What are Truth and Honesty?
Truth means describing something exactly as we saw it, heard it or sensed
it in some other way to others. Hindu scriptures say the following about
truth:
Where there is truth, there is Dharma; where there is Dharma, there is
light; and where there is light, there is happiness. Conversely, where
there is falsehood, there is Adharma; where there is Adharma, there is
darkness; and where there is darkness, there is sorrow.[1]
There are four austerities of speech. They are:[2]
To keep quiet instead of speaking nonsense
To speak the truth
To speak endearing words
To speak that which is in conformity with Dharma
Honest means behaving with others in a truthful and straightforward way,
not manipulating others or playing with their emotions and not cheating
them in financial transactions. Truth and honesty are very basic human
virtues and he who does not have them is not considered a good human being,
not a good friend material or a good companion or spouse. No one trusts
someone who does not speak the truth, as is illustrated in the fable of
Aesop given below.
Story (Aesop's Fable): The Boy who Cried Wolf There was a shepherd boy who
looked after his village sheep. He took them to the land on which grass
grew, so that the sheep could eat. One day, as the sheep were eating grass,
the boy felt bored. So he played a trick. He started yelling, "Wolf, wolf!
A wolf has come from the forest and is killing the sheep." When the
villagers heard him, they rushed with sticks and knives but found no wolf.
The realized that the boy had lied.
The shepherd boy did the same joke on some other days. Every time the
villagers came, they saw that there was no wolf attacking the sheep. They
were angry at the boy for wasting their time. After the boy did this trick
a few times, the villagers stopped believing in him. One day, a wolf
actually did come and started eating the sheep. Once again, the boy cried,
"Wolf, wolf." But the villagers thought that he was lying. No one came to
drive the wolf away. The wolf killed all the sheep! The story shows that no
one believes a liar even if he speaks the truth.
Truth is the Strength of One's Character : Integrity
A person who is honest and speaks the truth even when there is a danger to
his life, health, and wealth etc., is said to be one of a very strong
character or in other words, he has moral integrity. In the Hindu
tradition, we revere the life of King Harishchandra[3] because he was
willing to forgo everything for the sake of truth and keeping his word.
Another story is that of Satyakāma, who risked being refused admission to
the elite school of Ṛṣi Gautama if he spoke the truth. And the third story
is of a judge in the court of a Hindu King who chose poverty and oblivion
over dishonesty and riches.
Story: Harishchandra, the Truthful King Several thousand years ago, the
city of Ayodhya was ruled by King Harishchandra. He was a very good king
who took great care of everyone in his kingdom. He was famous for being
truthful and fair. He was married to Queen Chandramatī. Together, they had
a son named Rohitāshva.[4] One day, Ṛṣi Vishvāmitra decided to test
Harishchandra. By his powers of Yoga, Vishvamitra changed his form to
become a wild pig. This pig played havoc in Ayodhya. Everyone was fed up of
the pig. Harishchandra decided to get rid of the pig himself. He started
chasing the pig out of the city and entered a jungle. As he was chasing the
pig in the forest, Harishchandra lost his way. The pig disappeared.
In fact, the pig had changed itself into a Brāhmana. When the king saw the
Brāhmana, he bowed out of respect. He did not recognize the fact that it
was the Ṛṣi who had changed himself to a pig and then to a Brāhmana. The
king asked the Brāhmana if he knew the way back to Ayodhya. The king
promised to give any gift to the Brāhmana if he could help him reach his
palace in Ayodhya. The Brāhmana agreed and asked the king to follow him,
till they reached Ayodhya.
There, in Ayodhya, the Brāhmana reminded the king of his promise. He now
changed himself to his true form of Vishvāmitra. Then he said, "I want you
to gift your entire kingdom to me." The king was shocked, but he had to
keep his promise. But the Brāhmana then put in one more condition, "What
you gave to me was only because you had given me a promise. I am a very
respected Ṛṣi. Therefore, I want you to give me some more donations too."
Now, Harishchandra was in a fix. He had already given away everything to
Vishvāmitra. So he requested, "Ṛṣi, please give me one month. I and my wife
will arrange some money and give the gift to you after that time."
Vishvāmitra agreed.
The king, his wife and their son now walked from Ayodhya to another city
named Varanasi. Harishchandra tried to find work for many, many days. But
no one offered him a job. One month was almost over and Harishchandra now
really got worried. Chandramatī felt sad to see her husband so upset. So
she said, "Why don't you sell me as a maid to someone else. With that
money, you can give the donation to Vishvāmitra."
Harishchandra was very surprised to hear this. But he had no choice. This
time, Vishvamitra took on another disguise and appeared in front of them.
He offered to buy Chandramatī and Rohitāshva for some money. Harishchandra
took all the money to Sage Vishvamitra's home and offered it as donation.
But Vishvamitra was not happy, "What! This is so little. I need more. By
the sunset today, you must get me some more money for donation." So,
Harishchandra started looking for another job.
Luckily, the owner of a cremation ground[5] offered him the job of a
doorkeeper. Harishchandra's duty was to collect money from the families who
brought in the dead for cremation. Meanwhile, while Rohitāshva was playing
on the banks of the Ganga river, a snake bit him and he died. Now
Chandramatī almost became mad with grief. She begged her master to let her
go so that she could at least take her dead son for a cremation. But the
master, who was actually Vishvamitra in disguise, said, "I have already
lost money because your son has died. I had paid money to get him, did I
not? Now I want you to work during the day. In the night, you can carry
your son's dead body and take him for cremation."
At night, Chandramatī carried her son's body to the cremation ground. Due
to darkness and because she was so sad, her voice and appearance had
changed. The doorkeeper, who was none other than her husband Harishchandra,
did not recognize her. He demanded a fee for the ticket before she could
enter the cremation ground. Chandramatī cried and said, "I do not have any
money. The only thing I have is this Mangalsutra. Take it, and let me go in
so that I can at least cremate my son." A mangalasutra is a necklace of
black beads and gold that is worn by all married Hindu women. When
Harishchandra saw the mangalsutra, he immediately realized that it was none
other than his wife. And it was none other than their son who had died!
Both of them wept a lot at their bad luck and at their condition.
But Harishchandra was so honest that he would not permit his own wife to
cremate their own son till she paid the fee for entering the cremation
ground. So the two made a deal, they said, "There is nothing more left in
our life. Our only son has died. We have no money. And there is no way we
can be happy. Let us cremate ourselves with our son's body." So
Harishchandra set up a pile of woods. On it, he placed Rohitāshva's body.
Then, he and his wife started to enter the fire. But as soon as they took a
step towards the fire, a miracle happened. Rohita came back to life, the
fire blew out. Devatās appeared in the sky and they saw Ṛṣi Vishvamitra
standing right next to them. The Ṛṣi said, "Dear King Harishchandra, I was
only testing your honesty. You had to suffer so much and yet, you tried
everything you could have done to give me my donation. You have kept your
word. You are a very great man. I have brought your son back to life."
Then, Ṛṣi Vishvamitra returned the kingdom to Harishchandra.
Now the king and queen returned to their palace in Ayodhya, where they
ruled with fairness for several years. And after their death, they were
both taken to heaven, because they had been so truthful in their entire
life. The story of King Harishchandra teaches us that once we give a
promise, we should keep it. We may have to suffer a lot to keep our
promise. But we should not break our word given to someone else.
The story of King Harishchandra has been very famous in India. Mahatma
Gandhi was inspired a lot by the honesty of this king. To honor him, the
very first movie made in India in the year 1913 was "Raja Harishchandra".
The movie was 40 minutes long. It was a black and white silent movie
because in those days, we did not have the technology to record the voice
of actors and play it along with the scenes in the movie! The film was made
by Dada Saheb Phalke and was a super hit. Today, India makes the largest
number of movies among all the countries of the world, but "Raja
Harishchandra" was the very first Indian movie.
Trick Question: What was the language in which the movie "Rājā
Harishchandra" was made?
Story: Satyakāma Jabāla, the truthful Student Once, a boy named Satyakāma
Jabāla wanted to study a lot. He heard that Ṛṣi Hāridrumata Gautama was a
very renowned scholar and that he was accepting new students. So he
approached Gautama with a request to take him in as a student too. In those
days, it was a custom for the teacher to ask about the family background of
their students because the students had to live all the time with others in
boarding schools. They would interact with each other throughout the day. A
single student from a bad family could spoil the atmosphere of the boarding
school. For this reason, famous teachers who ran the top-notch schools had
to make sure that all of their students were from good families and had
good values. Therefore, Gautama also asked Satyakāma, "What is your family
background and who are your mother and father?"
ow, Satyakāma had never seen his father. So he went to his mother to ask.
When he put the question to her, she trembled with fear, but told him
truthfully, "When I was young, I knew a lot of men. Therefore, I do not
know who your father was. My name is Jabāla. Therefore you are Satyakāma
Jabāla." Now Satyakāma felt ashamed of what he heard. He thought that if he
were to tell the truth to his teacher, he would be refused admission
outright. But he decided to speak the truth.
When he approached the teacher, he found all the other students in the
classroom studying. The teacher asked him, "Did you find out about your
family details?" Satyakāma Jabāla said, "Guruji, my mother Jabāla does not
know who my father was. Therefore, she said that I am Satyakama Jabāla."
When the students heard this, there was a hushed silence, because they were
all aghast. They were sure that Gautama would immediately turn him out of
the school.
But Gautama said, "This child did not hesitate to speak the truth. And
truth alone is the true mark of belonging to good family. And therefore, I
have no hesitation to say that Satyakāma's parents are both very noble
because he did not hesitate to speak the truth to me. I will surely accept
him as my student." And so, Satyakāma became a student of Gautama. In fact,
in the course of time, he became a great Rishi himself and compiled several
Vedic and other Hindu scriptures. The Jabāla Upaniṣad, a sacred scripture
of the Hindus named after him still exists and is highly respected to this
day.
Judge Rām Śāstri prefers poverty and oblivion over riches earned through
dishonesty. Rām Śāstri was the chief judge at the royal court of the
Peshwa,[6] who ruled a large empire in India. He lived a very simple and
frugal life, following the Hindu scriptural teachings that Brāhmanas must
not live lavishly. One day, his wife visited the Queen in her palace.
Seeing her soiled clothes, the Queen gifted her with expensive clothing and
jewelry. When Rām Śāstri saw his wife return home wearing her gifts in a
palanquin, he immediately shut the door on her, saying, "It looks like a
Queen has accidentally come to a poor Brāhmana's home." The wife understood
her husband's intent. She returned to the palace and changed back into her
old clothes.
his time, when she walked to her home, she found that Rām Śāstri had
already kept the door open for her to enter. When she arrived, he said to
her, "A Brāhmana's wife must also live very simply, otherwise we will lose
our real treasure, which is humility." Sometime later, the Peshwa died and
his son, a child, was murdered by his Uncle Raghoba. Rām Śāstri was asked
to adjudicate in the case and be the judge in the trial of Raghoba.
Raghoba and his wife were a very powerful couple in the Maratha Empire.
They offered riches to Rām Śāstri if he delivered a verdict declaring them
innocent. When Ram Śāstri did not agree, they threatened to have him
murdered. But he still did not budge and finally pronounced Raghoba guilty
of murder of his nephew. Due to political complications, Raghoba was spared
the sentence and was asked to be the next King. Rām Śāstri retired to his
native village. He preferred to live the rest of his life in isolation and
poverty than give up his principles of truth, honesty and simple living. A
more contemporary example is given below where a businessman actually
speaks the truth out of honesty to lose money.
Story: Business Owner returns extra Money back to his Insurance Company
Once, Gitā Press, a publisher of Hindu scriptures in N India, set up a
stall for sale of its books during the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar.
Unfortunately, a fire broke out in the area and the stall of the Gitā Press
also suffered a lot of damage. The shop caretaker filed a claim for Rs
14,000 which was the total insured amount of the books with the insurance
company and got a check for this amount soon from them.
A few days later, the owner of Gitā Press Jaydayal Goenka asked the shop
care-taker, "Did we sell any books before the fire broke out?" The
shopkeeper confirmed that half the books worth Rs 7000 had been sold and
the money collected had been safely deposited before the remaining books
got destroyed. Goenka was furious when he heard this and reprimanded his
employee, "If you had already sold books worth Rs 7000, then how dare you
file a claim for Rs 14,000? I want you to return the excess Rs 7000 to the
insurance company and ask them for forgiveness for this lapse."
Speaking a Lie by not speaking the Truth
Another type of lie is when we deliberately keep quiet when we should have
spoken the truth. We kept quiet because we were scared or because we think
that we will lose a lot of money or friends by speaking the truth. In
several lawsuits involving crimes like murder and robbery, the courts
request witnesses to come forward to either give evidence against or in
favor of the accused. Suppose you come to know that a man accused of murder
was not the actual culprit because you were present at the scene of the
crime and had seen the murderer actually, then it is your duty to step
forward and give your witness statement. But if you are scared that by
getting the accused released and by revealing the name of the true murderer
your own life will get endangered because the true murderer will get his
henchman to kill you if he finds out that you are going to reveal his name
to others, then you will not go to the court to give your testimony. As a
result of your silence, the falsely accused person might get convicted and
get hanged, although you saved your own life.
In such situations, it requires real courage and intelligence to act
correctly. You could request for police protection in return for your
eye-witness account or request anonymity in return for providing the
evidence the court needs. But if you just stay scared and do not try
anything at all, an innocent person will lose his life. This is an example
of silence that is equivalent to speaking a big lie.
Half Truths
Sometimes, we speak a half truth and a half lie. In the Mahābhārata, we
come across an incident where a person who always spoke the truth had to
speak a lie for the sake of Dharma. In the great war between the righteous
Pāndavas and the evil Kauravas, the Pāndavas were having a tough time
defeating Droṇa, who was fighting on behalf of the Kauravas. They knew that
Droṇa really loved Ashvatthāmā, his only son. So Kṛṣṇa asked Bhima to kill
the elephant Ashvatthāmā.
hen, he asked Yudhishthira to say the sentence, "Ashvatthāma, the elephant,
is dead." and told him that the words "the elephant," will be drowned out
by a loud sound. So when Yudhishthira was speaking this sentence, Kṛṣṇa
blew his conch shell exactly at the time of the words "the elephant." All
that Droṇa heard was, "Ashvatthāmā is dead." He was shocked to learn that
his son was dead. As he heard it from Yudhishthira, he had no reason to
disbelieve it. He lost all will to fight and another warrior Dhrishtadyumna
came up from behind and beheaded Droṇa.
Prior to this incident, Yudhishthira's chariot wheels always levitated a
little above the ground. But after he had spoken his first lie of his life,
the wheels came down to the ground with a thud. When he died, he had to
visit hell for a short time, to pay for this lie that he had spoken.
However, the punishment that he received for being a part of a lie that
caused Droṇa's death was very mild. The reason was that Yudhishthira was on
the side of Dharma and he had spoken the lie so that Dharma would win.
Instances where we should speak a Lie
However, there are instances where speaking a lie is not considered a bad
thing or where speaking a truth is bad whereas speaking a lie is good. Sage
Nārada said, "Speaking the truth is a good thing, but even better is
speaking that which promotes the welfare of others. In fact, I am of the
firm opinion that those words alone are truth which promote the welfare of
other living beings."[7]
Sharmishtha says to King Yayati, "Words said in a joke do not cause harm
even if they are lies. If one says a lie to his wife, during marriage, to
save one's life or to prevent the loss of all possessions, then these five
lies are not considered as evil/sin.[8]
Sharmishtha says to Yayati, "If some bear false witness to save another
man's life, then calling that witness a liar would be incorrect. But where
the witness utters a lie to save only his life and not that of another
person whose life also depends on his deposition, then the lying witness
will get destroyed by his falsehood.[9]
Bheeshma said, "If lying under oath frees you from captivity by evil
captors, then speak that lie. As much as possible, do not let wealth pass
into the hands of evil people because wealth gifted to them will recoil and
cause harm to the giver himself.[10]
Story: Sage Kaushika Goes to Hell for Speaking the Truth In the
Mahābhārata, Lord Krishna tells Arjuna a story illustrating how speaking a
harsh truth that causes harm to others is sinful. Lord Krishna describes a
Brahmana named Kaushika who took a vow of speaking truth at all the times.
He constructs a hut on the banks of Ganga and spends all his time praying
and practicing meditation. He never speaks a single lie and becomes famous
as a saint who always speaks the truth.
One day, a band of bandits came to his home, chasing a group of innocent
people who were trying to escape bandits and had passed by Kaushika's home.
The bandits say to Kaushika, "You never speak a lie. Therefore tell us in
which direction have the people we are chasing gone?" Kaushika knew that if
he spoke the truth, the bandits will find the innocent fleeing people and
they will rob and kill them. But he thought that he must speak truthfully
because he had taken a vow to speak the truth always. Therefore, upon being
asked as to whereabouts of these innocent people fleeing the bandits,
Kaushika tells the bandits which direction the people went. As a result the
bandits captured the innocent victims and killed them. Lord Krishna calls
this "truthful" Kaushika as a fool, as one ignorant of Dharma who misused
his vow of speaking truth always to cause harm to innocent people; and as a
result of speaking this "truth", Kaushika went to Hell. Krishna then
summarizes his teaching to Arjuna in the following verses:
speaking the truth always is indeed a great virtue. Indeed, nothing but
virtue is perhaps superior to speaking the truth. But the practical aspects
of speaking truth are very difficult to understand.[11]
Sometimes truth is protected by speaking the truth, sometimes by not
speaking it at all or sometimes even by speaking a lie. If a person is
losing everything, then it is better to speak a lie if that lie will save
that person from utter ruin.[12]
If speaking a truth will cause someone?s death or break someone?s marriage,
then it is better to say a lie. In such situations, speaking the truth is
equivalent to a lie, and speaking a lie is equivalent to speaking the
truth.[13]
Only a fool thinks that speaking a formal truth alone is Dharma at all
times. Instead, he alone is a knower of Dharma who speaks the truth only
after considering the situation (as stated in the above verses).[14]
If a false promise can get you freedom from kidnappers, then better say a
lie. It would be a greater evil to promise a ransom to kidnappers and then
pay the amount to them after freedom because wealth given to evil men
begets misery for the speaker of the truth himself. One must not therefore
hesitate to speak a lie if it promotes Dharma.[15]
Story: Double-Crossing Brothers Save the Dharma of Hindus Another example
where it was OK to be dishonest and speak a lie is from Indian history in
the life of brothers Harihara and Bukka:
In the 14th cent. CE, Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the Muslim Sultan of Delhi,
invaded south India, he smashed several temples replacing them with
mosques, massacred Hindus and did several other atrocities against Hindus.
In one of these campaigns, he captured the fort of Kumata, the chief
Ramanatha died in the battle and all the ladies committed Jauhar[16] and
all the residents of the fort, including Harihara and Bukka were captured,
taken to Delhi and converted to Islam.
The Hindus remaining in that region soon rose in rebellion. This adverse
turn of events in that area forced Tughlaq to depend on the two converted
brothers, who had belonged the erstwhile nobility of that region. He made
them administer oaths of loyalty and sent them South to curb the revolts
and rule the region under his name. However, when the brothers reached
their native region, an influential Hindu monk Swami Vidyāraṇya inspired
them to return to their ancestral faith. Further, there was an uprising of
Hindus in the region and Harihara and Bukka attained the role of leaders of
Hindus and established Hindu rule there, guided by the Swami and his
scholarly brothers Sayana and Mayana.
The two brothers established the glorious Hindu Vijayanagara Empire in the
region that lasted for over two centuries. This period led to a revival of
Hindu Dharma in South India and prevented it from getting destroyed. While
the empire lasted, dozens of Hindu scholars and saints arose in the region
and they wrote thousands of explanations on Hindu scriptures, devotional
hymns to Hindu Devatas and several temples were constructed across the
region. These contributions of the Hindu Empire continue to influence
Hindus to the present day. In short, this act of "double-crossing" of the
fanatical Sultan by the two brothers who were converted to Islam by force,
saved our Dharma in South India.
Difference between a Bitter Truth and an Evil-Intentioned Truth
A bitter truth is one which hurts the listener but has been said for his
benefit. E.g., during a parent-teacher meeting or conference, the teacher
has to tell the truth about your bad grades to your parents. Although this
news causes them pain, they need to know it so that they can work with you
at home to work harder on your studies. The teacher's intention in giving
the bad news to your parents is good, because she wants you to study better
and improve your grades.
On the contrary, an evil-intentioned truth involves speaking the truth with
the intent of hurting the listener. Such people are described very aptly in
this Sanskrit proverb:
"A wicked man feels elated when he has hurts others with his unkind words.
On the contrary, a good man repents immediately even if he makes an unkind
remark out of carelessness."[17]
It is very common to find people who will flatter us with lies, caring only
that they stay in our good books all the time. These selfish people fear
that speaking the bitter truth that annoys us initially will invite our
anger and displeasure towards them. They do not care that speaking the
bitter truth will benefit us in the long run. A well-wisher and a genuine
friend on the other hand will always speak that bitter truth to us because
he wants our welfare and is not too worried about how we will react his
words spoken to us.
Likewise, as a listener, it is also our duty to hear the bitter truth and
react to it in a positive way by learning from it and improving ourself
instead of getting angry at the speaker. Sant Kabir has said very
eloquently, "Keep your critic close to you in a home in your own courtyard.
The critic purifies and cleans our character without using any soap or
water."
Story: King Bhoja requests his fearless critic to become his teacher This
story is taken from the source: Bhojaprabandha. Rājā Bhoja, who ruled
central India in the 11th cent. CE was renowned for his generosity and
patronage to scholars and poets. But in his initial years, he was a miserly
King. One morning, he was touring his capital. A Brahmana crossed his way
and then suddenly turned his face away.
Rājā Bhoja was perplexed, because the Brahmana had insulted him by not
greeting his own King. He asked the Brahmana as to why he had the look of
disgust when he saw his King. The Brahmana replied, "Your majesty, wealth
and joys of this world are all temporary and they do not last forever. It
is only our good acts of Dharma that accompany us when we die. Giving
charity brings glory to Kings that last beyond their lives. Unfortunately,
you are a miser and it is bad luck to see the face of a miser in the
morning. That the reason why I had turned my face away from you."
The King was impressed with the Brahmana's response. He thought, "It is not
difficult for a King to be surrounded by flatterers. But this Brahmana is
brave and truthful." He asked the Brahmana to come to the court every day
to give a sermon. From that day onwards, Rājā Bhoja became a great patron
of scholars and poets.
Truth and Responsibility
Truth is defined as speech that is free from hurt and falsehood and which
is also consistent with the facts. But, it is not sufficient that our
intentions are good when we speak the truth. In addition to good intention,
we should also make sure that we ascertain our facts. For example, a
traveler who is lost asks us for directions to reach his friend's home. We
give him the directions believing them to be correct, even though they are
not. As a result, the traveler gets lost. Although our intentions were good
and we thought that we gave the correct directions, we did not make sure
that we really knew the correct path. Because of our carelessness, the
traveler got lost. This example shows that we have a responsibility to make
sure that our facts are also correct.
Truth and Sensitivity: Joke with Care
Sometimes it is not our intention to hurt the other person. But we say
something that is true and hurts the listener, even though we had not
wanted to hurt him. Therefore, we should be sensitive to how the other
person will react to our statements.
Sometimes, we say innocent lies to others to joke and have a little fun.
E.g., saying to a friend, "Look, there is an ugly sticker pasted on your
backside", when there is none, it is an innocent lie that startles your
friend and allows everyone to have some fun. There is nothing wrong in
doing so, especially if we joke with our friends. However, when we are
joking, we should be sensitive of how others feel. If we keep joking with
the same person all the time, it becomes teasing, harassment and bullying.
Also, some people might be very sensitive about certain things and we
should not joke to them about that because they might take things
seriously. E.g., joking to elderly parents by saying, "You don't expect me
to take care of your medical bills, do you?" is a poor joke even if you
intend to pay their bills because your parents can take it to their heart
that they are dependent on you for help in paying their bills.
Types of Truth and their Acceptability
>From the above discussion, it is clear that speaking the truth is not as
straightforward as it appears to be. Sometimes, we have to speak a lie,
sometimes we should just keep quiet, sometimes we must speak a bitter truth
and so on. The table below gives the summary of guidelines that we should
follow to decide whether we should speak the truth or not in a given
situation:
Type of Truth Example Acceptability
Factually correct and meant to cause happiness "Bhagavān is our
Creator, Provider and he wants us to speak the truth." Acceptable
Factually a lie, but intended to cause happiness. A physician does not want
to tell his patient that he has a dreadful cancer because telling the truth
to the patient will cause him a lot of pain and reduce the chances of his
recovery. Therefore, the physician tells the patient that his cancer is
very mild and will go away with simple treatment. Acceptable. In colloquial
English, this lie is called a "white lie".
Factually correct but meant to cause pain and sorrow. My cousin invites me
to see her new house. When I come to see the house, I tell her that I don't
like it and that it wasn't worth the amount that she paid for it. Or
telling on your sibling with the devious intention of getting him or her
scolded by your parents. Unacceptable
Factually incorrect and meant to cause pain and sorrow Ram knew that
Sohan was blind. When Sohan tripped and fell, Ram pretended that he did not
know of Sohan's blindness and shouted, "You idiot, can't you see with your
two eyes?" Unacceptable
Some practical expressions of being truthful and honest
In our day to day life, here are some of the qualities we can show to
demonstrate that we are truthful and honest:
Reliability: A reliable person is consistently trustworthy, truthful and
helpful. He can be depended upon for help and assistance at any time. A
dishonest / non-truthful person can never be reliable. A reliable friend,
for example, will always step forward to help out his friend in need.
Sincerity: Sincerity means being truthful in mind, word and deed and not
make statements in which one does not believe in. For example, a person who
is sincere about honesty will not praise bribery in front of corrupt people
just to please them and make friends with them.
Consistency: This means that we practice good behavior day after day and
not erratically. A consistent student is truthful to his duty of studying
diligently and maintains good grades throughout his academic year.
Integrity: Integrity means sticking to one's moral and spiritual values
even if there is pressure to deviate from them and compromise with them.
For example, an honest person with integrity or sense of character will not
pocket a wallet found on the street even if it has a million dollars in it.
Truth, Profit and Divine Protection
Several people believe that being truthful and honest is foolish because a
person practicing these virtues always comes to ruin. But Hindu Dharma and
all other religions teach that Bhagavān Himself takes care of individuals
who are truthful, honest and are devoted to Him. The following story of a
saint illustrates this principle.
Story: How Bhagavān protected Sant Wadhuram from being cheated Sant
Wadhuram[18] was a humble grocer in the town of Bhiria in the Nawabshah
district of Sindh. He had sacks of grains and other eatables in his shop
and a wooden measuring bowl to weigh out exact quantities of the foodstuff
for his customers. He collected all the money received in a clay pot kept
next to him. His business strategy was very clear and open. He told the
customers, "I will sell 16 measures of the bowl for Re. one and add one
anna as profit. You can measure the sixteen measures yourself and place one
Rupee and one anna in my clay pot." Sometimes, the customers would ask,
"What if we cheat you and measure 17 or 18 wooden bowls but put only one
Rupee in the pot?" Wadhuram would smile and say, "My Thakur[19] is sitting
next to me and He will take care of it."
One day, a dishonest customer paid Rs. 2 plus the anna for profit to
Wadhuram but took 36 measures of grain while Wadhuram was looking away. But
as soon as that customer reached home, he had a severe attack of colic
which no medicine was able to cure. The customer felt very guilty and
returned to the shop to confess his guilt and seek forgiveness. Wadhuram
forgave him and asked him to be honest in the future. The news of this
incident spread like wild-fire and the town folk started addressing
Wadhuram as Bhagat[20] Wadhuram.
At another time, a customer came to buy patāshas and paid with two silver
rupee coins. When he reached home, he discovered that the coins had
accidentally fallen into the packet of the patāshas or in other words, he
had not paid Wadhuram anything for the patāshas. In those days, Rs. 2 was a
large sum of money. The customer gloated to his wife how he got the
patāshas for free. She asked him to be honest and return to Wadhuram's shop
to pay the amount, but he would not listen. Soon thereafter, his eyesight
began to fail. The customer took this as a punishment for cheating a
saintly shopkeeper. He went to Wadhuram, confessed and apologized and paid
the amount owed.
Wadhuram asked him to practice honesty and truth in the future but said,
"Since the two coins fell into your bag of patāshas, they added to their
weight. Therefore, you got less patāshas than you should have. Let me weigh
out some more patāshas equal in weight to the two silver Rupee coins so
that I can give you what I owe to you now." Then, Wadhuram weight the
patāshas and gave them to the customer, who was astonished at the Bhagat's
honesty and humility. {KANCHI MUTT}
Sources Swami Akhandanand Saraswati (1970), p. 74
Mahābhārata 12.329.13
Mahābhārata 1.82.16
Mahābhārata 1.82.17
Mahābhārata 12.109.16-17
Mahābhārata 8.49.27
Mahābhārata 8.49.28
Mahābhārata 8.49.29
Mahābhārata 8.49.30
Mahābhārata 8.49.54-55
K RAJARAM IRS 8426
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