There is a famous old Hindi saying which roughly translated says “Do good, and then throw it into the river”. What it essentially means is that you need to do what you need to do, you need to do good, be kind, be honest, be compassionate and forgiving, but having done that, stop right there, and throw your expectations into the river. End of story.
Human beings have been given a belief, by their parents, by their teachers, and by society in general, that if you do good, if you are kind, if you show concern and support, if you are considerate, if you are accommodating and compliant, you will get back the same. You are told that if you are good to others, they will be good to you. If you forgive others, they will forgive you. If you stretch and do a lot for others, they will return your favours. This has become a deep rooted belief in our systems.
There is nothing wrong in this belief, it is a good one, because it motivates us to do good, be good and to cooperate and compromise, and to reach out and help those in need. But this belief is only half true. This belief has led to a lot of hurts, heartbreaks, wounds, frustrations, anger, resentment and sorrow. It is a belief which needs to be examined, studied, and then adjusted according to our individual personalities, tolerances, acceptance and mindset.
We do good to others, not with the intention of that good being returned, for that would be business, not love. We do good because we are inherently good, we have good tendencies, we have realised that doing good brings us happiness, harmony and peace of mind. So, we set out to do good. But what we forget is that each of us behaves as per our mindset. And what we think is good may not necessarily be good for others, or may not help them in the best possible way. A story is told of a village bumpkin who was standing on the banks of a river, catching fish, and throwing them out on the river bank. When a village elder who was passing by asked him what he was doing, the village bumpkin replied that he was saving the fish who were drowning in the river. Noble and great intentions, a good deed indeed, to save someone from drowning, but the results of his deeds were disastrous. And obviously, if he was expecting appreciation or applause, he was in for a rude shock for all he got was criticism and insults. Am sure till his last day, he never figured out what went wrong.
So, it is true that good begets good, but this concept is not as linear, as mathematical or as logical as we think it is. Dont worry, all the good that you do does go into your karmic or akashaic accounts, and will be duly returned with interest at the appropriate time. But the human mind is very linear, very rational, very businesslike, and we expect profits in the very venture where we invested. This works in the outer world, but in the Universe, the maths is different.
When we do good for someone, and when that someone does not return the good, or actually criticises and insults us for doing what we thought was “good”, that is when we get hurt, get upset, get angry, nurse resentments and slowly start feeling that doing good is of no use. A sense of futility sets in and it might actually force us into become selfish and self-centered. It might stop us from doing good, because our past experience was bad.
Once we change this belief, that doing good brings good from the same person or same avenue, once we accept that we must do good because that is our nature, once we realize that the whole of existence runs on cooperation and symbiosis, once we realize that our Universe depends on each of us doing good, we will continue to do good, but without expecting instant results. Let the rewards of your good come, or not come, that is immaterial. You do good, because it makes you feel good, it makes you happy and joyous to do good, because it satisfies and makes your inner self or soul happy. But do it with the awareness that you might not get the results you expect, but rather, the Universe will reward you in unexpected ways and at unexpected moments. Act out of love for your fellow humans, not out of any business sense.
Source: https://www.speakingtree.in/blog/do-good-but-expect-nothing
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The views and nutritional advice expressed are not intended to be a substitute for conventional medical service. If you have a severe medical condition or health concern, see your physician.
