Satya Mohan Joshi

''Satya'' (Sanskrit: सत्य; IAST: ''satya)'' is a Sanskrit word loosely translated as truth, essence. A. A. Macdonell, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Asian Educational Services, , pp. 330–331 It also refers to a virtue in Indian religions, referring to being truthful in one's thought, speech and action. In Yoga, ''satya'' is one of five yamas, the virtuous restraint from falsehood and distortion of reality in one's expressions and actions.GR Garg, ''Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World'', Volume 3, , p. 733

Etymology and meaning

In the Vedas and later sutras, the meaning of the word satya () evolves into an ethical concept about truthfulness and is considered an important virtue.KN Tiwari (1998), ''Classical Indian Ethical Thought'', Motilal Banarsidass, , p. 87 It means being true and consistent with reality in one's thought, speech, and action.

Satya is said to have cognates in a number of diverse Indo-European languages, including the word "sooth" and "sin" in English, "istina" ("истина") in Russian, "sand" - truthful in Danish/"sann" in Swedish, and "haithya" in Avestan, the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism.

Sat

Sat ( sa, सत्) is the root of many Sanskrit words and concepts such as ''sattva'', "pure, truthful", and satya, "truth".
The Sanskrit root ''sat'' has several meanings or translations:.
# "absolute truth"
# "reality"
# "Brahman" (not to be confused with Brahmin)
# "unchangeable"
# "that which has no distortion"
# "that which is beyond distinctions of time, space, and person"
# "that which pervades the universe in all its constancy"

''Sat'' is a common prefix in ancient Indian literature and variously implies that which is good, true, genuine, virtuous, being, happening, real, existing, enduring, lasting, essential; for example, sat-sastra means true doctrine, sat-van means one devoted to the true. In ancient texts, fusion words based on ''Sat'', refer to "Universal Spirit, Universal Principle, Being, Soul of the World, Brahman".Aurobindo & Basu (2002), ''The Sadhana of Plotinus, Neoplatonism and Indian Philosophy'', State University of New York Press, , pp. 153–156

The negation of ''sat'' is asat, a combination word of ''a'' and ''sat''. ''Asat'' refers to the opposite of ''sat'', that is delusion, distorted, untrue, fleeting impression that is incorrect, invalid and false.Sir Monier Monier-Williams, ''A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. 1134–1139
The concepts of ''sat'' and ''asat'' are famously expressed in the Pavamana Mantra found in the (1.3.28),
:
:"lead me from delusion to truth; from darkness to light; from mortality to immortality"
''Sat'' is one of the three characteristics of Brahman as described in sat-chit-ananda. This association between ''sat'', 'truth', and Brahman, ultimate reality, is also expressed in Hindu cosmology, wherein Satyaloka, the highest heaven of Hindu cosmology, is the abode of Brahman.

Hinduism

Vedic literature

''Satya'' is a central theme in the Vedas. It is equated with and considered necessary to the concept Ṛta (Sanskrit ऋतं ṛtaṃ) – that which is properly joined, order, rule, nature, balance, harmony.Roderick Hindery (2004), Comparative Ethics in Hindu and Buddhist Traditions, Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. 51–55 Ṛta results from Satya in the Vedas, states Holdrege, as it regulates and enables the operation of the universe and everything within it. Satya (truth) is considered essential, and without it, the universe and reality falls apart, cannot function.Barbara Holdrege (2004), "Dharma", in: Mittal, S. & Thursby, G. (Eds.) ''The Hindu World'', Routledge. , p. 215

In Rigveda, opposed to ''rita'' and ''satya'' are ''anrita'' and ''asatya'' (falsehood). Truth and truthfulness is considered as a form of reverence for the divine, while falsehood a form of sin. ''Satya'' includes action and speech that is factual, real, true and reverent to ''Ṛta'' in Book 1, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 10 of Rigveda.Antonio T. de Nicolás (2003), ''Meditations Through the Rig Veda'', , pp. 162–164 However, ''Satya'' isn't merely about one's past that is in context in the Vedas, it has one's current and one's future contexts as well. De Nicolás states, that in Rigveda, "''Satya'' is the modality of acting in the world of ''Sat'', as the truth to be built, formed or established".

Upanishads

''Satya'' is a widely discussed concept in various Upanishads, including the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad where ''satya'' is called the means to Brahman, as well as Brahman (Being, true self). In hymn 1.4.14 of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, ''Satya'' (truth) is equated to Dharma (morality, ethics, law of righteousness), as

Taittiriya Upanishad's hymn 11.11 states, "Speak the Satya (truth), conduct yourself according to the Dharma (morality, ethics, law)".

Truth is sought, praised in the hymns of Upanishads, held as one that ultimately, always prevails. The Mundaka Upanishad, for example, states in Book 3, Chapter 1,E. Easwaran (2007), ''The Upanishads'', , p. 181

Sandilya Upanishad of Atharvanaveda, in Chapter 1, includes ten forbearances as virtues, in its exposition of Yoga. It defines Satya as "the speaking of the truth that conduces to the well being of creatures, through the actions of one's mind, speech or body."

Deussen states that ''Satya'' is described in the major Upanishads with two layers of meanings - one as empirical truth about reality, another as abstract truth about universal principle, being and the unchanging. Both these ideas are explained in early Upanishads, composed before 500 BC, by variously breaking the word ''satya'' or ''satyam'' into two or three syllables. In later Upanishads, the ideas evolve and transcend into ''satya'' as truth (or truthfulness), and Brahman as the Being, Be-ness, real Self, the eternal.

Epics

The ''Shanti Parva'' of the Mahabharata states, "The righteous hold that forgiveness, truth, sincerity and compassion are the foremost (of all virtues). Truth is the essence of the Vedas."

The Epic repeatedly emphasizes that ''Satya'' is a basic virtue, because everything and everyone depends on and relies on ''Satya''.

Yoga Sutras

In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, it is written, “When one is firmly established in speaking truth, the fruits of action become subservient to him."Patanjali, Sutra Number 2.36, Yoga Sutras 2.30–2.45; B. Ravikanth, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, , pp. 140–150 In Yoga sutra, ''Satya'' is one of the five yamas, or
virtuous restraints, along with ahimsa (restraint from violence or injury to any living being); asteya (restraint from stealing); brahmacharya (celibacy or restraint from sexually cheating on one's partner); and aparigraha (restraint from covetousness and craving). Patanjali considers ''satya'' as a restraint from falsehood in one's action (body), words (speech, writing), or feelings / thoughts (mind). In Patanjali's teachings, one may not always know the truth or the whole truth, but one knows if one is creating, sustaining or expressing falsehood, exaggeration, distortion, fabrication or deception. ''Satya'' is, in Patanjali's Yoga, the virtue of restraint from such falsehood, either through silence or through stating the truth without any form of distortion.

Jainism

Satya is one of the five vows prescribed in Jain Agamas. Satya was also preached by Mahavira. According to Jainism, not to lie or speak what is not commendable. The underlying cause of falsehood is passion and therefore, it is said to cause ''hiṃsā'' (injury).

According to the Jain text ''Sarvārthasiddhi'': "''that which causes pain and suffering to the living is not commendable, whether it refers to actual facts or not''".

According to Jain text, ''Puruşārthasiddhyupāya'':

Buddhism

The term ''satya'' (Sanskrit; in Pali: ''sacca'') is translated in English as "reality" or "truth." In terms of the Four Noble Truths (''ariyasacca''), the Pali can be written as ''sacca'', ''tatha'', ''anannatatha'' and ''dhamma''.

'The Four Noble Truths' (''ariya-sacca'') are the briefest synthesis of the entire teaching of Buddhism, since all those manifold doctrines of the threefold Pali canon are, without any exception, included therein. They are the truth of suffering (mundane mental and physical phenomenon), of the origin of suffering (tanha 'pali' the craving), of the extinction of suffering (Nibbana or nirvana), and of the Noble Eightfold Path leading to the extinction of suffering (the eight supra-mundane mind factors ).

Sikhism

Indian emblem motto

The motto of the republic of India's emblem is Satyameva Jayate which is literally translated as 'Truth alone triumphs'.

See also

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Notes

References

*
*
*

External links

*http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/yogasutr.htm

{{Portal bar, India, Religion, Hinduism, Philosophy

Sanskrit words and phrases
Jain philosophical concepts
Buddhist philosophical concepts
Hindu philosophical concepts
Sikh philosophical concepts
Buddhist ethics
Jain ethics
Hindu ethics
Theories of truth
Sikh terminology