Sanatan Dharma | 3. Satya (Truth) | Sri Vinod Babaji Maharaj

 

Satya means Truth. Truth has a deep meaning. That which is eternal; that which existed in the past, exists in the present and will exist in the future is called Truth. And, that which is not eternal but temporary is called False or Untruth. If one can discern what is Truth and establish oneself in Truth i.e., follow the Truth physically, mentally and verbally without wavering, then such a sadhak is called a Satyāshrayī (Satya=Truth, āshrayī= one who has taken shelter). Such a sadhak can progress in spirituality very quickly.

“Adbhir gātrāni shuddhyanti manah satyena shuddhyati,
Vidya-tapobhyām bhutātma buddhir gyānena shuddhyati.”
(Manu Smriti 5.109)

Meaning: The body is cleansed by water, the mind is cleansed by Truth, the Jivatma is purified by learning sacred texts and austerity, and the intellect is purified by True knowledge.

But if one doesn’t have a clear distinction between the Truth and the False, then any amount of bhajan will not be enough to achieve any spiritual experience. Yes, Harinaam will cleanse your heart slowly but it will take a lot of time because as long as the mind is attached to worldly matters, one can never immerse in contemplation of Harinaam or Radha Krishna.

One can advance in spirituality just by his dedication to Truth. The most basic form of dedication to Truth is to always speak truth. There are many people who take the vow of never uttering a false statement. This kind of vow is very powerful and cleanses the heart of the person very quickly.

Once, there was a thief. He was actually a very simple-hearted man but due to poverty, he used to indulge in robbery. It was his only means of making money to look after his family. One day, he came across a saint. It is the nature of true saints to bestow mercy upon the most sinful of people. The saint thought that if such a person could worship God, God will not only take care of his family but also give him an unimaginable amount of spiritual treasure.

Therefore, the saint asked the thief, “Son, will you do bhajan?”

The thief replied, “No, baba, my lifestyle is too erratic to do bhajan. You don’t know what kind of deeds I engage in.”

The saint still insisted on, saying, “Son, you don’t have to do anything else but only chant one mantra. You will be liberated from Maya just by chanting it.”

“No, no, mantras come along with a host of dos and don’ts. I cannot follow all that. I am a thief, robbing people is my job. I will not abandon it,” said the thief.

“Son, alright, you don’t even have to chant any mantra. But can you just promise me one thing? If you give me a promise, you will be liberated just by keeping your promise,” said the saint.

“Alright, I might make one promise to you, but I am telling you that I cannot leave my job of theft, whatever you say,” said the thief.

The saint said, “Alright, son, just make one promise to me that you will never utter an untruth.”

The thief thought for a moment but at last, he said, “Although it is a difficult one, still, I promise to you that I will never utter an untruth.”

The thief kept his word there on. The king of that place used to roam around in his kingdom in the dead of night in plain clothes. The night is the favourite time of sinful and dubious people to engage in their illegal affairs and the king wanted to know if there were any such affairs happening in his kingdom.

One night, the thief was going to rob someone. On the way, the king disguised as a villager met him. The king asked, “Who are you?”

The thief had promised to his Guru that he would not utter an untruth. So, he said, “I am a thief.”

The king was impressed by his truthfulness. He wanted to test the thief's dedication to truthfulness, that is why, he said, “Great! I am also a thief! Let’s go rob people together.”

The thief agreed. The king took him to the palace's secret back door and said, “Brother, you wait here while I check whether it is safe to go inside.” Saying so, he went inside and deliberately opened his Treasury's door. He placed five gold coins on the top of a box and came back to the thief after making sure that no door was locked en route to the Treasury. Then he told the thief how to reach the Treasury.

“But remember one thing, we will equally divide our loot between the two of us,” said the king.

“Of course! You have helped me. No doubt we will divide the loot equally between us,” said the thief. He went inside the palace and was surprised to see that he reached the Treasury so easily. He was very thankful to the knowledgeable “thief”.

The thief took only four gold coins and left one behind. When he came back to the king waiting outside the palace, he gave him two gold coins. “Well, well, you got nice loot here. How many gold coins were there?” the king asked.

“There were five gold coins. But I left one behind so that we have an even number of coins to divide equally between us. If I brought five coins, how could we divide them equally? It would be an injustice to you,” said the thief.

The king was very happy. He saw that he wasn’t greedy and staunchly dedicated to speaking only the truth, despite his poverty. He could have taken the extra gold coin and lied that there were only 4 coins but he spoke only the truth. A person who could abstain from taking one more gold coin for himself in order to fulfill his promise could be a great asset to the king. He hugged the thief and asked for his address so that they could go for theft together in future. Then they went back to their own homes.

The next day, the king sent his soldiers to bring the thief before him. The thief was astonished but there was no way out. So, he was taken to the royal court. He could not recognize the king in his royal outfit.

The king asked, “Who are you?” He told his name. Then the king asked, “What do you do?”

“Maharaj, I am a thief,” said the thief. The king was again surprised to see the truthfulness of the thief before a court full of ministers and himself.

He asked, “Where did you go to steal last night?”

“I am sorry, sir, but I went to steal in your royal treasury,” replied the thief.

“What did you steal?” the king asked.

“I found five gold coins there. I stole four,” he said.

“Why did you leave behind one gold coin?” the king asked.

“I promised another thief to divide the loot equally between us. I could not have done so if there were five coins. So, I took only four,”.

“Are you not afraid of being punished? Why didn’t you try to lie in front of me?” asked the king.

“Maharaj, my Guru has ordered me to never utter an untruth. I have promised Him so. That is why, I always speak the truth. You can give me death penalty or any punishment you like, but I will never utter an untruth,” said he with folded hands.

The king was really impressed. He declared the man as his Treasurer and asked him to leave his old ways since he didn’t have to worry about poverty anymore. The man gladly accepted the position and abandoned stealing. Thereafter, he not only served the king as a Treasurer with great honesty but also engaged in bhajan as he saw the enormous power of following the words of his Guru.

“Satyam bruyāt priyam bruyān na bruyāt Satyam apriyam,
Priyam cha na-anritam bruyad eśa Dharmah Sanātanah.”
(Manu Smriti 4.138)

Meaning: One must say what is true and pleasing. One must neither utter disagreeable truth nor pleasurable untruth. This is eternal Dharma.

But speaking truth is not the only form of dedication to Truth. The ultimate Truth of the whole Creation is God. It is the duty of every human being to seek and understand the truth of the Creator and His Creation.

“Satyam Param dhīmahi”
(Srimad Bhagavatam)

Meaning: I meditate upon the ultimate Truth.

The following are the forms of Truth governing this whole Creation:

• The material body is temporary; it didn’t exist in the past, neither will it exist in the future. It exists only in the present for a limited time.
• The Atma is part and parcel of God.
• This body is a temporary refuge for the Atma (pure soul) and it is not one’s identity.
• The people and things related to the body are not related to the Atma.
• There is only one true relationship and that is with God. All other relationships are false and temporary.
• The true nature of the Atma is divine (not made of five elements), eternal and blissful.
• The Atma is never stained by Maya (illusory power of God), the three modes of nature (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas) and bodily senses.

One who is experienced and firm in these Truths is established in Truth. All these statements are true for each and every living being in the world, regardless of which caste, sect, religion or ideology they belong to. One must accept this Truth.

We accept the body as our identity and get attached to all things and people that give pleasure to this body due to ignorance. And thereafter, we perform every action either to give pleasure to the body or to please the people with whom we are attached. We need money to do so, therefore, we are attached to money as well. We need land to live with our family, that is why we become attached to the land too. Likewise, the reason for everything we are ‘attached to’ can be traced back to the basic illusion of bodily identity and the desire to please the body.

When we accept the Truth that this body is not one’s true identity and the Atma is one’s true identity, then automatically, our attachments to people and things related to the body dissolve. This attachment to worldly things is the reason for one’s entrapment into the cycle of birth and death.

Just like a person who lives in foreign land without money, friends, supportive institutions or any kind of support suffers great misery, likewise the Jivatma, which is originally part and parcel of God, suffers in this illusory world due to his oblivion to Truth.

When Guru and saints bestow Their mercy, only then he can realize that he belongs to God and only God belongs to him. The relationship with God is eternal. As long as the Jivatma remains oblivious to this Truth, he has to suffer in this cycle of birth and death.