Truthful Conduct of the person

Meaning: In the line of Yajurved 19/30 has been explained that — "By recourse to vrat (i.e. a religious pledge), man obtains excellent office and worthiness, and thereby he receives increasing honor. By receiving honor, one's faith and trust develops in doing good deeds."

Message: All the learned persons, thinkers, sages and great men in the world have praised the grandeur of truth. Truth itself is religion, austerity, yoga and the eternal brahma (or God). Truthful behavior by itself is the best yagya. The entire world is based on truth; religion too is established on truth. In no field, whether social, economic, political or educational is progress possible without truthful conduct. Truth is so gentle that it does not hurt al all, but is also so hard that it bores even though the rock and gets prevailed. Only truth is victorious everywhere, hence the eternal truth enshrined in three Sanskrit words, "Satya meva Jayate". Truth means the mighty God. Man's spiritual union with God, the embodiment of Supreme Truth, is achieved only with truthful conduct.

If we want to get to the centre of all powers, we will have to worship the truth, will have to exert very hard to practice it and give up all petty matters. One can achieve truth only when the mind becomes restless and is burning with the desire for knowing, understanding and achieving the truth. To obtain the truth, one has to climb the four steps of 'vrat, diksha, dakshina and shraddha'.

What is Vrat? Vrat means giving up bad tendencies and adopting good qualities. Vrat involves 'upwas'. Upwas is nothing but freeing oneself from sins and adopting good qualities. Normally in 'upwas' people undertake a fast, i.e. remain hungry, but 'upwas' does not mean remaining hungry and reducing one's body. Vrat or upwas means such conduct, thinking, dealing and good resolves which should be adopted for making our life clean, pure, high and great. Let us take the vrat (or pledge) of giving up our addictions and be good in conduct. Let us take the pledge of helping others and serving our country. Life will be uplifted by adopting such real 'vrats'.

By understanding and implementing such vrats to the extent possible, we will soon become deserving of diksha or initiation. Initiation means entry into the empire of refinement, the right to reach the court of truth. By staying in the court of truth with truth-loving persons, one develops the ease, the naturalness of seeking and living according to the truth and we get the benefit of the experience of the companions.

After Diksha comes 'Dakshina'. By implementing truth in our conduct, we can experience that our will-power is increasing, 'tej' and 'oj' is increasing, (tej means mental brightness and oj means mental alacrity) and we are progressing towards the goal of life, and the society is also honoring us by accepting our skill and progress. This four-fold progress is our 'dakshina'.

Ultimately because of the influence of 'vrat', diksha and dakshina, unshakable faith (shraddha) for truth is roused in us. After that there is speedy progress and all the difficulties in the path automatically get destroyed.

Only truthful conduct is the spiritual power of our character.