ONCE UPON a time, a good person was falsely implicated in a case. His lawyer advised him to produce a few witnesses to speak in his favour.

The man had three very good friends. But the one he considered closest had just a few words of sympathy. The second friend offered help by way of money but also refused to appear in court. Only the last friend gladly agreed to be a witness before the judge.

Just so, our property and wealth, which we often consider our biggest friend, cannot save us from old age and death. Our relatives, whom we want so much to rely on, will leave our mortal remains after our last rites are per formed. Who will bear witness to our solitary soul when it faces God, alone and trembling? Only our good deeds.

The Puranas tell us that Yama Dharamaraja keeps account (through Chitragupta!) of our karmic debit and credit to decide our next birth. When good deeds outnumber bad deeds only then do we merit human form, achieved after one lakh, eightysix ‘yonis’ or births. These figures are merely meant to emphasise the preciousness of human birth and how we should live up to it.

We can evaluate our deeds ourselves if we but spend five minutes at bedtime to consider how we spent our day. There are two questions to ask. One, did I do something that might have hurt another? Two, did I do something which might have made another’s life happier? As to which, a holy man told me that all human beings fall into three categories. Those who try to do good to others even if it means putting themselves to trouble, are ‘devata’. Next come those who do good to others only without loss or trouble yet desist from doing anything bad: “Mera bhi kalyan, tumaraha bhi kalyan.” Such persons are ‘manushya’. Those who actively harm others are ‘asura’.