Bhimeswara Challa
The Twin Questions and Twin Inabilities Why can’t I be good? Why do I do bad? Such angst-filled questions and reflective ruminations have, ever since man became self-aware, crossed the minds of many among us, not only saints and rishis, epic heroes, and moral philosophers but even evil geniuses and plain folks. Notable among them is Saint Paul, acclaimed as one of the authors of the New Testament,1 Saint Augustine, the author of The City of God,2 and Sage Veda Vyasa, the author of the great Indian epic Mahabharata, which, it is often said, is the last word on the nuances of ethical dilemmas that harass human life.3 And the Pandava prince Arjuna, a central character in the same epic, asked Lord Krishna, “Why is a person impelled to commit sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if by force?” What is strange is that Arjuna’s arch enemy and villain, Duryodhana, also strikes a similar refrain and confesses, “I know what is dharma,4 but am not able to practice it. I know what is not dharma, but I am not able to keep away from it.”5 In our own times, Gandhi, the ardent advocate of ahimsa or non-violence, lamented, “What evil resides in me?” From Arjuna to Saint Paul to Gandhi, no one has been able to come to terms with who they seemed to be from the outside, and who they felt they really were deep within their own better selves. In the words of Ralph Barton,6 “the human soul would be a hideous object if it were possible to lay it bare”. They (and all of us, too) cannot understand how they could be ‘who they did not want to be’, and, worse, felt compelled to do what they hated to do. We also don’t understand why, when the ideals and imperatives of life are to be cooperative, compassionate, loving, and selfless, we are so competitive, callous, aggressive, and selfish. As Carl Jung noted, “Unfortunately, there can be no doubt that man is, on the whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants to be”.7 Jung aptly sums up the tragedy of the human condition and simplifies the dire
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