Miscellaneous - Religion   

Advocacy of truth

CHENNAI: Allegiance to truth and Dharma is the basis of the Vedic way of life as the order in God’s creation is sustained by these values. The Supreme Being is the absolute truth and the Lord in His incarnation as Rama exemplified it by His conduct. Upholding the truth may throw up dilemmatic situations when even the most conscientious advocate of truth may have to resort to subterfuge. But such exceptional conditions should not be interpreted as a licence to compromise on truth to suit one’s convenience; ethical guidelines are clear that only if by speaking the truth it will cause grave injury to someone can one utter a lie.

In his discourse, Sri M.V. Ananthapadmanabhachariar said adherence to truth by a person in general should not hurt others. At the societal level truth is that which secures the welfare of all. A problematic situation in the Ramayana can be perused to understand the practical aspect of upholding truth. After Hanuman located Sita in the Ashoka grove in Lanka and gave Her hopes of early rescue by Her Lord, and exchanged Rama’s signet-ring for Her head ornament Chudamani as a mark of having successfully accomplished the task of finding Her whereabouts successfully, he did not return immediately. He wanted to personally assess Ravana’s might for himself and so went about damaging the grove by felling the trees and pulling the creepers. Greatly disturbed that they would be taken to task for the havoc he caused, the ogresses who were guarding Sita asked Her who he was for they had seen Sita and Hanuman in conversation and suspected he was a messenger.

Sita warded off their suspicion by feigning ignorance, “What means can I have for acquiring correct knowledge about the ogres, who are capable of changing their form at will? I too am exceedingly frightened and do not know at all who he really is…” Such a blatant denial by the consort of Rama, who was the very embodiment of truth, might be shocking. But if one paused to consider, it will become apparent that the Divine Mother did not want Hanuman to come to any harm if word reached Ravana that he was Rama’s messenger. So She did not reveal his identity.

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