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