The difficulty in being good

Dharma is suksma Gurcharan Das says, subtle. Even the most pious men and women who have devoted their lives to being good, kind and fair often fail. Not because it's impossible to meet those ideals, but because it's hard work to identify in any given situation what goodness is. There's great subtlety in the right course of actions one must take, even after ignoring the utilitarian concerns. Krishna would not have been a utilitarian, he would be more aligned with Kant's Categorical Imperative -- his definition of karma is a lot more complex and subtle (and perhaps more well-considered? We HAVE had ~1900 more centuries with that) than Kant's Imperatives.

Being good is hard work -- it requires constant self-examination and understanding of the subtleties of circumstances one finds themselves in. It's not to imply that being good is not worth it, but that goodness is EVEN more underappreciated quality in an individual than most people who appreciate it consider. Good people are not good because it's easy, they are good despite it being hard.

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