Is telling lies for a Good Cause allowed?

Posted or Updated on March 2nd, 2023

Is telling lies for a Good Cause allowed?

A question from a girl follower (Name hidden on request):

“Can u plz tell me that is it right that for some reason we tell a lie just for improvement in devotion to Krishna? I told lie to my many friends bcz they are all depended on me.. they always asked the importance of their in my life.. they are always msgs me all the time for any reason, no doubt they are also devotees, but they are not talking about Krishna most of the time.. nd bcz of all these, most of my time was wasted.. that is why i told them that my sim card is now blocked.. i said this bcz i want to spend my most of the time in devotion.. . Am i doing right to telling a lie to my friends..?

REPLY:

Though it is a standard advice to avoid lies, in some cases, telling lies for a Good Cause can be allowed.

But, you should have the maturity and intelligence to decide which is a harmless lie and which is harmful.

Some times, harmful lies too may seem like harmless lies.

So, this must be dealt very carefully without adding karma.

(IF A PERSON HAS THE KARMA (FATE) OF INTER CASTE MARRIAGE, HOW CAN HE AVOID IT? READ HERE!)

Moreover, the relaxation can not be taken as an advantage.

In your case, you have told lie only to keep the unwanted persons away to practice devotional way of life still better.  So, this is not at all a lie.  This is a technique to keep the disturbing persons away. So, nothing to worry.

Let me give some examples of telling lies for a Good Cause:

HARMLESS AND KARMA-FREE LIES (THAT HELP OTHERS)

(1) If a lie can save another person from miseries, death, etc., you can lie. For example, if a person is trying for suicide in front of you for love failure, you may tell this lie to save him at that time: “Hey, I have spoken to that girl. She has agreed to reconsider her decision. So, wait for more time”

After thus stopping his suicide, immediately, you should take him to a counsellor and get him counselled well.  Since this lie is to save him from death, it is harmless.

(AVOIDING SUICIDE FOR LOVE FAILURES! CASE STUDY OF A GIRL! READ HERE!)

(2) If a lie can boost the morale of a person who looks ugly with more pimples, you can tell this lie: “Your pimples show your knowledge.  It is said that only the persons with great knowledge will have more pimples. So, these pimples are the certificates for your knowledge”

(3) I too have followed telling lies for Good Cause to my mother. My mother had a kind of excitement whenever any of our relatives had informed that they are visiting our house. My mother starts to be nervous even 2-3 days before their visit.

She would torture me “Hey, are the things sufficiently available in kitchen for cooking? Clean the toilet with cleaner well. Wash the entire home well. Keep the unwanted things away.”, like that.

I can not remain peaceful.  I would ask her: “Who is coming? Only my brother and his family is coming. Why should we decorate our house for them? If you go to his house, it will also be like ours only. So, please allow the house as it is naturally. We should not be artificial.  I will clean everything on Sundays only”

However, she was a very perfectionist lady. So, to shut her mouth, I and my brothers and sisters made a plan.  We should stop informing their visit to my mother in advance and we should inform her just minutes before their visit.

(Mother does not understand me and wants me to be like her. What to do? READ HERE!)

Thus, we started to hide the information of their visit thereafter. This worked out. My mother did not get tensed.  My brothers and sisters come to my home suddenly. If they come at 7 AM, I would tell about this to my mother only at 6.30 am.

Thus, such silly hidings or telling lies for a Good Cause are harmless since it does not make the people tensed.

(4) If your father needs an eye surgery for cataract and he refuses since it is very costly and he does not like to give you heavy expenditure, you can lie to him that the surgery costs just Rs.5000, not Rs.50,000 because the doctor is your school friend.  This will make him to readily come for surgery. Such harmless lies can be allowed.

(5) If a child losses his/ her mother in her age of 2 or 3, you can lie that the mother has gone to meet the god and she may come back after some months.  This will make her relieved. These are all innocent lies that do not add karma.

(What is the reason for some children’s violent behaviour during the adolescent age 13 or 14? READ HERE!)

(6) If a patient is to die in a few days and the doctor has personally informed you, this can be hidden from the patient because he may get upset. Let him be peaceful till he dies.

(7) A rishi was in meditation in his hut.  A cow rushed into his ashram as she was chased by a hunter.  The hunter came to the rishi and asked whether a cow came in?

The rishi thought that if he tells the truth, the hunter would kill that cow.  So, the rishi lied that he did not see a cow there.  So, he left and the cow was saved from death.

So, the lie of that rishi saved the life of cow that is a good lie (!!)

The above are a few examples for telling lies for a Good Cause.

(How to control the Mosquitoes, Cockroaches, Ants, Spiders, Lizards, Bed Bugs, termites, etc in our home? READ HERE!)

LIES THAT SHOULD BE AVOIDED (HARMFUL LIES)

Except the above kind of innocent lies that will do good for them, we must avoid all other lies.

(1) Changing the horoscope to get married earlier, if you had any dosha is a serious lie. Because, it invites an innocent person with no dosha to marry you.  So, be genuine in the horoscope.

(2) Hiding the previous marriage and marrying again. This will cause serious damage in future.

(3) If you encourage a girl or boy to hide a fact to the groom or bride to see her/ him married earlier, you are not doing good for her. Instead you are spoiling her life. If the bride or groom has any disease or physical or mental inabilities, it should not be hidden from the groom or bride. If hidden, it may affect her whole life.

(4) In general, the marriage life should start on the platform of truth. Telling lies about the family status, diseases, education, earning, way of life, etc, will seriously affect the life later.

(How to atone for the sin of the violation of the ethics of marriage life? READ HERE!)

(5) Telling lies in the interviews will seriously affect the career life.  In the year 1995, ie, during my initial stages of business, I myself have terminated one of my staff within 2 days of joining. She was selected by me seeing her past experience certificate and I fixed higher salary seeing her past salary. However, when I came to know that she had got that experience certificate with boosted salary from her relative’s firm even without working there, I immediately terminated her.

So, no lie in the case of jobs.

(6) No lies in insurance policies.  If you are a smoker and hide this fact while taking the insurance certificate, you may be denied the claims later if they found that you are / were a smoker.

(7) No lies in the marital relations.  If you had committed any sinful or offensive act innocently before marriage and then got reformed, you may hide them to the spouse.  But, if you are still continuing that till today, don’t marry at all. Don’t spoil the life of a person.

(8) No lies to the parents.  Because they believe you. Be frank to them. If they will scold you for a fact, tell that fact to them and get that scold.  It is good instead of telling lies.

(Is hiding the truths and past mistakes to others wrong? READ HERE!)

(9) No lies to the doctors or lawyers. Because it may lead to wrong treatment and wrong judgement.

(10) Do not lie to your spiritual master (Guru).  Because, he trusts you and accepts you as his disciple. So, ensure that you are following all the recommended rules before accepting a guru.

(11) Don’t go for silly lies. One of my known person was struggling for money in life. But, his neighbours were rich. So, he also showed himself like a rich person. However, when he had to borrow from his neighbours when his wife fell down in the bath room, they came to know about his real financial standing. So, lies may anytime be exposed.  Be truthful.

In general, if we tell a single lie, we have to keep them in our mind because we have to maintain the same lie everywhere. If we forget this at any place, we will be caught.

Therefore, it is always safe to be avoid lies except in a few harmless conditions like the ones mentioned in the beginning of this reply.

Harmless lies can be easily cleared within this birth through regular chanting itself.

Your every harmful lie is added in your karma account and you will have to face their reactions later in many births.

Hope you are clear about telling lies for a Good Cause.

(What to do if speaking truth is doubted by others? READ HERE!)