Thus Spake the Divine - Being Honest and Truthful (Sat yam)

Thus Spake the Divine

Being Honest and Truthful (Sat yam)

The first and foremost Dharma, as prescribed under our religion and which must be followed by all people, is Ahimsa. And, the second Dharma is being honest and truthful. What is being honest and truthful? If an individual’s thoughts and words are one and the same, he is said to be honest. If he thinks something and speaks something else, then he is not being truthful; he is being dishonest.

God has given the capability of speech to human beings only to speak out what one has in his heart. If we don’t synchronise our thoughts and words, then God will remove the speaking ability of man in his next birth and he may even take birth as an animal. Though people are expected to follow Ahimsa at all times, we have seen some exceptions and exemptions. You may think there should never be such exceptions when it comes to honesty. But there are some exceptions from honesty too. Let me explain.

There are people around us, including rogues, committing unrighteous acts. Seeing such people, one may automatically lose his wits and crib about the wrongs done by the rogue. In this case, the person is speaking out what he thinks about that rogue. But when the person does so, neither is there any benefit for him nor for the society. The rogue also does not stop committing his misdeeds. Such a kind of synchronisation of thoughts and words cannot be labelled as being honest. Just because a person speaks out all the wicked thoughts forming in his mind, does he become honest? Never!

Therefore, being honest is just not integration of thoughts and words. Honesty is creation of good thoughts expressed in good words from a good heart. It is one that brings good to people and shows kindness to them. Honesty by way of thought, action and words leads to good results for all living beings. It is not only that one must speak good things to others.

That good should be conveyed in kind words, which the other person gladly accepts. If somebody tells good things in a rude manner, nobody will believe that person. Good words that are fruitless do not amount to honesty.

The ancestral saying is that, “speak the truth; speak kind words; if you cannot speak truth with kindness, then don’t speak such truth. At the same time, even if they are palatable to ears, never tell any lies”.

Good and kind words will never come from a mind which is polluted with lust and hatred.

To summarise, characteristics for being honest and truthful are: thoughts and words must be one and the same; purity at heart; use of kind words; on the whole, something that purifies one’s own mind and does good to others. Being honest begets some indirect benefits too to a follower of Dharma. If one continues to speak only the truth, then, at the end, whatever he says will become truth. Such a person will never consciously tell any lie at all. However, if by mistake, or unconsciously, he speaks something that is not truth, that untruth can turn into a truth. Let me substantiate this with a story.

There was an ardent devotee of Goddess Abhirami by name Abhirami Pattar. He was always in trance, sunk in the exotic thoughts of Goddess, and blabbered what could be true or false. One person, who did not like Abhirami Pattar, made misleading remarks about him to the King Saraboji; that Abhirami Pattar was a drunkard disguised as a devotee. The King wanted to test the truth and went to Goddess Abhirami Temple. He saw Pattar in his usual trance and asked him, “What is today’s thithi? That day was New Moon Day (Amavasya).

Pattar, engrossed in the full moon-like face of Goddess, answered, “Today is full moon”. The King felt what others told about Pattar was true. So, he mocked Pattar saying that, “Oh! Let us see whether the moon has risen in the sky”. When the King looked up the sky, what he saw was full moon! Because Pattar was totally engrossed in absolute truth and he said something untrue by mistake, it turned out to be true! To make Pattar’s statement true, Goddess herself threw her earring to form the full moon in the sky!

That is how blessings and curses of sages and saints turn true in reality. This essentially happens because these people involved with divinity are absorbed in absolute truth. Whatever they say will happen as they say. This is the indirect benefit of being honest and truthful.

According to our Shastras, from the time we are in the womb of our mother and till the time we are in the crematorium, there are 40 Samskaras (Samskaras are a series of sacraments, sacrifices and rituals, which serve as rites of passage and mark the various stages of the entry of a human into a particular stage in life (Ashrama).

Along with Samskaras, if we adhere to the five Yamas viz. compassion, honesty, non-stealing, cleanliness, and repression of sensory organs, all our impurities will vanish and we will attain a state wherein we realise who we are, who God is and what the absolute truth is.

All these Codes of Dharma, Samskaras and Yamas are meant to be followed by all the people.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.