Posted on April 12, 2026 at 06:15 AM
Suppose everyone was lying about everything all the time. Can we as individuals and as a society survive? The answer is a resounding no. Because even if we turn every lie in our heads into its opposite, we will not reach the truth in every case.
Most of the time we guess the truth, and this obviously complicates our lives to no end. What’s more, one can think of any number of cases in which lying would have serious consequences for the other person, and perhaps even for ourselves.
Conversely, telling the truth is inherently life enhancing. Not only does it simplify our interactions with each other, but it also imparts nobility and dignity. Because by sharing the truth with another person, we affirm that person’s intrinsic worthiness. Above all, through honesty we share in the truth itself. It will become clear what I mean by this.
We can easily see the disruptive effect of lying in daily life, especially among our leaders. Politics has become almost synonymous with lying and cheating. Big corporations are another area where lying is useful, lest the truth require healthier environmental and other standards.
But lying may go deeper than that. Two and a half thousand years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato wondered in his book The Republic whether one could invent a “noble lie” that would carry sufficient condemnation for an entire society. In fact, such a basic lie – although it may not be so noble – exists in our Western society. That lie is the belief generated by scientific materialism that life is one-dimensional and that all talk of a higher truth is mere fantasy.
From this central lie emerges an entire view of life that deprives us of our participation in the higher dimensions of existence and thus of our human dignity. As long as we think and reinforce in each other the belief that we are merely fleshy bodies destined to fade into nothingness at the hour of death, we are living a lie that belittles us.
Yoga tells the truth
It is no wonder that honesty is traditionally celebrated as the highest moral virtue, and the foundation of all other virtues. Thus in the Mahanirvana-Tantra, composed over 1,000 years ago, we find the following declaration:
Without honesty, there is no point in worship. Without sincerity, recitation is of no use. Without honesty, asceticism is fruitless, like a seed in a barren land…. Honesty is the best asceticism. All actions must be rooted in honesty. Nothing is better than honesty.
This expresses a sentiment that was once universal, but today is nothing more than a beautiful saying. However, the spiritual traditions of the world, particularly Yoga, contain many influential considerations about the nature of truth and honesty, which have lost none of their relevance.
For the traditional yogi, telling the truth is a manifestation of the ultimate truth, which is divine truth. This means that when we are honest, we participate in some way in the ultimate truth. To be true means to respect God, to cling to Him, and even to communicate with Him. Here lies the power of truth.
By being honest, we are being true to our higher divine nature. The Sanskrit word for truthfulness is satya, which is etymologically and semantically related to sat, denoting what is true or truly exists. We transform a part of the universe – our immediate circumstance and our lives – into a slice of heaven.
This is the central task of all spiritual work: to transform nature, our nature as well as nature in general, and make it compatible with the divine. Honesty is the moral foundation upon which a yoga practitioner can build a temple of spiritual discipline and conscious living. This is as true today as it was thousands of years ago.
Honesty has many facets. The first above all is sincerity, which is absolutely essential on the spiritual path. As the great Hindu scriptures remind us, as long as we are susceptible to deception, self-deception, dishonesty, pretense, hypocrisy, and pretense, our spiritual seeds will fall on barren ground. Lies are like quicksand, sucking into oblivion even our best endeavours.
These ideas seem almost foreign to our modern minds, accustomed to a wide range of deceptions.
There are occasions when telling the truth is cruel, as when a young child anxiously waiting for Santa Claus is told that Santa Claus does not exist. But there are many occasions when telling the truth may be painful in the moment but brings perfection in the long run, such as when we admit wrongdoing. But honesty requires courage and confidence, qualities that call for what was once called heroic action.
Devoted yogis are constantly challenged to keep the ultimate truth in their minds (and in their hearts). However, their highest aspirations are supported by those countless small truths that demand respect throughout the day.
Yoga expects us to be heroes and heroines, not the reckless kind, but the kind who go about their daily routines with integrity and with the knowledge that truth is a great power and integral to self-actualization and self-transcendence.
