Satya: Truthfulness

Satya: Truthfulness

by Scott Nanamura

The second Yama of Patanjal's eight-fold path is Satya.  Satya loosely translates into English as "truth" or "reality".  It is a term of power due to its purity and meaning and has become the emblem of many peaceful social movements.  The philosophical meaning of the word "Satya" is "unchangeable", "that which has no distortion", "that which is beyond distinctions of time, space, and person", "that which pervades the universe in all its constancy."  Human life progresses through different stages, from childhood to adolescence, from adolescence to youth, and youth to old age.  It is through these changes that people progress in the form world.  That is why human life or its receptacle, the body, is not Satya.  Another notion of truth implies a higher order, a higher principle or a higher knowledge.  Satya is what one becomes aware of upon becoming Bodhisattva (enlightened or awakened person).