Namaskar,
Jai Jinendra,
Welcome Today is the fourth day of our journey of 10 spiritual hours.
Characteristics or traits.
Being the 4th day,
We will talk about Supreme Truthfulness.
The first three traits,
As discussed,
Were forgiveness,
Humility and straightforwardness or simplicity.
These three primary leave works at work.
Level of thoughts and inner attitudes.
They help us purify our thinking.
From today for the next five days we will focus more on how these inner qualities are expressed through our speech and actions,
Whenever thoughts become pure.
And our speech and actions reflect those thoughts.
Our relationships become healthier.
And our worldly life becomes happier.
Now the question comes,
What is truthfulness?
Truthfulness broadly implies to present an object or event.
Through speech or writing.
As it is.
Nothing more and nothing less.
And we qualify this by adding that it is as per my knowledge.
Truthfulness is universally respected.
Almost every religion,
Philosophy,
And ethical tradition gives great importance to speaking the truth.
In India,
We proudly say,
Satyamev Jayate that is truth alone.
Thanks.
These words are part of our national emblem.
Mahatma Gandhi made Satyagraha.
All that pursuit of truth.
As the foundation of Indian's freedom movement.
His commitment to truth and non-violence.
Ultimately became a powerful force in India's struggle for independence.
Gandhi initially said,
God is Truth.
But later on he went a step further.
And said,
Truth is God.
This shows the enormous importance he gave.
To truthfulness.
Jain teachings also place great emphasis on truthful and gentle speech.
We are advised not to use hard language.
Not to criticize others and not to lie.
Instead,
We should speak the truth in a very Calm.
And composed way that contributes to the happiness and peace.
What do we mean by truth in Jain philosophy?
Jain philosophy makes an important distinction between absolute truth and relative truth.
Absolute truth refers to ultimate reality.
For example,
The pure soul.
Or God.
Or the nature of reality.
Add a date to only.
But today we talk about truthfulness in our daily life.
We are talking about.
Relative truth.
Why do we call it relative?
Because whatever I say is based on my present knowledge,
Understanding.
Experience and above all intention.
Therefore we should express what we know and understand as it is neither less nor more and there is one more important condition Truth should be spoken in an amicable manner.
In other words,
Truthfulness does not give us a license to hurt people.
We should be truthful.
But we should also be kind.
Respectful and sensitive.
A person who generally speaks the truth does not have to worry about remembering what he or she said earlier.
But when a person lies,
One often requires to remember.
His earlier statements.
And thus He builds up.
A sequence of lies.
The person is constantly thinking.
What did I say earlier?
What should I say now?
How can I hide the earlier lie?
This is why we have the famous saying,
A lie has no legs to stand upon.
Truth gives us freedom from this worry and fear.
Truthfulness in today's world.
Truthfulness is especially important in today's highly connected and democratic world.
We have become more conscious of using language that respects the dignity of others.
For example,
Instead of using words such as blind or disabled,
In a careless or insensitive way,
We may use expressions such as visually or physically challenged,
Depending on the context.
The intention is not to hide the truth.
But to communicate it with sensitivity and respect.
So truthfulness is not simply about what we say.
It is about also how,
When and why we say it.
Now the question arises,
Why do we lie?
Let us ask ourselves an important question.
Why do you sometimes speak lies?
Very often a lie arises when we are overwhelmed by anger,
Arrogance,
Crookedness,
Attachment or greed.
These are the very tendencies that the free First spiritual virtues ask us to overcome.
When we are angry,
We may distort the truth.
When we are arrogant,
We may exaggerate ourselves.
When we are crooked,
We may deliberately deceive others.
And when we are greedy,
We may hide the truth for our own benefit.
Therefore,
If we want to become truthful.
We must also work on these inner weaknesses.
And evaluate our inner qualities of humility etc.
And what should we do when we genuinely don't know the truth.
The simplest answer is to say I don't know.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with saying I don't know.
It is much better than pretending.
To know and speaking something untrue.
Or a lie.
Let me share is short.
Story about truthfulness.
There was an aging and successful businessman.
Who was looking for someone to become his successor.
He selected five of his more best-performing executives.
And called them to a meeting.
He gave each one of them a tomato seed and said,
Take the seed home.
Planted.
Take care of it.
And bring the plant back to me after 21 days.
All the five executives went home and planted their seeds.
In the washes with best soils.
They watched them and took care of them every day.
But after several days,
None of the sieves germinated.
The four executives became worried.
Dear Todd,
What will the businessmen think of them?
He may consider that as failures.
And remove us from our positions.
So each of the four went secretly.
To the market,
Bought a healthy tomato plant.
And during the part.
And carefully looked after it.
The fifth executive,
However,
Continued taking care of the seed.
But nothing happened.
After 21 days,
All 5 He came to meet the businessman.
With their plants.
The first four proudly presented their healthy tomato plants.
Some of them even carry tomatoes.
The businessman smiled.
And congratulated them.
Then the fifth executive came.
Forward.
His pot was completely empty.
He felt ashamed.
And sad.
That you are sorry.
He had taken care of the seats exactly as instructed.
But unfortunately,
Nothing has grown.
The businessman's nail.
And then he will reveal the truth.
All the seeds he had given them.
When it's done right.
They could have never grown.
He had deliberately done this.
Because he was not looking for person who could grow the biggest tomato plant.
He was looking for the person who was truthful.
And test for DNF.
To become his successor.
The lesson is simple.
Competence is important.
But trustworthiness is even more important.
And that readiness means workfulness.
I'll give you another example.
Of a child and truthfulness.
There is a famous expression in English by the poet William Wordsworth.
Who says the child is father of the man.
Our interpretation of this saying is that the child represents our natural and innocent state.
Or our inherent traits of forgiveness.
Humility etc.
We discussed.
A small child usually speaks whatever is in his or my mind.
The child does not normally have elaborate plans to hide the truth.
As we grow older however We learn to manipulate.
Hyde exaggerate and sometimes lie.
So perhaps one of our spiritual goals is to recall that simplicity.
And natural toughness that we had as children.
In religious language,
We say that Tirthankars are enlightened beings.
Perceive reality completely and therefore their knowledge is not emitted in the way ours is.
What truth is relative?
Because our knowledge is limited.
And therefore,
We should be humble about what we know.
Next is that we should speak truth without hurting others.
There is another very important principle.
Truth should be spoken with humility and compassion,
We talked earlier.
We should never use truth as a weapon.
For example,
Simply saying,
Some one effect may technically be good for you.
But the way we say it humiliates or deeply hurts the person.
We need to ask ourselves.
Was it really necessary to say that way?
The well-known story of Draupadi.
In Mahabharata.
And Duryodhana is often used to illustrate this point.
Draupadi said by making a sharp remark about Duryodhana's blindness.
Referring to his father's blindness.
Whether or not we take details of the story literally.
The lesson is valuable.
A harsh truth can sometimes create pain.
Consequences far greater than we imagine.
Therefore,
Truthfulness must be accompanied by humility,
Compassion and sensitivity.
Mahatma Gandhi expressed his own life journey beautifully when he called his autography,
My Experiments with Truth.
He did not say that he had already mastered it.
He called them experiments.
And this is obvious from the statement.
God is truth,
Truth is God.
Perhaps we can also look at our own lives as experiments with truth.
Truthfulness in everyday life.
Let us now see how we can practice truthfulness in different areas of our lives.
In the family.
In a family,
We should speak the truth with affection and respect.
Trustfulness does not mean Constantly criticizing others.
If we point out every weakness of our family members,
Even if what we say is factually correct.
We may damage the relationships.
So let us speak the truth.
But speak it with love.
And let us avoid belittling or humiliating others.
By speaking the truth.
Now we move to school and colleges.
If we have not completely finished our homework.
We should honestly tell the teacher.
I could not complete it.
I will make sure I catch up.
Also,
If we do not understand something that the teacher is explaining,
We should have the courage to say,
Sound.
I am sorry,
I did not understand.
Could you please explain it again?
There is no shame in not knowing it.
And we should never make fun of another student.
Weave.
Less intelligent than us.
What may seem like a small joke to us can become a painful memory for someone else,
Free in the office,
Business and society,
And dealing with the government.
Criticalness means following the prescribed standards and reporting things accurately.
In business,
It means being honest about weights and measures.
Prices,
Quality,
Expiry date,
Ingredients,
Side effects,
And suitability for use.
It means following rules.
Rather than finding ways around them.
When people can trust one another,
Society becomes more stable and peaceful.
In our personal life.
We often hear the saying,
Honesty is the best policy.
But here,
Even we need wisdom.
Suppose I recognize a weakness in myself.
And honestly share it with my parents,
Teachers,
Friends,
Or partner.
Because I genuinely want their help.
To overcome it.
That honesty can make me stronger.
Happy out.
And more respected.
But sometimes we may use honesty as an excuse for our weakness.
For example,
See?
This is the way I am.
That is not necessarily truthfulness.
If I know that I am lazy,
Angry,
Careless or impatient?
Merely accepting the weakness is not enough.
Truthfulness should lead to self-improvement.
This is an important criteria.
We should be honest enough.
To recognize our weakness.
And courageous enough to work on it.
A simple practice.
So let us make a small commitment today.
Before speaking,
Let us ask ourselves three questions.
Is it true Is it necessary?
Then I say it with kindness,
If the answer to all three is yes,
Let us speak,
If we do not know the truth.
Let us have the courage to say.
I don't know.
If truth is difficult to communicate,
Let us find a compassionate way to express it.
And if speaking is unnecessary,
Perhaps silence is wiser.
Let us therefore adopt this simple dictum.
Honesty is the best policy.
But let us go one step further.
Let us not merely make honesty a policy.
Me and me Let us make Truthfulness.
A way of life.
May our thoughts become beautiful.
Crude Foil.
Our speech becomes truthful and our actions become consistent with both.
Namaskar Jai Jinay
