In the very popular scripture Shree Ram Charit Manas there is a phrase which I actually find important for everyone to make it part of the life:
Parhit Saris Dharam nahi Bhai
Parpida Sam Nahi Adhamai
The first part means: There is no religion like helping others.
This means that it is the best and greatest religion to do good for others. Going to the temple or the church regularly does not make you religious. Not everyone who shows himself being religious is a religious person. You are religious when you have compassion in your heart for helping others, when you are wishing them well and are giving your effort to make this wish come true.
The second part means: There is no sin like hurting others.
It is the biggest sin to give pain to someone. I already wrote in my diary that I do not generally agree with the normal definition of sin which is mostly coined by the church or religion. But hurting someone, this I see as a sin.
There are two cases in which it is not like this. If you hurt someone unintentionally, if someone feels pain but you did not want to do this. Then it is very good to say sorry because you had no plan to hurt anyone. It will be honest to say sorry in this case.
The second case in which is it no sin is, when you can say with full honesty that you do not feel responsible for the other person's pain. Sometimes people blame you that you hurt them but you can say that you are really not responsible for that. That you did not do anything which could hurt someone. And if you do not feel any guilt or responsibility for their pain then there is no reason to say sorry.
But this phrase is saying if you hurt someone it is the biggest sin. When some people get angry they just want to harm and destroy and do not care about other people's feelings. Do not do that! If you are not in the position to do something good for someone, if you cannot be a well-wisher, then do not do something bad by hurting them. I feel that if we can just accept these two little things in our lives we will live so much happier: Do good for others, wish them well and do not hurt anyone. We can try to live in a way in which we don't hurt and cause pain. It should never be anybody's intention to hurt another person. Tomorrow I want to write something about forgiveness and about how important it is.
I define sin as: doing something unhealthy to the self or others.
Since every self is different, you cannot boil sin down to a list of do’s and do-not’s. Trying to define it further than that is too much and strays from what sin is into the realm of personal opinion and control.
Sometimes, is it okay to hurt others for their own good? I think so. For instance if you allow someone to harm themselves a little bit in order to learn a lesson (the way that children do, for example, you let them fall so they learn when to be careful) It would be too controlling to stop someone much of the time I think.
IT can sound complicated and like there is a lot to talk about when you do start talking about it. But in the end I think none of this actually matters. You don’t have to talk about sin or worry about defining it at all. As long as you love and you live your life in love then sin will take care of itself. When there is love, how could you be sinning? Don’t focus on what not to do in your life. Focus on loving. The rest is irrelevant.
I do not mind hurting other people’s feelings. I used to, and people got even more hurt when I did that
Don’t sin against others, but don’t sin against yourself! Be good to both!