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Ashwmedhsahastram ch satyam ch tulya dhritam Ashwmedhasahastadhi satyamev vishishtai
- Maha. Adiparv 75/10
The worldly people follow suit to the utterances of the great men who attain excellence by the acquisition of perfect speech and perfect spirituality. When the Tirthankaras attain absolute truth and all supreme virtues, human beings follow to the letter the nectar-like sweet sermon that has a spontaneous overflow from their lotus mouth. In daily routine of our practical life too we observe that people pay attention to the words of men with a lofty character, and listen with reverence to the words of ideal persons who always speak the truth as well as practice it in life. The sages and gods have acknowledged truth alone as superb. Only a truthful person attains supreme immortality in this world. Shukraniti' 3/257-58 states:
Ya sahayam sada kuryat prtipam na vadait vachchit Satyam hitam vakti yati datai grihnrati mitrtam
I.e., He who is always helpful, never utters bitter and unpleasant words, talks only about truthful and beneficial things, believes in the policy of 'give and take' becomes a true friend. It has been said, "A friend in need, is a friend indeed."
Sometimes some situations come when even truth turns into untruth e.g., to call blind a 'blind'. Though it may be a fact that a man is blind by birth, it is a bitter truth to call him a blind, because such a remark hurts his feelings and causes agony to his heart. Such words as inflict pain to somebody's heart are regarded untrue despite their being true. In the 'Vana Parva' of the Mahabharat' this fact has been expressed thus:
Yad bhuthitmatyatam, tat satyamitidharanra Vipryakrito Dharma, pashya Dharmasya sukhsamtam
That indeed is the real truth, which contributes to the welfare of all living beings. On the contrary that which causes harm to somebody is untruth. Therefore, always speak the truth, speak affectionate and pleasant words; but never speak unpleasant words despite their being true and do not speak a bitter truth.
Once a sage sat in a forest. Just then some people came running after a cow to kill it. The sage at once understood that these people were none else but butchers and hunters. They were on their hunting mission. Seeing these hunters the sage stood up. All these people came to the saint and spoke, "O holy saint! Has any cow passed this way?" The saint was in a fix. If he said 'yes', all these butchers would chase and kill the cow; if he said, 'No', he would be branded a liar. To escape these two adverse situations the saint at once sat down and said, "No cow has passed this side since I have sat down." If he had said so in a standing position, it would have been falsehood. Therefore, to speak whatever
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