________________
पुरुषार्थसिद्ध्युपाय
On falsehood
Firstly, as regards religion, falsehood directly produces impurity of the heart, perverts and deadens the finer instincts, converts the nobler emotion of love into that of hatred, and renders the ego unfit for the higher forms of unfoldment. It makes the intellect cloudy, and replaces the serenity of mind with worry and anxiety, thus directly robbing the ego of ānanda, or bliss, the acquisition and enjoyment of which is the sole aim and aspiration of the soul. The liar wants to be happy but does the very thing that gives birth to unhappiness! It is like pulling out the foundation to build the superstructure with. Spiritual progress is impossible without peace of mind and peace of mind cannot be had till the heart be purified; hence, lying is an immediate obstacle to the path of emancipation.
Secondly, as far as material prosperity is concerned, it is also easy to see that untruthfulness even here ultimately leads to ruin. We resort to falsehood to gain a cheap advantage by dishonest means. But dishonesty never flourishes in the long run, however much may be the immediate advantage to be gained thereby. If it were otherwise, all the thieves, and dacoits and forgers, in the world, would be millionaires in no time; but happily such is not the case. National prosperity is no exception to this rule.
The short-lived triumph which falsehood and dishonesty secure for their votary, in some instances, is too feeble a recompense for the life-long anguish and fear which inevitably follow in their wake. The liar cannot look an honest man in the face; his features bear the stamp of wretchedness and sin; he shuffles and cringes and loses his self-reliance. Prosperity in business is impossible with such qualifications as these and the health of the body, depending, as it does, on mental strength and purity, also suffers in consequence. This is not all; for those
67
