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by Jayaram V
"The non-existent has no existence; the
existent does not not-exist. (Thus) the seers who have seen the
essence of That reached the conclusion about the two." - The
Bhagavadgita 2:16.
"It is neither born nor dies. At no time it
did not non-exist in the past; will not non-exist in future; or
will not become existence again. Unborn, eternal, permanent, and
the most ancient, this is not killed when the body is killed." -
The Bhagavadgita 2:20.
Whatever thoughts and opinions we entertain in our minds, there
is always
another opinion and another thought, or there are multiple opinions
and multiple thoughts, which may either contradict it or compliment
it. On a single subject, a thousand people may come out with a thousand
opinions. If you have any doubts, look at the message boards, newspapers,
books, articles, religious scriptures, discourses by various masters
and gurus, and the numerous conflicts that happen, for one reason
or the other, between people, groups, organizations and nations
in various parts of the world. Even in matters of religion, we have
no unanimity. The scriptures may agree on certain points, but in
many fundamental aspects, they are as divergent as human nature
itself. It is difficult to ascertain physically what the scriptures
say about the metaphysical truths. Yet millions of people everyday
hold on to their beliefs and opinions tenaciously, refusing to step
outside of their habitual thought patterns and constricted opinions
and give themselves a chance to see the reality around them differently
from different perspectives. This happens because the human mind
likes to follow the path of least resistance and spend as little
time as possible on analysis and assimilation so that it can focus
more on essential things and maximize the chances of our survival,
adaptability and continuity. Therefore, it resorts to shortcuts
and mental heuristics such as generalizations and stereotyping to make sense of the world and respond quickly
to the challenges we face every day.
The types and facets of truth
According to science, truth is what is provable either with logic
or with facts or both. If you say something happened and if you
witnessed it, you must be in a position to prove it even to those
who did not see it. Even though it seems straightforward, in many
cases it is not. Hence, not all the courts and laws in the world
guarantee justice all the time. You are lucky if you are able to
prove your point of view. You are also lucky if you are able to
prove your scientific truths, because there are many truths that
cannot be proved scientifically not because they are not true but
because we do not have the wherewithal to prove them.
In our world, there are many aspects to truth. We consider truth
either relative that is true in relation to something else or
absolute that is true under all circumstances, independent of
other things. There are eternal truths and temporary truths. Some
truths are eternal. For example, from the scientific perspective,
the space (as we know it) will exist eternally, even if the material
world that exists in it is destroyed. May be, in reality, space
is not what we consider it to be. It may be a type of element (tattva)
or even matter (matra), which comes into existence at the time
of the formation of the universe.
If it is so, then space may not qualify as eternal. In Hinduism,
space is considered an element (akasa), just like water, earth,
fire and air. Therefore, although space connects one world or planet
with another and the earthly beings with the rest of the universe
and although it facilitates the movement of prayers and sacred sounds
as their medium, at some point of time in creation, it may end like
everything else1.
Relative truths are conditional, contextual, provable, temporary
and relational. Because they depend upon certain conditions and
factors, they may be inconsistent and unreliable. We can mitigate
this problem to some extent by examining a truth from several perspectives.
Jainism advocates such an approach through its theory of standpoints
(syadavada), according to which truth may be valid only from particular
standpoints and it may appear differently from different standpoints. The
only way to ascertain its veracity, though may not always completely,
is by considering it from different standpoints. The standpoints
are like different perspectives or different angles or sides to
examine a truth. From our experience, we know that we gain insight
into things only when we dwell into them deeply and examine them thoroughly
from various aspects. So practically speaking, the theory of standpoints
makes sense. If you want to know more about syadavada, please check
the articles on Jainism available at Hinduwebsite.com.
While relative truths may be actually half-truths or untruths
masquerading as truths, absolute truths are different. They are
impervious to the fallacies and limitations of the human mind and
intellect. Absolute truths are transcendental truths, in knowing
which the mind and the senses play no role at all. They are independent
of the mind, independent of intelligence, independent of logic,
independent of perspective, independent of the senses, independent
of the objects, independent of the subject, independent of proof,
independent of conditions, and independent of memory. An absolute
truth is indestructible, indefinable, indescribable, eternal, immutable,
self-existent and permanent. If we go by this definition of truth,
the whole world and all the knowledge that we hold in our minds
do not qualify as truth. Nothing that falls within the domain of
the mind and its faculties also qualify as absolute truth. The world
exists in our minds as a concept and concepts are what they are,
mere concepts. A hundred people may live in the same space and
time and yet experience the world differently. Hindu scriptures therefore consider the phenomenal
world as illusory and false, and hold only God and the Self as true.
Satyam is that which contains Sat or Truth. Sat is that which is
true, constant, real, actual, not in a limited way, but wholly and eternally.
According to the Upanishads, God or Brahman and the individual Self alone qualify to be That,
which is everlasting and absolutely true.
Standards of proof
Ancient Indians established some standards (pramana) to ascertain
truths of our existence. The most prominent among them are, direct knowledge (pratyaksha), testimony
(shabda) and inference (anumana). Of them, we may consider the first
one reliable by itself, the second useful for corroboration
or confirmation and the third no so reliable, but helpful on
certain occasions.
Pratyaksha is what we may perceive or experience directly and personally.
It is therefore somewhat reliable, although we cannot take our experiences
for granted fully. We may consider our direct experiences valid
in case of general and ordinary truths. However, we should also
be aware of defective perceptions and perceptual biases to which
our minds and senses are susceptible. We know that our senses and
our minds are not perfect instruments of knowledge. What we see
may not be true and what we do not see may not be false. It is as
if we live in a world of fog and mist, which is our own ignorance.
We may see what we want to see or see it differently from what it
actually is, or see it incorrectly, or not see it at all. We may
mistake one for another. We may also see or experience something
but not recognize it at all because we have never experienced it before
or know nothing about it. Therefore, while direct experience is
helpful, we have to be careful about what conclusions and observations
we may draw from it. This is where the testimony of the scriptures
and the accounts of experts prove helpful. If our direct experience
is validated by the testimony of scriptures or expert knowledge,
we can accept them as more reliable and accurate, although there
may still be issues that need to be resolved and gaps in our understanding
and awareness that need to be filled. However, by far, within the
limitations to which we are subject, direct experience is the best
way to arrive at truth. Inference is also useful; but we can never
be sure. Sometime we may combine inference with testimony to arrive
at truth. However, it is less reliable than the truths that we ascertain
with direct knowledge supported by testimony. Various schools of
Hindu philosophy identify other ways of knowing truth. However,
they are not as reliable as the three we have discussed.
Characteristics of truth
From a philosophical perspective, in Hinduism truth must have
some characteristics in order to be accepted as truth. Here are
some important ones.
1. Truth must be universal. That is, it must be the same everywhere.
For example, we may say only the present moment is truth; but the
present moment exists only in the context of the present. What happens
in my mind may be true, but only within my mind. What happens in
your life may be true; but it will be difficult for you to corroborate
your experiences or even prove them to others that they ever happened. Time, space and memory obliterate many empirical
truths of our lives and fill our minds with dejection, frustration
and nostalgia. From this perspective, none of the things that we
possess or experience qualifies as truth. Hence, Hinduism regards
the objective world as untrue or an illusion.
2. Truth must be indestructible or incorruptible. Truth must
remain impervious to falsehood. If one can falsify truth or destroy
it, it does not qualify as truth because that which falsifies, corrupts
or destroys truth becomes superior to it, where as truth has to
be invincible, eternal, universal and supreme to be qualified as truth.
3. Truth must be constant. Truth cannot change. If something
keeps changing, it is difficult to prove its existence. For example,
we cannot prove the existence of earth five billion years ago. We
will not be able to prove its existence after another five billion
years later. Whatever that happened in our lives exists in our consciousness
as memory. It might have happened or might not have happened exactly
as we think or remember, because our thoughts and memories might
have been corrupted by our own illusions, falsification and superimposition
of other related memories. Billions of people lived and died upon
earth in the past. The earth itself underwent great transformation
over these millenniums. Our civilization passed through numerous
phases of transformation and advancement. The world that existed
a few thousand years ago was incredibly different from the world
in which we live today. It may sound strange, but we do not live
in the same world always and we do not relate with it only physically.
Different worlds exist in the same space at different points of
time and we live in different worlds in different planes and at
different points of times, although outwardly we may believe that
we live in the same world. It is same with our bodies. Our bodies
grow, age and decay. They exist only in the context of time and
space and certain conditions and circumstances. It is true with
almost everything we experience in our lives. People are not the
same. Your friends and relations are not the same. You do not know
which one of them, or which aspect of them, is true. Truth is different.
It is constant all
the time. You do not have to worry that It will change or treat
you differently. It does not love you or detest you because it is
not subject to fluctuating moods, desires, self-interest or states of love and hatred.
4. Truth must be independent. Truth has to be self-existent and
independent to qualify as truth. If it depends upon another entity
for its existence, it loses its autonomy, continuity, purity, invincibility
and universality. If it is supported by others, you can destroy
it, falsify it, or corrupt it easily by taking away its support or modifying
it. Truth should therefore exist by itself, without the support
of proof or validation, without the process of knowing or without
the help of the the knower and the known. In this context, time
is not truth, because it depends upon many factors for its continuity.
Our knowledge is not truth because it depends upon duality and several
other things for its validation and knowing. The world is not truth,
because it depends upon the earth. The earth is not truth because
it depends upon other planets and the Sun. The solar system is not
truth because it depends upon the universe. The material universe
is not truth, because it depends upon time and space continuum to
exist. The heaven is not truth because it depends upon another
for support. What we experience in our lives is not truth because it depends
upon the mind and the senses, which are in turn dependent upon other
things that are in themselves dependent and bound to others.
5. Truth must be the cause or the source, but not the effect.
The effect depends upon the cause for its survival, composition
and existence. Each effect has a beginning and an end, where as
Truth is eternal. If you take away the cause, the effect will disappear.
The cause itself must be original and independent. It must neither
depend upon other causes nor arise from them consequently. It must
remain pure and constant, while producing or creating the effect
and should not depend upon external conditions to create it. In
this context, the entire material universe, the heaven and other
worlds do not qualify as truth because they are products of
creation and their source is elsewhere.
Truth does not exist in the experience of objectivity
As you can see from the above, our world, our lives and our very
existence do not qualify as truth. There is nothing here or on
other planets or the entire universe, which fits perfectly in the
concept of truth as envisaged in Hindu scriptures. No religion that
exists in the world or that ever existed in the past represents
truth adequately and satisfactorily2. Our definitions of God do not
qualify as truth because they are rooted in our divisive and relative
mentality and they arise from our notions of right and wrong, name
and form and time and space. Our minds cannot grasp absolute truths
because they are not conditioned or created to grasp them. We may
have a millions opinions and a million standpoints; but they do
not take us anywhere near the Truth that exists universally, absolutely,
independently, indestructibly and eternally. To understand truth,
we have to overcome our own senses and minds. We have to transcend
our limited awareness and remove all the obstructions, obstacles
and blockages that stand between us and the truth. We have to transcend
duality, the pairs of opposites, our attachments and our very intellect
that revolves around our notions, opinions, concepts and rigid beliefs.
Only a few people therefore will come anywhere near the infinite
Truth and even they do not know. The Upanishads understand this
predicament and admit the difficulty in expressing the truths about
the Truth. The Kena Upanishad sums up the paradox of knowing the
eternal Truth, which it equates with Brahman, in the following
(2.1-3) instruction from an enlightened
teacher (guru) who was
trying to explain to his students what they needed to know Brahman, referred here in neutral terms as "It".
"If you think that you have understood It well, you know
It but slightly. Whether it is you or gods, it is the same (no one
knows It). Therefore, It needs to be investigated by you, even though
I think It is known. I do not think that I know It well; nor do
I think that I do not know It. Among us, he who knows It, knows
It, and he also, does not know that he does not know. To whomever,
It is not known, to him It is known; to whomever It is known, he
does not know. It is not understood by those who (think they) understand
It and It is understood by those who (think they) do not understand
It.”
This brings us to the final question or doubt. Whatever that
I have presented here about Truth, is it true? Have I understood
the Truth and explained it well? Perhaps I have; or maybe not. The
only reason it stands the test of truth is that
it is based on and supported by the testimony of scriptures, which are considered
revelations of Truth itself. It is important to know that what
is presented here is about the absolute truth, the real Truth,
not the relative and temporary truths about which we quarrel and
argue so frequently.
Footnotes
1. Modern science does speculate upon the possibility of folding
the space or manipulating it, wherein also is hidden the key to
time travel and future space travel.
2. Which is why Hinduism is very tolerant of all paths that
attempt to reach the Absolute Truth in their own effective ways.
Suggested Further Reading
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