“Speak the Truth”, this is the first teaching in Upanishad.
“Satyam vadah, dharmam cara,
Mātrudevo bhava, Pitrudevo bhava, Ācārya devo bhava, Atithī devo bhava, Svādhyayamma pramādaḥa.
Practice Dharma. One meaning of Dharma is to perform your duties with full dedication.
Speak the truth. People say that it is very difficult to speak the truth. I say it is the easiest. Instead, it is difficult to lie. Why?
When one speaks the truth, one is not tensed after that. When a doctor operates, the patient may be in pain for some time. But there is a positive result at the end, both for the doctor and the patient.
Similarly, when one speaks the truth, this may at the time be painful for the listener, but the outcome is the wellbeing both for the listener and the person who spoke the truth. Thereafter, the speaker is relaxed, not having to remember what was said.
Now let us reverse this situation. You lie. Your lies may cause temporary happiness to the listener but you will need to remember everything you said. You are bound to remember because you will cause damage if you forget. To cover every lie you spoke, you will speak another lie. This way there will be a chain of lies. You will be trapped in your own web of lies and become stressed trying to remember it all. Eventually, everything collapses.
Hence, lies require daily maintenance. It is a cost whilst truth does not need your maintenance. It maintains you! It looks after you! When you speak the truth, you are taking refuge in Narayan, who is therefore responsible in protecting you and will protect you.
The truth is, truth is easy and lies are difficult. Our understanding is so corrupted that we find lies easy and truth difficult.
