This month’s issue of the Newsletter visits the next quality on The Mother’s symbol, “goodness”. Goodness stems from the word, “good” which means, as an adjective, something desired or approved of and having the required qualities or of a high standard. As a noun, it is that which is morally right or of benefit or advantage to somebody. In this month’s reflection, it is taken as a noun. Goodness denotes the quality of being good.
(https://www.google.co.in/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=meaning+of+goodness%3F).
Goodness that stems from deeper within oneself is worth exploring. This Goodness is usually universal, open, benevolent, magnanimous. It is a quality that perhaps comes to the fore when one has dealt with the many obstacles within, cleared more of the haze and the clouds, and perhaps developed a deeper trust and faith in the greater Good (or God) in oneself and the other, and in the evolutionary progression of the whole of life. It is that part in oneself that responds without failure to the goodness around; or seeks to chase away all ill and establish itself where it has to. Goodness breeds goodwill around and creates a positive energy that makes any work seem an easy task. Besides making the task easy, it helps complete the task with a greater degree of dexterity, to a higher degree of perfection. It helps actually in a happy completion of the task at hand.
So what exactly is the condition of goodness within? Has one felt or known goodness? Is one able to cultivate this goodness within? Is it easy, or does it come easy? What could one do to have more and more of this goodness expressed more and more? Can one?
It is obvious that on one plane, what is goodness differs from one person to another. In collective living, such a goodness, small and limited, would hardly serve to be of any significance in terms of living a life. It has to be a good that is high just as it is wide, reaching out to all; it has to be goodness also that stems from one’s depth and hence devoid of all self-seeking and self-fulfilment. The Mother distinguishes goodness in two ways. One way is suffused with the sight of a consciousness wide and high, deep and all encompassing. Here is her view on goodness of that kind:
“You must be good for the love of goodness, you must be just for the love of justice, you must be pure for the love of purity and you must be disinterested for the love of disinterestedness; then you are sure to advance on the way”
The need of the hour is goodness of a more refined quality. It appears to be an integral part of an integral person. It is the same goodness that would enable one to be as The Mother points out.
“A tireless benevolence, clear-seeing and comprehensive, free from all personal reaction, is the best way to love God and serve Him upon earth.”
Perhaps, as always, if one wants to cultivate this quality of goodness in oneself, it helps to observe oneself stringently and watch when one is good, how one is good and of what quality of goodness one exudes. For often, we may assume oneself to be good in one’s own limited frame of reference. In this way, working on oneself while at work would be the greatest opportunity in understanding oneself and the goodness one is capable of and also its quality.
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