Jain Digest 2004 01 Vol 23 No 1

SR No.: 527091
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA
Publication Year: 2004
Total Pages: 48
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, USA_Jain Digest, & USA
File Size: 9 MB

Page 27

SATYA (cont.)
have saved his life as well as that of the bird, if he had fabricated some story acceptable to the goldsmith. That would however amount to telling a lie which the Muni could not do. He therefore decided to sacrifice his lifel for saving the life of the bird. Some persons may perhaps think this as violence to oneself. But implication of the term applies to the violence caused to others not to oneself. Sacrificing one's own life willingly for saving others is not violence.
In addition to being beneficial, truth has to be nice so as to render it palatable. We come across many cases when people expressing some truth, present it bluntly and some times bitterly. They seem to be thinking that bitterness is inevitable for stating truth. They have to realize that truth need not be unpleasant. It can be expressed sweetly and nicely. The approach should be Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram which means that what one speaks should be true, beneficial and nice. Prima facie, it may not seem easy to put this into practice. But if a person stays vigilant enough, it would not be hard to do so. The experience gained from that would show that the amount of patience and the sacrifice, if any, required for the purpose was worthwhile. Spiritual aspirants should particularly put this into practice. Every such person has to overcome the impatience and be prepared for the sacrifice required
in observance of truth.
The Pauränic story of the king Harishchandra describes how he faced all sorts of adversities and distress for keeping his word. That story has been considered an ideal for those who have regard for truth. Mahatma Gandhi was highly impressed by watching a dramatic version of that story in his childhood. That caught his imagination. He writes in his autobiography that he repeatedly played the drama in his mind and while visualizing the distress that Harishchandra faced, tears rolled from his eyes. His mind got hold of the idea that every one should be truthful. The importance that he attached to truth can be traced to that story.
But all of us cannot be Harishchandras. Sacrificing for the sake of truth is not easy and may be beyond the capacity of ordinary people. In our routine life, we happen to indulge in lies on many occasions. Sometimes we tend to conceal the truth for the sake of
our self interest as perceived by us. Sometimes we like to tell lie for securing some gain or for averting some loss. Such situations generally arise from our short sightedness. If we are enlightened enough, we can easily see that the so called self interests are not in our genuine interest. But we are unfortunately not immune from pursuing parochial gain and at times we resort to lies, even though that may be harmful to others.
Total observance of truth being rather difficult, Jainism lays down two levels for its observance. It lays down total observance of truth for monks and nuns. They have renounced the worldly life and are not after any material gain. They can therefore afford to make any sacrifice for the sake of truth. For the laymen, Jainism insists on refraining from making statements that would grossly hurt others.
The Jain tradition lays down that at least the following five types of statements that involve gross transgressions of this restraint should be avoided:- 1) Sudden utterance that would shock others, 2) Disclosure of the close secrets, 3) Divulgence of spousal secrets, 4) Wrong teaching and 5) Forgery. If any one happens to indulge in such transgressions, he should recall the same and beg for their
atonement.
But resorting to verbal truth in a way that does not harm any one, is only a small and rather superficial aspect of truth. In Jain terminology, we call it Vyavahär Satya or practical truth. Satya has however a deeper and subtler implication. The word Satya is derived from 'Sat' which means existence. As such, whatever exists is Satya. The science now conforms to the concept that nothing can be destroyed in entirity. But Jainism has been believing it since the very beginning. It lays down that whatever exists, continues to exist in one or other form and what we term as production or destruction, happens to be a transformation. Thus 'Sat' means everlasting existence. Understanding the nature of the everlasting substances and behaving in tune with that nature is therefore real Satya.
It has also to be remembered that Satya and Dharma (truth and religion) are not different from each other. It would be of interest to note that Jainism defines religion as Vatthu Sahävo Dhammo which literally means that nature of a thing is religion. In this context, Vatthu stands for everlasting substances that we know as Dravyas. Jainism lays down that there are six such Dravyas in all. Of these, we are mainly concerned with Jiva or soul. For all practical purposes therefore, Satya is soul, which is also known as Brahman, Ätmä, Chaitanya, consciousness etc.
To speak and to act in tune with the nature of the soul is therefore religion as well as truth. This is the supreme truth and is known as Paramärth Satya as distinguished from Vyavahär Satya. A truthful person has thus to be primarily concerned about the well being of his soul. If one has the right perspective, he can easily see that by resorting to lie, he may or may not hurt others, but he surely hurts his own soul by defiling it with the lie. Observance of truth or Satya is thus in one's own interest.
JAIN DIGEST⚫ Spring 2004/25