PEMDAS/ BODMAS and hierarchy to the principles. ( the story is a copy paste)

In Maths the children are taught the BODMAS / PEMDAS ...Brackets Of divisions, Multiplication, Additions & Subtraction or Parenthesis Multiplication, Division, Additions & Subtraction. These are simple rules to apply to complex long maths sums.

In teaching system giving a hierarchy to the principles of Honesty, Ahimsa et all can sometimes become tricky. Here is an interesting story

There once lived a great hermit, who was famous for telling the truth. He had taken a vow not to lie and was popularly known as “Mr. Truthful.” No matter what he said, everyone believed him because he had earned a great reputation in the community where he lived and did his spiritual practices.

One evening, a robber was chasing a merchant to rob and kill him. The merchant was running for his life. To escape from the robber, the merchant ran towards the forest where the hermit lived outside the village.

The robber came to the hermit’s cottage and paid his respects. The robber knew that the hermit would tell only the truth and could be trusted, so he asked him whether he had seen somebody running away. The hermit knew that the robber must be looking for somebody to rob and kill, so he faced a big problem. If he told the truth, the merchant would certainly be killed. If he lied, he would incur the sin of lying and lose his reputation. Any immoral act that may harm others is called sin. Ahimsā (non violence) and truthfulness are two most important teachings of all religions that we must follow. If we have to choose between these two, which one should we choose? This is a very difficult choice.

The merchant felt very safe because there was no way the robber could find out where he was hiding in the jungle. But the hermit had seen the direction in which the merchant went.

Because of his habit of telling the truth, the hermit said: “Yes, I saw someone going that way.” So the robber was able to find the merchant and kill him. The hermit could have saved a life by hiding the truth, but he did not think very carefully and made a wrong decision.

The purposeof this story was to teach that sometimes we have to choose between a rock and a hard place. Lord Krishna told Arjuna that the hermit shared with the robber the sin of killing a life. The robber could not have found the merchant if the hermit had not told the truth. So when two noble principles conflict with each other, we have to know which one is the higher principle. Ahimsa has the highest priority, so the hermit should have lied in this situation to save a life. One may not tell a truth that harms a person in any way. It isn’t easy to apply Dharma (or righteousness) to real life situations because what is Dharma and what is Adharma (or unrighteousness) can sometimes be very difficult to decide. In such a situation, expert advice should be sought.

Here is another example of a robber coming to a village to rob and kill the villagers. In this situation, killing the robber would be an act of nonviolence because killing one person may save many lives. Lord Krishna Himself, on several occasions, had to make such decisions to win the war of Mahābhārata and put an end to all the evil-doers.

Remember, do not tell a lie, and do not kill any living being or hurt anybody, but saving a life comes first.