What is More Important: the Truth or its Consequence?
How perspectives drastically change our worldview
Honesty is a virtue that is praised everywhere. Honest people are respected for being bold and undaunting.
Speaking the truth definitely requires courage
But is it only the truth that matters?
Or does the consequence it has on the receiver bear more importance?
The Bible states —The truth shall set you free
It surely does.
The Bhagavad Gita gives an interesting perspective on presenting the truth in Chapter 17, Verse 15
anudvega-karaṁ vākyaṁ satyaṁ priya-hitaṁ ca yat
svādhyāyābhyasanaṁ caiva vāṅ-mayaṁ tapa ucyate
Truth should be presented in a pleasing and palatable way and in a manner that does not agitate the receiver.
Today, I will tell you two stories from the Ramayana which highlight this principle from the Gita and by the end, you will be able to judge which is more important — the Truth or its Consequence?
We will hear 2 narrators, both of which were very influential personalities. When they told the truth along with their perspective, it changed the mood of their receivers completely and resulted in amazing transformations.
Story 1
It is supposed to be long past midnight this time. But the city that sleeps with the day's natural progression is wide awake today.
Everyone is abuzz with life. The chatter and liveliness of the citizens in the wee hours give the vibe of a market thriving with citizens during the festive season.
It surely must be preparations for a grand celebration. Otherwise, why would everyone happily choose to work rather than sleep peacefully?
But this is not the time for any major festival or royal occasion or something else. And how (and why?) does she not know what is happening in her city? Already angry, she decided to descend to make ground inquiries from her rooftop, where she was watching the whole drama.
On hearing the truth, she gets the shock of her life. Her heart breaks down into pieces.
As if the rising sun, which is the harbinger of hope, would bring all bad luck and shatter all of her hopes
Overcome by anguish, hatred and envy, she devises a plan and goes to the one person who had the power to reverse it all. It would be difficult to make her see the stark reality and convince her to do what was required, but there was no other option. It was a matter of a few hours only now.
It had to be done this way. She was convinced of it.
Without second thoughts, gathering all composure, intelligence, wits and theatrics she would require for the acts (hers and the subsequent one) to follow, she trotted to Keikeyi’s palace
Manthara had come to give the news of the coronation of Prince Rama. What she had thought would dishearten Kaikeyi instead brought her immense joy, leaving her on cloud nine.
Manthara had anticipated it and she began executing her hideous plan by making Keikeyi see things from her clandestine perspective and
- Hitting on her biggest insecurities
- Scaring her for the wrongs she had done
- Giving a pessimistic extrapolation of the worst that could happen
She termed that Rama’s coronation meant the beginning of her and her son’s bad days and she was blind to the reality. This enraged Keikeyi and we all know what happened, as a result.
When Rama had been the most loving son, giving Keikeyi more respect than His mother and more love than her son and had not done anything even slightly wrong in her experience, Keikeyi took action for what might have gone wrong.
Story 2
It seemed like ages had gone by, but life was still the same.
Cruel. Pitiless. Brutal
No answer. No message. Not even a single sign of hope
Just despondency, despair and misery
This was the situation assessment done by the narrator, sitting on the top of a tree, trying to think what could be done to bring a little hope into this gloomy situation.
Mother Sita was being tortured by Ravana but She was even more disappointed by the fact that Lord Rama, who loved Her so deeply, had forgotten Her and left her to be alone on this unknown island, waiting to be devoured by this monster.
Seeing Mother Sita crying and speaking to Herself this way, Hanumanji understood there was no scope for a mistake.
The truth had to be narrated in the most sensitive manner that bears only good consequences and not only helps infuse life back into Mother Sita but also reaffirms the love Lord Rama had for Her
Carefully weighing the sad plight of Mother Sita against his intelligence, Hanumanji knew he just couldn’t bring up an argument to defend his master and his delay, nor could he start narrating how they were planning to conquer Lanka and take Mother Sita back.
What Hanuman ji spoke next was nothing short of magic
Because it not only nullified the little grudges Mother Sita had for Lord Rama rather made Her forget Her pains, reinstated Her waning faith and increased Her love for Lord Rama.
Hanumanji said, “My dear Mother, you are complaining that you complain that Lord Rama has forgotten you, but my complaint is that Prabhu Rama has forgotten Himself.”
He is so absorbed in remembering and shedding tears for you, that He has forgotten the power of His mighty bow.
He has forgotten His own divinity and influence.
If along with remembering you, He remembers his own powers, by this time, You would not be in Lanka.
Interestingly, Lord Rama hadn’t told Hanuman ji to say all of this to Mother Sita. It was Hanumanji’s discernment and His expert communication by which He could put what He saw in Lord Rama into words that would touch Mother Sita and bring Them both close together.
Hearing this, Mother Sita felt amazed, embarrassed, confident and hopeful, all in one go.
Sita told Hanuman, “My dear son when you reach back, don’t tell Lord Rama about anything you saw today and what my condition without Him is. Just remind Him of His prowess.”
The Return Story
When Hanumanji reached back, Rama asked him about Mother Sita.
Hanumanji, with Sita’s words in his mind, does a situation analysis. He observes Lord Rama closely.
Rama’s voice is choked as He inquires about Sita. Seems as if all the good memories are flashing back and it seeemed as if happiness, love, laughter, hope, fear and despair are clogging his brain.
Hanumanji understands Rama has been searching for His beloved for long. Now that She has been found, He is curious to know how is She doing in His absence. Does She remember Him or not?
If he gives out the truth about Mother Sita’s deplorable condition, that would weaken Lord Rama. And that was exactly what couldn’t be afforded. Instead, the truth had to be delivered in a way that empowers Lord Rama and makes Him stand up and act.
Hanumanji, the Magician delivers again
And so Hanuman, after chewing in his brain and digesting in his intelligence gives a beautiful description of Mother Sita’s condition that brings the desired effect on Rama.
He says, “Mother Sita chants your names, day in and day out every day. If while doing so, she dies, people will lose faith in your Holy name. Because they will think if Rama’s name can’t protect Mother Sita, how will it protect us? Therefore she is holding onto her life just to protect the glory of your name.”
He continues the description with this beautiful analogy.
Mother Sita’s body is like cotton wool. The separation she experiences from Lord Rama is like fire. Technically, her body should burn in separation from you. But her eyes are shedding tears constantly which wets the wool and saves the body from burning.
She is desperately waiting for you to come and save her from this troublesome situation.
Lord Rama’s eyes welled up with tears and He immediately stood up and instructed, “Gather the whole army. We are marching to Lanka.”
My (derived & realised) understanding of Truth
I hope these two stories give you some perspective on Truth and Honesty. Through this, I tried to present the perspective that truth is decided by how it is reported.
Truth is important. And it should be conveyed. But along with stating facts, we should also gauge the impact it has on the receivers.
If truth results in anger and creates resentment and division between people, we may have dripped ourselves in the blanket of truth but we aren’t a supporter of truth.
Rather, when spoken in such a way that unites people and brings happiness, even if what we report is not 100 per cent correct, the relationship wins.
Love comes out victorious. Thereby, truth wins.
What is your idea of truth?
Please let me know in the comment box!
Footnotes
Stories, insights and inspiration from Shubha Vilas Sir, Author of Ramayana, the Game of Life series.
Story 1 is from Ayodhya Kanda, which is covered in Book 2 — Conquer Change
Story 2 is from Sundara Kanda, which is covered in Book 5 — Radiate Confidence
