Editorial
“T
How to be Truthful?
he Atman is attained through truth… Truth alone wins, and not falsehood. By truth is laid the path called Devayana, by which the desireless seers ascend to where exists the supreme treasure attainable through truth,” — so declares the Mundaka Upanishad.
May 2021
What is this truth and how to practice it? This has to be understood at two levels — the absolute and the relative.
The Vedanta Kesari
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In the relative plane, i.e., in our daily life, truth is the act of holding on to the factual. Primarily this means to speak as we think, and to act as we speak in all our dealings and under all circumstances. This unity between thought, word and deed is called trikarana shuddhi. Terming it simply as mon mukh ek kora, ‘unifying thought and speech’, Sri Ramakrishna says that such “truthfulness in speech is the tapasya of the Kaliyuga” and “if a man clings tenaciously to truth, he ultimately realizes God.” He also warns that “without this regard for truth, one gradually loses everything.” Even as sincere sadhakas, we often painfully slip from truth. This is because we do not pay attention to other interconnected spiritual practices. Three such practices are — giving up cunningness, overcoming greed, and divinising the ego.
Sri Ramakrishna declares, “A hypocritical and calculating mind can never attain God.” Truly, without guilelessness we will not have firm faith in God, and without such faith we will not be able to be truthful at all times. Therefore, we have to strive for straightforwardness in all our relationships and dealings cutting out secretiveness and manipulative smartness.
Desires multiply with lightning speed and fulfilling them will willy-nilly suck us into falsehood. Hence, we have to struggle and overcome greed for physical pleasures, wealth, fame, etc. Finally, pride in our looks, wealth, honour, intelligence, and power deepens our ignorance, distorts our perception of life, makes us forget God and thus fall from truthfulness. To avoid this, Sri Ramakrishna advices us to cultivate the ‘ego of a devotee.’ He gives us the mantra, Ami yantra, tumi yantri, ‘I am the machine, and You are the Operator’ and describes how it works through the story of the weaver who sees “the will of Rama” in everything that happens in his life. Again, our self or individuality is normally limited to our body, mind, ego, and to people and things associated with us. This narrow identification is falsehood, because, in reality we are one with the whole universe. It is therefore that Swami Vivekananda tells us, “Expansion is life, contraction is death”, and Jesus Christ advises, “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” Hence, expanding our sense of self to embrace the world around us is the practice of truthfulness in the absolute sense.
To be established in this practice we should cultivate: a) unselfishness — to put first the needs of people around us; b) forgiveness — to accept the failings in others and not hold any grudges; c) love — to be unenvious and happy in the success of others; and d) spirit of service — to serve people around us in the spirit of Shiva Jnane Jiva Seva. If we struggle to be truthful, Sri Ramakrishna will hold our hand and lead us to the supreme treasure.
