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he is exposed and becomes a disgraceful and not worthy of belief in the society and his position becomes precarious. We all know the proverb that to tell lies is a painful thing and does not bring pleasure. The Jain Acharyas, who have studied minutely the various aspects of human mind have described the various ways of telling lies. When we study this, we will be surprised at the vast knowledge of the 'Ācāryas' in knowing the human mind. On knowing the bad side of the untruth, our minds tremble and automatically we will intend to come to the right path.
After seeing the bad result of telling lies, now we can try to see the effect of telling the Truth. The famous story of king 'Hariscandra', who tried his best to maintain his truthfullness, though he had not only to suffer a lot of misery but also had to sell his wife, son and himself. He proved that 'Truth is God, God is Truth'. The truthful person achieves his own welfare as well as the welfare of others and becomes worthy of belief and he is loved and almost worshipped by the people. Mahatma Gandhiji, who is rightly called the Farher of the Nation and who brought Independance to our Motherland, was an ardent follower of 'Truth' and 'Nonviolence'.
One should speak truth, but sometimes speaking truth may bring some danger in certain cases. That is why, we should try to speak truth, in such a way that it should not bring any violence, trouble and shock. That is why it is said 'Satyam brüyāt priyam brüyat' We can see a small example here. A Doctor examines a patient and finds that the patient is on the verge of breathing his last. Should the doctor, who understands this fact, tell the patient the naked truth that he would die within a short period ? If the doctor tells the truth, the patient might die on the spot. Under such circumstances, a doctor should treat the patient without telling lies to make money but at the same time with patience, he should give treatment to the patient leaving the patient to his own fate.
Another example-suppose a hunter is chasing a deer, when he is running after the deer, he looses the sight of the deer and asks a man about the deer. The man knows in which direction the deer has gone. In this case, what that man should do ? If he tells the truth, he will be responsible for the a death of the deer. If he tells the wrong direction, he will be responsible for having told a lie. Then what that man should do ? There are people who argue that there is no sin, if a lie is told to save a life. But by telling a lie there will be the flow of bad Karma in the soul. Under such circumstances, the only way left for an intelligent man is to keep mum, though he might get abuse from the hunter. There is a proverb in Kannada that 'A marriage should be performed even telling Ten lies". There is no harm to perform a marriage. But the marriage performed based on the falsehood, if it brings misery to the two souls, what is the benefit of such a marriage and who is responsible for this misery and sin? So. it is always better to tell the truth and even telling the truth should be with caution and should bring pleasure to other beings. The words of the person who speaks
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