Truth

I respect truth. I love truth. Gandhi said ‘Truth is God’. I have not given a definition for God; I believe I never need that definition, because the level of truth I attained says man does not need the word God. And truth never changes; it is only that we cross the level to realize higher truth. All great men searched for the Truth. Some of them believed in an ultimate truth or reality and some of them did not. But all of them worshipped truth. They believed that truth is supreme. It gives us the power, not of material but of knowledge. Let’s consider some basic questions about truth: -- What is truth? -- Can truth explain each and every aspect of universe? -- Is truth always good and moral whereas false is immoral and bad? -- Is there something beyond truth? -- How can we say something as truth unless we know it to be true? -- Is there something called ultimate truth? If yes, how to achieve it? And if no, what is the point in searching for truth? So many questions!! Now, you can see how tough this subject is. Check these out: ‘100 years from now, the world ends!’, ‘You are my only true friend!’, ‘Mango tastes better than Pineapple’, ‘please, open the door’ etc. How can we say what is true and what is not in these?! What all these point at? Predictions, requests, feelings, tastes can never be told either true or false. It depends on individual belief or individual taste. It is very much clear that we cannot distinguish all aspects as truth or false. So, what exactly is truth? Where can we apply it? There are many theories which define truth in different ways. Some theory says truth is nothing but what majority of the society agrees with. But, if that is the case, how society agreed to the fact that Earth is revolving around the Sun when almost everyone accepted and believed in geocentric system? Some theory says anything that is useful is truth. But what about the case where one same thing is useful for one person and not useful for other person? Some other theory says truth is what some leaders of society or influential persons believe in. Scientists and intellectuals will laugh at this. And one more theory says there is a truth which we can realize only when get Moksa or release from the cycle of rebirth. Until then we live inside delusion. Whatever we think, whatever we observe, whatever we perceive is product of that delusion. Nothing is permanent in this world; neither us nor this material world. So what we think and believe to be truth in this world till we get Moksa or ultimate realization is not the truth. I will not waste my time on this here as it itself is a separate topic. The truth, as per me, is something that can be proved under a given circumstance or condition. This truth is fixed. You simply cannot say it is not true. For that you are supposed to prove it wrong. This is what science says. And I believe in science. You can say ‘If I prove it wrong then truth will change. It will not be a truth anymore. If we follow this how can you ever call anything as truth?’ If you follow what is called scientific method or systematic approach and you do not commit any mistake, I bet, you will never call anything as truth which is not truth. This is the confidence that you get from science. And you take any other approach, and I again bet you can never be as confident as you would be if you follow scientific approach. You may again say this does not answer the question fully. Yes, men make mistakes. Scientists might commit mistakes. But that does not mean that the science has chosen a wrong path starting from that mistake and from then onwards everything will be just false results that we get. Scientific approach is such that if one commits a mistake it will give wrong and unexpected results through which the mistake can be identified easily. And the mistake will be corrected. Hence truth is always on the side of science. False cannot sustain for a long time in scientific world. This is exactly why I believe in science. If science says something is true it has to be true. If it is not I will get to know within short period of time as science has no place for contradictions. I do not find this confidence anywhere else. No one else can find it. Some people say, ‘why should we bother so much about truth? What good it is to know the truth if it hurts my beliefs? I am good as I am now. ’ This I call escapism. You do not want to know truth just because it is something you do not believe. You do not want to accept that what you believed all these days in is not correct and truth is something else. So you search for something that might help you out and say, ‘You are correct. Your belief is fine. You don’t have to listen to what others say’. If somehow you find something which says so you will be glad. You do not want to think whether it is really the truth or not. This is the most general mentality I see today. Today people who call themselves traditionalistic perform all the rituals. But they do not know why they are doing any of it. At least in the history of religion people started rituals with some purpose (whether religions or rituals are required or not is a different topic). They knew what they are doing and why they are doing. But today we see only blind followers. You ask for the reason and they answer, ‘it is our tradition!’ You again ask why it is included as a part of the tradition they answer, ‘There is a reason for everything. Nothing was started without purpose. It is only that I do not know it now!’ Whether I believe in religion or not is a different question. But I pity for these people who do not know what they are doing. I respect great men like Shankaracharya, Gandhi, Buddha, Radhakrishnan, Karl Marx, and Ayn Rand for they knew every step they were going to put. They had their own answers to every single question they could get. They had no fog in their mind. They had no conflicts within themselves. They did not look at others to confirm if they too are doing what they are doing and hence they are also right, because they knew they are right. But today you can only see equivocalness. People have questions and doubts. But they do not dare to search for answers. So they finally choose to follow. But they do not even care why they are following or what answer they get from whom they are following!! Such is the state of man today. This is pure indication of escapism. But believe me; it will never give you confidence. It will never reveal you the truth. You think you are happy, but somewhere deep inside you know, you are not. You think you are doing better, but deep inside you know that you do not have any idea why it is better or if it is really better. The next question is, ‘when I speak, should I always need to speak truth? What if I lie which does not harm anyone? Is it immoral to do so? ’ Remember that truth is one of the most important factors in life. But it is not life in itself. As I mentioned earlier there are certain things which we cannot distinguish as true or false. Consider the feelings. You can only feel them. You can write them using words with some difficulty. But to try to point them as either true or false is illogical. But to lie is something you might want to reconsider. Just to create some excitement and then after some time revealing the truth and enjoying the moment might be ok as long as it is not going to hurt anybody’s feelings. But if you really do not know what reaction it might result in or if you think it is going to hurt someone’s feelings then definitely it is not ok. And to lie, to intentionally hurt others feelings, or to make profit out of it, or if to make loss to someone is completely immoral. You do not have any right to do so. As I said truth is integral part of our life. It impacts our life but it alone does not define our life. Our life has other integral parts also. We search for truth and continue to seek and understand higher truth. Once we attain it our knowledge expands and again we start looking for another higher truth. Doesn’t it look like it is a never ending process?! Is searching and attaining the higher truth itself out goal in life?! If yes, why should we look for it in the first place? Or is there something called ultimate truth? All those who believe in the concept of ultimate truth say that, to ‘realize it’ is the goal of our life. Once we achieve it we can get Moksa or, our reason to live in this world fulfills, we will escape from the cycle of rebirth, we will become one in supreme. I believe in science. And scientific approach disregards this concept. All this concept of living in delusion, having a supreme power controlling the world, living in finite world contradicts what science says. Either science has to be true or all these concepts. People love to believe that what science says is exactly what these religion beliefs say. But unfortunately that is not true (how and why is again another topic in itself). But let me tell you one thing. I am more fascinated by Vivekananda in my life. He is the one of the great men for whom I have high regards. I do not believe in many things which he did believe. But he understood one great thing for the first time in our history (I could not imagine, anyone, being a sanyasi and swami, could ever even imagined what Vivekananda thought at that period of time!!) that we cannot preach the Vedanta to the homeless poor who do not have cloths to wear, who do not have food to eat; it is of no use to do so; we must work to help the poor to come out of their such a state first. Humanity and creating a better society should be our first priority. The purpose of our lives should be to create a better society. Being a sanyasi Vivekananda travelled to places that no sanyasi could have imagined and tried to get any help that was possible. He said ‘Against the rules of sanyasi I will earn money and help the poor!’ Only when man has food, shelter, cloth he can listen to what the morality is, what philosophy is, what truth is, what life is! What a thought! That thinking, that courage, that determination is what made Vivekananda great. All other great men said the same thing – to help the homeless, hungry poor first. But yes, there are differences among them on the ways to achieve it and then philosophy they believe in and what they believe to be true. The point here is to have an attitude, the way of thinking, the determination that we need today. There is no point in chasing the mirage called ultimate reality and ultimate truth. But still you might ask, ‘then, what is the point in searching for truth at all?!’ Life without purpose is not a life. Life without struggle is not a life. Einstein said, ‘…the man who regards his own life and that of his fellow creatures as meaningless is not merely unfortunate but almost disqualified for life.’ Our life should not be meaningless. And when you look for ways to make it meaningful, or when you look for a purpose in life you find several ways. Some people try to earn money and make it their highest purpose in life; some people choose to be followers of a person who is just famous and instructs what they should do (this does not require them to think but to just follow); some people believe the purpose of their lives is to devote themselves completely to their work, let it be science, religious, or any other work; some people seek Moksa and regard it as man’s only highest purpose of life. Which one of these is true? Yes, it is again the truth which alone can help you! Clear your mind. Get rid of all the conflicts. Then you see it! The meaning of life, the path to follow will be crystal clear. But only truth can help us in resolving conflicts of ideas and to clear the fog that occupied our mind. Not only truth is pure, it also transforms the man from impure to pure. It says ‘I am here. It’s up to you to see and understand me or to ignore and live in darkness!’ This is the reason why I respect truth and love it. Related Links: Truth in Wiki What is Truth? Truth - Stanford Encyclopedia Related Videos: