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The Sanskrit
word for “Truth” is “Satyam”. The Truth is
fundamental for any one embarking on the journey
for Self Realization. At face value this seems
to be an obvious statement, but it is much
harder then originally appears. It actually
flies in the face of the conventional way of
working.
For those in a School which purports to follow
Truth, His Holiness Sri Shantandand Saraswati
gave this principle in 1971 with respect to the
leader of a School.
Shantananda (1971.7.1 & 2):
For justice, one needs to know only Truth and
stand fast by It... In conducting the affairs of
an organization at any level, Truth is
necessary. But the only point of assuring Truth
flowing freely is the starting point, the top
man. If he follows Truth in Its totality, every
level will learn to appreciate Truth and act
accordingly. Even if they did not act
accordingly, when they would come face to face
with the man who follows Truth, they would not
be able to conceal, for it would become obvious
out of their own mouths. So it is entirely up to
one single man to stick to the Truth.
It is up to one man, the leader of a school to
follow Truth in its totality for the members of
a school to learn to appreciate the Truth.
Conversely, the conclusion can be drawn that if
the leader of a school does not follow Truth in
its totality, the members of the school will not
be able to. His Holiness was quite categoric and
uncompromising in his statement.
The starting point for being truthful is at the
level of the material world. In any academic
research, it is absolutely necessary to be
factually accurate for the results of the
research to have validity. From time to time
scientists and their work have been discredited
because of flaws in the methodology or because
they have sought to manipulate the results to
achieve the ends they want. It is always so
tempting to try to achieve a certain outcome.
Much has been written in terms of statistical
analysis to achieve an unbiased and unblemished
sampling and approach to work. Even so, when
empirical evidence suggests a result contrary to
deeply held ideas, the conclusions drawn can be
regarded as heretical as in the case of Galileo.
The starting point then for some-one embarking
on the journey to Self Realization is to be
Truthful. Because younger people in the work
look to those more senior to them to guide them,
it is vital that those more senior people are
truthful in their dealings. However, as already
stated this is not as easy as it may appear on
the face of it. Mr MacLaren of the School of
Economic Science (the SES) used to periodically
delight in saying to his senior groups, “God is
not an Englishman you know”!!
Why did he say this? It was quite simply,
because people operate primarily in their
personal paradigm, or to use the Sanskrit term,
“wyashti” circle. Secondly, they operate in their cultural
paradigm or wyashti circle. What ever does not
fit into this is conveniently ignored or
disregarded. People have a great facility to
disregard what is not convenient. Indeed Al Gore
recognized this propensity in calling his movie
on climate change “An Inconvenient Truth”.
An area which is problematic is what can perhaps
be referred to as the “grand gesture”. It is a
Western trait to want to appear to work and
think on a universal scale, and so words such as
“magnanimity”, “humanity” and many others are
liberally sprinkled into a conversation to try
to give the impression the speaker is operating
from a largeness of being. An amusing example of
this was to hear people confer the status of
Kshatrya (The finest example of warrior class in
the Hindu Tradition) to the Americans following
the invasion of Iraq. It is hard to understand
how this was done, as the basis for the invasion
was from a flawed premise in every respect in
terms of the Advaita Vedanta tradition. If an
example of the correct way of operating is
needed, one only needs to look at Mahatma Ghandi
and see how he approached removing the oppressor
from India. It was using non-violence. In the
Advaita Vedanta Tradition non-violence is known
as “Ahimsa” which is also very important.
So the first stage in following the “Truth” is
to be rigorous in obtaining and facing the
facts, and then seek to surrender one’s views in
order to come to an understanding of the true
situation at the physical level, rather that
trying to fit the facts to one’s own views, or
dismiss things because they are not convenient.
If this cannot be done at the physical level,
there is no hope of doing it at the subtle or
causal levels. It is quite a shift for a man to
be able to accept the facts and let go his own
thinking in order to better understand things as
they really are, the more common way is to try
to fit the facts to one’s own view or
aspirations.
Part of the problem is the cultural perspective.
People of a particular culture reinforce in each
other the “reality” of the particular culture
they are from and tend to dismiss other
cultures. It is only after a man has come to the
point of being absolutely rigorous in his
attempts to accept the evidence in front of him
which may not accord at all with what he wants,
that he may begin to put the Truth first,
appreciating the limitations of his cultural
perspective and that it is just one perspective.
In this step a man has to realize that there are
other mental constructs outside of his own - or
at least that of his particular culture. Many
appreciate this intellectually, but the
realization is very rare indeed. Even if he does
come to this point, it is usual that he gives
validity to his own, and dismisses the other as
inferior or irrelevant. It usually takes him to
the point where he is desperate within his own
frame work before he is prepared to even
consider letting it go, or asking himself what
is beyond it?
Intellectually this all sounds very nice. But in
order for that to take place, one must first of
all be ready to allow for the dissolution of the
individual wyashti or paradigm. This is quite a
remarkable situation.
If he eventually comes to that, then he has to
be prepared for the deconstruction of his own
mental construct - paradigm - wyashti (call it
what you will). In practical terms, what person
in their "right" mind is going to allow their
personal mental framework to deconstruct? To
consider it another way, it requires a
remarkable act of faith and also inner strength
to allow this to begin to happen! The more so,
because it is not some nice intellectual
consideration, but rather a real disintegration
of the fabric of that which maintains
separation. It is a most unusual man indeed who
can embark on this.
For a man to follow Truth and uncompromisingly
put the Truth first is very, very rare. Mostly
people can go only so far and are then
deflected. They are not able, nor do they want,
to go beyond a certain point. The interesting
thing about this is that in this deflection they
begin to deviate from their original aim. Thus
you see the Inquisition being the total opposite
to that which Christ taught. This follows
lawfully in accordance with the Law of Seven.
When people reach an interval and do not cross
it, they become deflected from their original
aim but are not aware of it. The point they
reach becomes their aim, they do not see beyond
that.
What generally happens is very simple. It is
said that it is only a daring man who, seeking
to find himself, looks back. It is a very rare
man indeed even amongst those who purport to
follow the Truth who does this. What is this
looking back? It is when a man looks into his
heart and goes with what he knows within himself
to be True regardless of the external
consequences. Very few are prepared to do this.
Most sacrifice the Truth for external expediency
or through a fear of appearing stupid to those
around. There are so many excuses for not
following what one knows in one’s heart to be
true, and these excuses can all appear to be
justified. But the fact is, the man knows in his
heart it is not right but he covers it up. In
spiritual work we are tested. There comes a
point the man has to put himself on the line. If
he turns from what he knows in his heart is True
or correct, he begins to become deaf to the
Truth and the Truth gradually becomes covered up
in him. In accordance with the Law of Seven he
has become deflected and the octave cannot be
fulfilled in him. Who knows how many lifetimes
it may be before he may get the chance again to
come into contact with a man who really follows
Truth. Far better that he appear foolish now and
not deny his true nature. Suffice to say the
creation acts to keep people ensnared rather
than help them become free.
To cross these difficulties one needs a true
guide. That is a man who has gone before and has
become free himself. But this has to be earned.
The starting point is to be utterly truthful at
the physical level and be prepared to adopt a
true rigorous academic approach to the facts
rather than dismissing them as being
inconvenient or irrelevant. It is only through
this approach that a person may begin the next
step of starting to penetrate through real
knowledge and begin to understand the law at the
subtle or finer level. The man who does this is
quite some man. The work of Truth is not for
armchair philosophers, it requires the man put
himself on the line and be prepared to stand for
the Truth no matter what it costs him. This is a
remarkable work and the man who truly embarks on
it is a remarkable man. The one thing
consistently admired about Leon MacLaren, was
that he was uncompromising in his love for
Truth.
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