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XXIV
TRUTH
Truth is expansive like the sky. It is the pure image of the Self. It is the vow which illumines the human heart like universal sunshine. Truth and non-violence are obverse and reverse of the same coin. Falsity is all dark like the last night of the first half-month. The word that imparts the holy message of gentility awakens amiability and symbolizes the right behaviour is truth. The word that does good to others and helps them spiritually is truth- 'Sat’ is that which perishes not. What perishes is not Sat. In the Gita Krsna says, "What is Asat does not take birth and what is Sat is simply indestructible. Sat existed in the past, exists now and shall exist in the future".
Umāsvāti says: "The substance that is characterized by production, continuance and destruction is Sat. Jainism says that all substances are both inert and conscious. As substance, they are eternal but as modes they undergo production and destruction. But what does not change with the changing modes is the substance. Truth never changes nor can it be
i any way. Truth has been used also in the sense of fact. A fact is the exact replica of what happens before your eyes. Lord Mahavira says that the only substantial thing in the world is truth. It is deeper than an ocean, more amiable than the moon and more luminous and impressive than the orb of the sun.
Speech is the mere manifestation of truth. Truth appears first in the mind, is expressed in words and becomes manifest in conduct, In the good souls there is no variance between thought, speech and action. It is only in the vicious and vile persons that you notices variance. It is duplicity. When the mind entertains vicious thoughts but couched in sweet words, it is but prevarication What appears true but is not, is like a poisonous fruit. Such people have been regarded as knaves. If a man promises to do a thing but does not, he is miles away form truth. King Hariscandra had sacrificed all for the sake of truth. Truth is not to be formally adored or talked about. It should be reflected in all that we do. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru said that he never saw or heard Dr. Rajendra Prasad telling a lie even though he spent his life in active politics. It shows that even in the thick of politics, one can be truthful if one only wills it. Man is alive so long as there is heat in the body without which it is a corpse which must be taken to the burial ground. Likewise, a life shorn of truth, is of no consequence. Untruth is like smoky clouds, which may gather thick but only to be scattered and thus not to rain. They cannot quench the thirst of the earth.
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