What is Truth? What is the Highest Truth?

Questioner: Is flattery considered truth? Does flattery mean to endorse something unnecessarily?

Dadashri: That is not called truth. Nothing is worthy of flattery. Flattery is a tool a person uses to conceal his mistake.

Questioner: Is there an advantage to speaking pleasantly with people?

Dadashri: Yes, it makes them happy.

Questioner: But when people discover later on that they have been lied to, they feel hurt. Some people may talk sweetly while some although they may have harsh speech, are sincere and honest.

Dadashri: What is honest speech? Is it the naked truth? If a boy says to his mother, "Hey you, my father's wife!" Is he not stating the truth? Yet such a statement would offend her. It would hurt her very much. You would call this the naked truth.

What is considered truth? There are four components to truth. Truth should be: beneficial, brief, pleasant and true (heet-mitta-priya-satya). Besides being true (satya), the truth should be pleasant to hear (priya), it should be beneficial (heetkari) and also brief (mitta). Not only should the truth be pleasant, but it must also benefit others and be brief too. I said something beneficial and pleasant to you but kept talking, you would say, 'Sir, please stop now and let me have lunch.' So it also needs to be brief. This is not a radio that can talk continuously. So all four components must be present for it to be the truth. To speak only the naked truth makes it not the truth.

What should a person's speech be like? It should include and combine all four of these components otherwise it becomes false. This principle applies to all speech used in our worldly interaction. Only the Gnani's speech encompasses all the four components. His speech is always for the benefit of others, never for his. The Gnani has absolutely no attachment for his relative self

The highest truth is one where no living being is hurt through the medium of the mind, the speech or the actions. This is the highest of all principles. This is not the real Truth (the Self), but it is the ultimate of all worldly truths.