TRUTH
& UNTRUTH
TRUTH &
UNTRUTH
The Gnani Purush Dadashri
Unfolds The Nature Of Truth For All.
The
world seeks the truth and success follows truth. But the nature of truth needs to be
understood.
People become relentless in trying to prove and adhere to their truth. Do not insist on truth. If someone
questions your truth or opposes your truth then you should realize there is something wrong with your
truth. What is the nature of
truth? When is any truth
a truth? It is not enough that we just look at the truth. Exact truth should have four
components. It should be true
(satya), accepted by the others
(priya), beneficial to others (hita), and short in expression (mita). When all four of these components are
present then only it is called truth. If not, then the so-called truth becomes
an untruth.
Naked truth is unsuitable in worldly
dealings and should be avoided as it hurts others. Naked truth means to say the
truth as it is without the other three components above. This is an example of
naked truth. When you say to your
mother, 'You are my father's
wife.' Is it appropriate to
say that? It is true but she will be upset and therefore truth becomes an untruth.
Secondly truth that is spoken should be pleasant to
the one who hears it. Then only he or she will accept it. If words of truth hurt
the other person it becomes an untruth. Persistently hanging on to one’s truth turns
it into an untruth. It is not
truth when people are hanging on to its tail. Truth means that it should be acceptable and agreeable to
others.
If you say,
‘Hey, you blind man, come here?’ Would he like that? And if you ask him politely, ‘Sir, how did
you lose your eyes?’ Would he reply or not? Calling him a blind man is the kind
of truth will hurt him. This is just an example. So truth that is spoken will have to be
agreeable to the other party.
Truth that is not agreeable to
others cannot be considered a
truth. If you address an elderly lady, you should call her, ‘maaji’ (dear
mother - respectful way of addressing the elders). If you call her a ‘dosi’ (old
woman - derogative way of addressing the elders) she will not appreciate
it. Even though she may be
seventy-eight years old, she will not appreciate being called a 'dosi', because
she will feel insulted. So call her ‘maaji’ and she will be happy because it
sounds good and she will also serve you readily.
The third component of truth in spoken words is
that it must be beneficial to the other. This is very important and one needs to
exercise care here before expressing it, no matter how true one considers one’s
truth to be. What
good is it, if it is not beneficial to others? If the village pond becomes
filled with water, you tell a young child whom you want to stay away from
falling in, ‘There is a witch who lives near the pond, and she does a lot of bad
things…' you have uttered an untruth.
This untruth becomes a truth because it is beneficial to the
child.
There
are times when you may say something that is beneficial to the other and you
therefore utter the truth. If it lacks
the other components of being pleasant and acceptable to him or her, the truth will be rejected and
therefore it becomes untrue.
Therefore if it is not acceptable and pleasant to
the other person your truth becomes an untruth.
The
final and fourth component of truth that is uttered is that it must be short and
said in few words. Endless discourse and diatribe hanging on to your version of
your truth is wrong and becomes an untruth. It makes your truth
ugly.
Let us take an event where you have said your truth in a pleasant manner and it is accepted by the other person because it is beneficial to him or her. This person also tells you that he appreciates these words from you, by saying, ‘Thank you very much; I understand what you are telling me. I accept your viewpoint and advice and I have to go now to attend to other matters’. Then you tell him, ‘No, wait you can’t go. Hear all that I have to say. You must hear me out.' Then your truth has become an untruth. All your words go down the drain.
The Lord has defined this fourth component of truth and that is that it must be short and simple. Mita means that it should be within limits. It is not considered truth if it is not said in a few words. Otherwise the other person will find it cumbersome. Do not be like a radio when telling your truth. The Gnani Purush says that a radio is better because it can be shut off by the push of a button, whereas these living radios are difficult to turn off and they end up converting truths into untruths. Such words come through the medium of the ego and hence they become unacceptable, regardless of the nature of the truth expressed. It will be considered truth when it is within normality.
Mita means that only the amount of speech that pleases
the other person is spoken. If the other person feels that it is too much, then
it should be stopped.
Insistence on any truth makes it an
untruth. Speech is beyond truth and
untruth. If one chooses to make
it the truth he can and if he chooses to make it an untruth he can do that
too. Neither can be spoken with
obstinacy. It becomes poisonous if spoken with obstinacy. The writers of
scriptures say that the scriptures of
this world become untrue if there is insistence on their truth and they become
true when there is no insistence. If you insist that truth is truth, it will become an untruth.
Therefore discard all fight
about truth and untruth. People
quarrel and end up taking the matter to court. We on the other hand are not
sitting in court. The only thing we
have to look out for is that no one gets hurt. If by speaking the truth we hurt someone, then we do
not know how to talk.
Truth
in worldly life interactions has a new meaning. Truth means not to hurt a single
living being through your thoughts, speech and acts. That is the final truth.
This is the real truth.
Jai Sat Chit Anand
The Awareness of The
Eternal is Bliss
March 12,
2001
