Satya (Truthfulness)

Let us continue our discussion of the five yamas. In the last article I talked about Ahimsa (non-violence). In this post, I would like to discuss the yama of Satya (truthfulness).

Defining Satya

Sage Vyasa defines Satya as "speech and mind conforming to reality as seen, inferred or heard". In this statement, "seen, inferred or heard" correspond to the three modes of right knowledge (pramana) as given in sutra 1.7. "Seen" corresponds to "pratyaksha" and thus includes information received through all the five senses – touch, smell, taste, sight and hearing. "Inferred" corresponds to "anumana" which is a combination of current perception through any of the five senses with previously stored information.  "heard" corresponds to the "agamas" or "scriptural testimony" or testimony from a highly trustworthy source.

Understanding Satya

As defined above, truthful speech must conform to the knowledge as received from the three sources of "pramana" without any negative influence from the ego or the lower mind. That means no personal judgment should be superimposed on the information being conveyed.

A quick example may help illustrate this point. Let us say I am sitting in a room facing a window talking to a friend whose back is to the window. We hear footsteps outside and my friend asks "who was that?". Through the window I had seen John walk by. Instead of simply saying that it was John, I superimpose my own judgment by adding "Oh! It was that wonderful John who is always ready to help others". This, according to the above definition of satya, would be considered untruth as the information presented was not a true replication of what was perceived through the senses.

Truth must convey reality as is or exactly as perceived through the senses. Even if the information presented is pulled from memory, it must reflect exactly what was in the memory, not superimposing any personal judgment.

Speech should not be deceptive, confused, equivocal, barren of a meaning, or hurtful. We all know how politicians make false promises in order to gain vote. Sometimes people use difficult words or words from a foreign language in order to impress the listener. Such statements are also deceptive and fall in the category of untruth. I picked up the following example from the internet – instead of saying, "People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones at others’ homes”, consider this, “Individuals who perforce are constrained to be domiciled in vitreous structures of patent frangibility should on no account employ petrous formations as projectiles"!

Here is an urban legend that conveys how pain is caused by telling untruth:

The basic story is that a family dog came trotting in into the yard carrying the neighbors’ dead rabbit in its mouth. The owners panic because they don’t want to have a bad relationship with the neighbors. They wash it, blow dry it and sneak over to the neighbor’s yard to put it back in the cage.

The neighbors are horrified when they discover the dead rabbit, not because it is dead, but because it died the day before and they had buried it.

The words that we speak can have a profound impact on the listener. It is therefore important that we choose our words carefully and express our thoughts truthfully. A person who always speaks the truth gains tremendous respect and is considered trustworthy. On the other hand, people shun a habitual liar. Not only that, hurtful words can leave mental and emotional scars that last a lifetime.  The famous story of the "boy who cried wolf" is a grim reminder of how telling lies can have detrimental impact both on the speaker as well as the listener.  Our scriptures also mention that we should avoid unpleasant truth or pleasant untruth.

A speaker of truth has a pure and clean consciousness with no feelings of remorse or guilt. A person who habitually lies always carries a heavy burden of guilt in his mind.

Practicing  Satya

As I mentioned in a previous post, Patanjali does not provide a definition of any of the yamas or niyamas. He, however, tells us what one can expect to achieve when fully established in a particular yama. For Satya, he provides the following statement:

सत्यप्रतिष्ठायां क्रियाफलाश्रयत्वम्॥३६॥

satyapratiShThaayaaM kriyaaphalaashrayatvam

"When Truthfulness Is Achieved The Words (Of The Yogin) Acquire The Power Of Making Them Fruitful."

I can’t say that I fully understand the meaning or the significance of this statement by Patanjali. One interpretation is that when a person is fully immersed in the value of Satya, both through speech and mind, his actions and fruits of action are both under his control. For example the person can shower blessings on someone that will bring about positive results for the other person.

Our scriptures are full of the virtues of Satya. A famous Buddhist statement is "satyam vada, dharmam chara" which means "always speak the truth and follow the path of dharma or righteousness". By violating the yama of Satya, we create stress for ourselves. As stated above, we can develop feelings of guilt or shame by telling a lie which ultimately leads to stress in the mind.