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SATYA, the Truth
Manubhai Doshi
Musavao Cha Logammi, Savvasahuhim Garibio l Avisaso Cha Bhuyanam, Tamha Mosam Vivajjae ll
Telling lies has been denounced by all the saints in the universe. Lies cause distrust among the people and should therefore be given up. Dashuaikalik Sutra
By truth we normally mean not telling lies. This is verbal truth which has its own importance. Let us examine its implications. While dealing with other people, if we happen to believe what a person tells us is true, we can rely upon his statement. In that case, we can afford to take action in light of what he has said. But, if we have doubts about what he says is true it causes us to distrust him. As stated in the afore mentioned quotation of the Dashvaikalik Sutra. In this case we have to find out the truth before coming to any decision. If people speak the truth, life would be easy and dealing with one another would be smooth. Speaking truth is therefore in everyone's interest.
The purpose of telling a lie is to hide the truth. The question arises about statements that are verbally true but, which purport to hide reality. For instance, it is possible to make an equivocal statement that enables the speaker to interpret in his way, while causing the listener to draw a completely different conclusion. Or, one may deliberately indulge in ambiguous words so as to keep others in the dark about the reality. In such cases, the speaker usually intends to hide the truth while making an apparently
correct statement.
This makes it hard for others to correctly understand the situation. In order to avoid this, truth must be unambiguous and unequivocal. With this in mind, Mahatma Gandhi has said that in the case of unclear statements, the meaning drawn by the listener should be considered - binding. If this rule were applied in every situation few would be attempted to indulge in ambiguity or equivocality.
Another aspect of truth is that it must be beneficial. The scriptures, while dealing with truth, frequently mention: Satyam Hitakaram Cha. This means that, what one speaks, should be true, as well as, beneficial.
The question arises, 'What should we do when we think that speaking the truth would not be beneficial?' This is a very pertinent question, because we do come across situations in which it may not be beneficial, appropriate or even advisable to speak truth. Do we have to state the truth even if it seems undesirable?
To answer to this question, let us examine an anecdote from the time of Lord Mahavir. One of his principal pupils was Muni Metarya, who is also known as Metarajmuni. One afternoon the Muni went to the house of a goldsmith for alms of food. At that time, the goldsmith was preparing barley shaped grains of gold for making some costly jewelry. Seeing the Muni at his door, he left his work and went inside to get some food. Meanwhile, the Muni noticed that the pet bird of the goldsmith came and swallowed the
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golden grains thinking they were real barley grains. As the goldsmith came out with the food, he saw that the grains of gold were missing. He therefore asked the Muni about the whereabouts of the precious grains.
It was a dilemma for Muni. Should he tell the truth, risking that the goldsmith would kill the bird to getting the grains of gold out of its stomach? The Muni would then be instrumental in causing the violence. He therefore decided to keep silent. The goldsmith asked him again and again, but the Muni would not reply. Since there was no reply the goldsmith concluded that the Muni was hiding the golden grains. He could not afford to lose the costly grains and therefore decided to use force to get back the grains.
As the normal force did not yield any result, the goldsmith decided to resort to extremely violent means. He brought a moist lace of leather and tied it tight around the Muni's head. Then he made the Muni to stand under the sun. As the lace began to dry by the sun's heat, it compressed the Muni's head. The compression went on as the lace got drier. Ultimately, the eyes of the Muni came out becuase of the extreme pressure.
Meanwhile, the bird could not digest the golden grains and they passed through his body. As the goldsmith saw this, he repented for his actions. However, it was too late because Muni's soul had already left the mortal body.
The question may arise what one should do under similar circumstances. Jainism expects us not to indulge or to be instrumental in any violence act by word, thought or action. If a person is spiritually oriented, he cannot speak anything that would result in violence to other beings. Metarya Muni could have saved his own life as well as that of the bird, if he had fabricated some story acceptable to the goldsmith. That would however amount to lieing which he could not do. He therefore decided to sacrifice his life for the life of the bird. Some people may think that this is violence to one own being. However, the implication of the word is to cause violence 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 palatable. We have experienced many cases when people, expressing truth, present it bluntly or bitterly. They seem to think 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: one's speach should be true, beneficial and nice. Prima facie, it may not seem easy to put this into practice. But if a person stays vigilant, it would not be very hard to do this. The experience gained from that would show that the amount of patiences and sacrifice required for the purpose is worthwhile. Spiritual aspirants should put this into practice.
The Pauranic story of King Harishchandra describes how he faced all sorts of adversities and distress for keeping his word. That story is considered an ideal for any one who has regard - for truth. Mahatma Gandhi was very impressed by watching a dramatic version of this story during childhood. It caught his imagination. He writes in his autobiography that he repeatedly played that drama in his mind and while visualizing the distress that Harishchandra faced, tears would rolled down from his eyes. His mind held on to the idea that everyone should be truthful. The
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