Resist temptation

Of all creation, man alone is gifted with reason. Man has the power to think. With the help of this faculty, he can discriminate things. He can distinguish well from bad. His will is free. It is up to him to take a decision, after a careful thought.

Using this faculty of reason, you have to resist all temptations. Temptation is attraction to do evil. Now and then you will be tempted to do something bad. Sometimes it will be a very strong temptation. You may not be able to resist the temptation. The result is, you commit the wrong, and you are doomed. Greatness lies in fighting all temptation. Avoid doing evil or bad things. You can do so, if you will is strong. Therefore be strong willed; do not yield to the temptations. Do not become a sinner, yielding to the temptation.

Suppose; you are on the way going to school. You find a beautiful pen on the road side. There is no one else around. Moreover you need a pen. Naturally you are tempted to take it immediately. It is here that your conscience comes in. it amounts to steeling. Therefore, like a good boy, you have to resist the temptation and your way without touching the pen. It means that you have rightly exercised your faculty of reason. Instead, if you take it, you become a thief, a sinner too.

You are taking an examination. You do not know the answer to a question. If you do not answer it, you may fail in the examination. Your friend sitting at the other end of the desk is answering the same question. You have the opportunity of copying from your friend’s answer sheet. You are tempted to do it. But you know that copying is against the rules. If you are caught, you are likely to be debarred. So, there is a struggle with in you- to copy or not to copy, to yield or to resist the temptation? To be a good boy, you should fight the temptation and not resort to copying. You should not mind the consequence.

The same thing happened to Gandhi. When Gandhi was a school boy, the inspector of schools visited the school for inspection. He gave a spelling test to the boys. Of all the students, Gandhi alone spelt the word kettle wrongly. The teacher prompted him to copy from the neighbor pupil paper. But Gandhi did not. He remained honest and truthful. He was great.

You should grow into such an honest person like Karamchand Gandhi. You should learn no to give in to temptation. You should take temptations as touchstone of character. Temptations test your strength of character you must pass the test. If you pass, your character is established. God loves those who stand well against all temptations