Sathya,
Living your truth in a noisy world.
And Sathya,
Essentially it translates to truth or truthfulness.
And let me start with a small story.
A few months ago,
A very close friend of mine,
This person was working at a startup.
And every day she would sit in meetings,
And whenever the team leader,
Whenever the CEO laid out these grand,
These often unrealistic plans,
She knew that many of these promises could not be delivered.
But she said nothing.
She feared being seen as negative,
She feared not being seen as a team player.
Fast forward six months,
Deadlines are missed,
Clients are frustrated,
Employees are burnt out.
And eventually,
She left the company.
And when she left the company,
She was burdened by guilt.
And later she told me,
I wasn't lying outright,
I just wasn't being truthful,
I was not living in alignment.
This is essentially the essence of Sathya,
The essence of truthfulness.
So what is Sathya?
Sathya is the second of the Yamas,
And it translates to truthfulness.
Sathya is not just about not lying,
But it's more about living in truth,
In your words,
In your actions,
And most subtly in your intentions.
In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,
Specifically in the Yoga Sutra 2.
36,
He says,
Sathya Pratishtayam Kriya Phalashrayatam And that translates to,
When one is firmly established in truthfulness,
In Sathya,
One's actions result in fruitful outcomes.
So it's all about alignment.
Truthfulness in the yogic philosophy is all about alignment.
What you say,
What you do,
Who you are,
All this working in harmony.
What Sathya is not.
So Sathya is not brutal honesty,
It is not being brutally honest.
Telling your partner you look terrible in that shirt,
That's not truth,
That's the ego speaking.
Sathya is not hiding behind silence.
Sathya is also not about being real in a way that harms others.
So Sathya is truth,
But with compassion.
It is anchored in the first Yama of Ahimsa,
Which is non-harming.
So truth with compassion.
And why is this so relevant in today's world,
The practice of Sathya?
Because we live in this world of polished profiles.
We live in this world where there are these countless emails full of,
As per my last message,
Or as discussed before.
And the truth is very rare.
And because it is rare,
It's powerful.
So when we practice Sathya,
When we practice the concept,
The philosophy of truthfulness in our daily life,
We speak up in meetings,
Even when it's uncomfortable.
We admit our mistakes instead of covering them up.
We listen to our gut,
We listen to our instinct and say no,
Even when others expect a yes.
Some real-life examples.
Workplace integrity.
Your manager asks you to fudge the numbers,
To play with the numbers on a report.
Sathya is choosing transparency,
Even if it risks a pushback.
When it comes to your relationships,
And you feel resentment building with a friend,
Sathya is about having a calm,
Honest conversation,
Not ghosting them.
When it comes to social media,
We feel the pressure to look successful.
And Sathya is sharing your journey authentically,
Not simply sharing your wins.
And finally with yourself,
You find yourself saying yes to commitments that you don't have the time for.
Sathya,
Truthfulness,
It's about asking,
Am I being honest with myself?
Am I being honest about my capacity?
With truthfulness,
There are these barriers that come up.
These barriers that make us stop,
Avoid,
Rather avoid practicing Sathya more often.
Firstly,
There's the fear of rejection.
A very real fear that a lot of us experience,
The fear of rejection.
Then there's the desire to please.
There's the fear of conflict,
Because we like everything to be peaceful.
And then sometimes there's not knowing even what our own truth is.
The practice of yoga helps us to clear this fog.
Through breath,
Through stillness,
Through reflection,
We start to become more attuned to what is real.
Practicing Sathya in daily life.
Pause before speaking.
You can ask yourself those three questions.
Is it true?
Is it necessary?
Is it kind?
Then there's journaling.
If journaling is part of your daily routine,
A journaling prompt that you could use is,
Where was I not fully honest today?
And why?
And then setting micro boundaries.
Starting small.
Say no to something minor.
Notice how your body feels.
Because truth often feels like relief.
And finally,
Our truth may not please everyone.
But our peace is worth that discomfort.
So Sathya doesn't mean being perfect.
It means being courageous enough to be real.
One moment,
One step at a time.
So any point in time,
Today or tomorrow,
You can try this.
Think of one place in your life where you're not fully truthful.
Either with yourself or with others.
One place in your life where you're not fully truthful.
And take one small step towards alignment.
Not everything at once,
But just enough.
Just a small step that's enough to begin living your truth.
So Sathya isn't just a yogic concept.
It's a way of coming home.
Coming home to yourself in a world that often asks us to perform.
The choice is to choose truth even when it trembles.
Thank you for listening.
Namaste.
