One night four college students stayed out late, partying and having a great time. They didn’t bother about the test that they had the next day and did not study. In the morning, they hatched a plan to get out of taking the test.

They covered themselves with dirt and grease and went to the Dean’s office. Once there, they said that they had been to a wedding the previous night and on the way back they got a flat tyre and had to push the car back to campus.

The dean listened to their tale of woe and thought. He offered them a retest three days later. They thanked him and accepted his offer.

When the test day arrived, they went to the Dean. The dean put them all in separate rooms for the test. They were fine with this since they had all studied well. Then they saw that the test had only two questions.

1) Your Name? _____________   (1 Point)

2) Which tire burst? __________ (99 Points)

Options — (a) Front Left (b) Front Right (c) Back Left (d) Back Right 

Teachings: 

A person may lie a) due to a hidden fear of what people might say or think about him or b) out of his greed to gain something or c) for his own selfish motives. Gradually lying becomes a habit. 

Take responsibility or you will learn your lesson. Always be responsible and make wise decisions.

“Anyone who does not feel sufficiently strong in memory should not meddle with lying.” — Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

Lying causes karmic bondage and a person has to suffer its consequences. 

Some of the consequences of lying are:

1) We lose the trust of people and subsequently we lose our value as a person.

2) If someone lies to us and we find out, we will be hurt. So, we should understand that by the same token, if we lie, it hurts others.

3) We may have to say more lies to cover up one lie.

4) When we lie, we feel a sense of guilt, uneasiness and dread of being caught.

5) When we lie for our selfish motives, the result is karmic bondage and subsequent suffering.

6) If we lie while our meritorious karma-s are unfolding, then we may not be caught, but we will have to suffer its consequences in future.  

7) As per the law of karma, lying is one of the causes of being born dumb.

“A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a liar.” — Mark Twain   

“If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. You may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” — Abraham Lincoln 

This is the punishment of a habitual liar — nobody believes him when he tells the truth.