Antidote to Corruption

The big C of corruption can be countered by five more Cs!

The first is the sense of ‘connectedness’. A lack of connectedness or sense of belonging breeds corruption in society. That is why, often you see people looking for connections in order
to avoid corruption! A sense of belonging among people can root out corruption.
That is why corruption is lowest at the village level. Corruption is much more in urban
areas because there is no community sense there — no belonging.


The second C is ‘courage’. A lack of self-esteem or confidence in one’s own ability
is one of the causes of corruption. It is fear, or insecurity in a person that makes him
become more corrupt. He then tries to find his security only through money, which
doesn’t really happen. The more money he acquires, the insecurity doesn’t disappear.
In fact, he becomes more afraid and more fearful because the money is not earned in
a right manner.


The third is an understanding of ‘cosmology’ - looking at one’s own life in the context
of extended space and time. Just take a look at our own life. How long is it? Only 80-
100 years! See life in the context of the huge dimension of time. Billions of years
have passed since the creation. Our creation, as scientists say, is 50 billion years old.
And everything in this creation is recycled. The air we breathe is old, every cell in
our body, every atom is old, the oxygen and hydrogen is old! And this will continue.
Seeing life from a different perspective of space and time is what will deepen one’s
vision about one’s life.


The fourth C is ‘care’ and ‘compassion’. Care and compassion in society can bring
dedication. It is the lack of dedication that causes corruption. The sense of care and
feeling that it doesn’t matter even if I don’t have; somebody needs this more. That
care and compassion can root out corruption.


The last one I would like to emphasise is a sense of ‘commitment’ — commitment to
contribution. When a person has a goal, a commitment to a higher cause in life, it
brings a shift from gaining to giving. In society, if everyone keeps thinking, ‘What
can I gain?’ rather than ‘What can I contribute’, then corruption cannot be rooted out.
In society, we need to have this shift in our attitude, from ‘What can I gain?’ to ‘What
can I contribute?’


But all this is not possible without spiritual upliftment and a sense of belonging
with the whole world. Today the globe has become a village. We have globalized
everything other than wisdom. And that is one of the causes of terrorism and unrest
in the world today. We accept food from every part of the world, we accept music
from every part of the world, but when it comes to wisdom, people seem to shy away.
A sense of belonging with the whole world is what we are talking about today.
Even if one pocket in the world remains ignorant of these shared values, the world
will not be a safe place. So we need to address these issues with a lot of patience. It
is not a job that can be done overnight, but through education and creating that sense
of community, through inspiration and example.




This Article was written by Guruji HIS HOLINESS SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR
and is entitled "Antidote to Corruption"




Loads of Love,
Ravi