Lessons on Life and Truth

[Guest guest]

Dear Loving Souls of TBP,

 

Love and Love alone....

 

Hereunder I am posting two mails together, both received from two

different sources. Read the first one understand and analyse and

then go to the other and again try to understand the first one from

the point of view of or explanation given in the second one. One is

the present day and the other is our age-old wisdom.

 

Love and Love alone....

 

P. Gopi Krishna

 

======

 

Lessons on Life

 

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not

to judge

things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go

and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

 

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the

third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.

 

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to

describe what they had seen

 

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The

second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of

promise.

 

The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that

smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful

thing he had ever seen.

 

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and

drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfilment.

 

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because

they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.

 

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one

season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy,

and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end,

when all the seasons are up.

 

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your

spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfilment of your fall.

 

Moral:

 

Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

Don't judge life by one difficult season.

Persevere through the difficult patches

and better times are sure to come some time or later.

 

 

Re: What is Truth?

Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Tue Mar 6, 2007 7:09 pm (PST)

Truth - Satyam

 

Satyam Dyanam Anantam Brahma. - Brahman is Absolute Truth-Infinite

Knowledge.

 

Ekam Sat Viprah Bahudha Vadanti. - Truth is One learned call it by

various names.

 

Satyam Eva Jayate. - Truth alone Triumphs.

 

Asato Ma Sadgamaya. - Lead us to Truth from untruth.

 

Satyam Shivam Sundaram. - Truth is Pure and Beautiful.

 

Above mantras are from various Upanishads stating the nature of

absolute reality. Truth is always considered one and never two.

There is nothing like untruth. What we consider as untruth when we

present one real thing as something much different. Still that

something different has its reality in the mind of the presenter.

There are various terms by which these untruths are categorised.

 

Let us examine the term truth from its opposites.

 

Alik -> (False) - Thing cannot exist at all, such as Akaash Pushpa,

flower in the sky cannot exist but it can exist in the idea of a

poet.

 

Mithya -> (Untrue) - It has relative existence. When the state of

mind changes the thing ceases to exist. When we dream it is true in

that state but when we get up from sleep and enter into waking state

our dream world has no existence at all.

 

Vyavaharik Satya: We feel its existence at waking state but it

ceases to exist in dream state or during deep sleep. We reenter our

same waking state world but never our dream world. It is different

every time we dream. But this world of waking also ceases to exist

when we enter Samadhi.

 

That is why Sri Shankaracharya says:

 

" Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithaya " . - Bhrahman is Truth Absolute, World

is Untruth as it ceases to exist. He is right in saying that the

world of our experience is not of absolute reality.

 

Paramarthika Satya: That which is absolute Truth. Unchanged by

states of mind, never changes over the time, does not have decay or

growth, no modifications. Same all the time everywhere and to

everyone. This is the real meaning of Truth, and it is nothing but

Brahman.

 

Swami Turiyananda one of the brother disciples of Swami Vivekananda

goes further and declares just before leaving his mortal coil that:

 

" Brahma Satyam Jagat Satyam " . - Brahman is True, World is True. This

is from the highest stand point where one observes everything as

Brahman alone even with one's open eyes. The world of our experience

has its existence in and through Brahman.

 

That is why Swami Vivekananda says that:

 

Man travels from lower truth to higher truth.

 

This is the reason Sri Ramakrishna gave his greatest gift to the

present world and that is - " why compassion to humanity, who am I to

give compassion it should be Service to humanity " .

 

Swami Vivekananda picked up this great teaching and revelation and

directed us on right path:

 

Service to humanity as worship to God - Shiva Bhave Jiva Seva.

 

In Srimad Bhagawata there is great Mantra:

 

Satyam param Dhimahi - O, Supreme Truth please enlighten our

intellect.

 

Sri Ramakrishna practised Truth to the letter and its inner meaning.

He used to say I gave up everything at the Holy feet of The Divine

Mother but I could not offer Truth at Her feet. If I offer Truth to

Her my all the prior offerings will have no value.

 

He could not carry in his hands a small packet of medicine which was

not given by the owner but he had asked him to take. He used to say

that practice of Truth alone is real Tapasya - austerity in Kali

Yuga (Satya katha kalir Tapasya).

 

Truth is right knowledge and to perceive things in right perspective

and to present them as they are, deal with them as they are.

 

Why we should practice Truth?

 

Sat-Chit-Ananda: Because our real nature is Truth Absolute-Knowledge

Absolute-Bliss Absolute. We have forgotten it and consider

everything to be ourselves but the Satchidananda Swarupa. We are

actually non-material but we cling to material things considering

them as ourselves. We are dreaming during waking state. It is

hypnotism. We have to de-hypnotize ourselves by questioning

always " Who am I? " Truth will reveal itself.

 

Om Tat Sat.

Gopi Krishna <gopi