures saw the results of their evil
deeds, they would turn away from them in disgust. But selfhood blinds them, and they cling to
their obnoxious desires. They crave for
pleasure for themselves and they cause pain to others, when death destroys
their individuality, they find no peace; their thirst for existence abides and
their selfhood reappears in new births. Thus
they continue to move in the coil and can find no escape from the hell of their
own making.
“And how empty are their
pleasures, how vain are heir endeavours Hollow like the plantain-tree and
without contents like the bubble. The
world is full of evil and sorrow, because it is full of lust. Men go astray because they think that
delusion is better than truth. Rather than truth they follow errors, which is
pleasant to look at in the beginning but in the end causes anxiety,
tribulation, and misery.”
Russian writer and moral philosopher, Leo Tolstoy
(1928- 1910) whom Gandhiji admired time and again, attributes the choice of
evil methods to temptations. The world of men, says he, is unhappy only on
account of temptations. Temptations are everywhere
in the world, they always were and will always will be; and man perishes from
temptations. Therefore men should give
up everything, sacrifice everything, if only they not fall into
temptation. A fox, if it falls into a
trap, will wrench off its paw and go away, and the paw will heal and it will
remain alive. Men should do likewise. They should give up everything, if only not
to sink into temptation.
To conclude, may I suggest we should not
fall a prey to temptations to lead a happy and peaceful life both here as well
as hereafter.
26th
November 2019 ------G. R. KANWAL
