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WHY IS THE ROAD TO HELL PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS?
Ted Czukor (Srinathadas)
November 4, 2004

The name of the person who first said it, has been lost in the shadows of history. But the image has come vividly down to us – that there is a dimension of suffering and torment called hell, and that people go there if their earthly actions caused injury to others or offense to Divine law. Furthermore, the saying warns us that even the Motivation to do Good can lead us to hell - if we are not incredibly careful in the choices we make when we attempt it. 

That hardly seems fair, does it? Why should the road to hell be paved with our best motivations and aspirations? 

The answer is this: Right Intention, by itself, is not enough. We must also have a Right View of the situation, and Right Mindfulness of our place in relation to it; i.e., we must be sure that our intentions are not being poisoned by our egos. And then we must be very sure to exert Right Effort, because no honest goal was every reached through dishonest means. Often, this means engaging in Right Livelihood – for we cannot ethically advise people against a certain practice or product if we are promoters or users of that practice or product, ourselves. We must also use Right Concentration, to be sure that we employ only Right Speech when describing the situation to others - lest we fall into the hell-traps of slander, exaggeration, disrespect, and false accusations. If we attend to all these, we may at last perform Right Action. And if our action is right, our good intentions will bring good results. Even if we fail in our endeavor, at least we will not be on our way to perdition.

In other words, in order to ensure that our good intentions do not lead us to hell, we will be well advised to follow assiduously the Noble Eightfold Path that was laid down by Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha.

Now, don’t get your panties in a bunch. I did not say that you have to be a Buddhist. Nor did I say that only Buddhists could avoid going to hell. What I did say (if you have Right Mindfulness and Right View) was that following these precepts is a very good idea – no matter who you are or what your religious views may be! They can help you to be a much better whatever-it-is that you are.

Namaste.

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OM SHANTI, SHANTI, SHANTI
[Peace, Peace, Peace]