Satya

Etymology and meaning

sa has cognates in a number of diverse Indo-European languages, including the words "sooth" and "sin" in English, "ru" ("суть") in Russian, "sand" (truthful) in Danish, "sann" in Swedish, and "ae" in Avestan, the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism.{{multiref2

In the Vedas and later sutras, the meaning of the word sa evolved into an ethical concept about truthfulness. It means being true and consistent with reality in one's thought, speech, and action.

{{transliteration|sa|Sat}}

sa () is the root of many Sanskrit words and concepts such as sa ("pure, truthful") and sa ("truth"). The Sanskrit root sa has several meanings or translations:

1. "Absolute reality"
2. "Fact"
3. "Brahman" (not to be confused with Brahmin)
4. "that which is unchangeable"
5. "that which has no distortion"
6. "that which is beyond distinctions of time, space, and person"
7. "that which pervades the universe in all its constancy"

sa is a common prefix in ancient Indian literature. It implies variously that which is good, true, genuine, virtuous, being, happening, real, existing, enduring, lasting, or essential. For example, sa means true doctrine, sa means one devoted to the truth.

The negation of sa is sa, meaning delusion, distorted, untrue, the fleeting impression that is incorrect, invalid, and false. The concepts of sa and sa are famously expressed in the Pavamana Mantra found in the (1.3.28): tamaso mā jyotir gamaya mṛtyor mā amṛtam gamaya|Lead me from delusion to truth from darkness to light from mortality to immortality}} sa is one of the three characteristics of Brahman as described in sa. This association between sa, 'truth', and sa, ultimate reality, is also expressed in Hindu cosmology, wherein sa, the highest heaven of Hindu cosmology, is the abode of sa.

Hinduism

Main article: Hinduism

Vedic literature

Main article: Historical Vedic religion

sa is a central theme in the Vedas. It is equated with and considered necessary to the concept of sa (ऋतं, sa)—that which is properly joined, order, rule, nature, balance and harmony. sa results from sa in the Vedas, as it regulates and enables the operation of the universe and everything within it. sa is considered essential, and without it, the universe and reality falls apart and cannot function.

In the Rigveda, sa and sa are opposed to sa and sa (falsehood). In the Vedas, sa includes current, future, and past contexts. states, that in Rigveda, "sa is the modality of acting in the world of sa, as the truth to be built, formed or established".

Upanishads

sa is widely discussed in various Upanishads, including the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad where sa 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

Nothing is higher than the Law of Righteousness (sa). The weak overcomes the stronger by the Law of Righteousness. Truly that Law is the Truth (sa); Therefore, when a man speaks the Truth, they say, "He speaks Righteousness"; and if he speaks Righteousness, they say, "He speaks the Truth!" For both are one.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

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

The hymns of Upanishads portray truth as ultimately always prevailing. The Mundaka Upanishad, for example, states in Book 3, Chapter 1,

सत्यमेव जयते नानृतं Translation 1: Truth alone triumphs, not falsehood. Translation 2: Truth ultimately triumphs, not falsehood. Translation 3: The true prevails, not the untrue. |Mundaka Upanishad, 3.1.6}}

Sandilya Upanishad of Atharvaveda, in Chapter 1, includes ten forbearances as virtues, in its exposition of Yoga. It defines sa 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 sa is described in the major Upanishads with two layers of meanings—one as empirical truth about reality and another as abstract truth about universal principle, being, and the unchanging. Both of these ideas are explained in early Upanishads, composed before , by variously breaking the word sa or sa into two or three syllables. In later Upanishads, the ideas evolve and transcend into sa as truth (or truthfulness), and sa 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 sa is a basic virtue, because everything and everyone depends on and relies on sa.

सत्येन विधृतं सर्वं सर्वं सत्ये परतिष्ठितम अपि पापकृतॊ रौद्राः सत्यं कृत्वा पृथक पृथक अद्रॊहम अविसंवादं परवर्तन्ते तदाश्रयाः ते चेन मिथॊ ऽधृतिं कुर्युर विनश्येयुर असंशयम|To speak the truth is meritorious. There is nothing higher than truth. Everything is upheld by truth, and everything rests upon truth. Even the sinful and ferocious, swear to keep the truth amongst themselves, dismiss all grounds of quarrel and uniting with one another set themselves to their (sinful) tasks, depending upon truth. If they behaved falsely towards one another, they would then be destroyed without doubt.|attr1=The Mahabharata, Chapter CCLIX: Shanti Parva}}

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." In Yoga sutra, sa is one of the five sa, or virtuous restraints, along with sa (restraint from violence or injury to any living being); sa (restraint from stealing); sa (celibacy or restraint from sexually cheating on one's partner); and sa (restraint from covetousness and craving). Patanjali considers sa 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. sa 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

Main article: Jainism

sa is one of the five vows prescribed in Jain Agamas. sa was also preached by Mahavira.{{multiref2

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 the Jain text Puruşārthasiddhyupāya:

Buddhism

Main article: Buddhism, Sacca (Buddhism)

The term sa (Pali: pi) is translated into English as "reality" or "truth." In terms of the Four Noble Truths (pi), the Pali can be written as pi, pi, pi, and pi.

'The Four Noble Truths' (pi) 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 (pi, craving), of the extinction of suffering (pi or sa), and of the Noble Eightfold Path leading to the extinction of suffering (the eight supra-mundane mind factors).

Sikhism

Main article: Sikhism, Satnam

The Gurmukhs do not like falsehood; they are imbued with Truth; they love only Truth.|Gurubani, Hymn 3|}}

Sat or truthfulness is one of the 5 virtues in Sikhism.

Indian emblem motto

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

References

Citations

Sources

References

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