SATYA. KYA HAI ? (What is the truth?)

"SATYA  KYA  HAI" ?
(what is the truth?)

 
One day the great philosopher Socrates came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"

"Wait a moment," Socrates replied, "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Test of Three."

"Three?"

"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to test what you're going to say.

The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"Oh no," the man said, "actually I just heard about it."

"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"

"No, on the contrary..."

"So," Socrates interrupted, "you want to tell me something bad about him even though you're not certain it's true?"

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

Socrates continued. "You may still pass though, because there is a third test - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"

"Well it....no, not really..."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all!"

The problem with our human race is that we are news mongers. It starts with the first cup of morning  tea when we pick up the newspaper and get brainwashed. And then there is the bombardment of a hundted TV channels, each presenting its own version of the TRUTH.Everything there is supposed to be true. An advertiser claims that his brand of toothpaste is better than the rest. Years later we find at our cost that it was not true. Same thing with claims about tonics, snacks and houses on sale and other things. And to confound the matter celebrities are roped in to drive it into your memory cells that truth, and nothing but the truth, is being told. No legal responsibilities fixed on celebrities . And we just remember the falsehoods of  Goebbel !

Even the BBC is now suspect ! Read this:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bbc-accused-of-telling-more-half-truths-and-lies-than-the-nazis-at-snp-conference-a6697761.html

The age of internet is a nightmare. You type something absolutely false and with a click it spreads faster than wildfire across the world. A simple,honest, peace loving citizen does not know what to believe.

That reminds me of a poem by  one of our most respected leaders. Here it is :

                        सत्य क्या है ?
                          यक्ष प्रश्न
            ~ अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी

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जो कल थे,
वे आज नहीं हैं ।
जो आज हैं,
वे कल नहीं होंगे ।
होने, न होने का क्रम,
इसी तरह चलता रहेगा,
हम हैं, हम रहेंगे,
यह भ्रम भी सदा पलता रहेगा । . . . . .

सत्य क्या है?
होना या न होना?
या दोनों ही सत्य हैं?
जो है, उसका होना सत्य है,
जो नहीं है, उसका न होना सत्य है ।
मुझे लगता है कि
होना-न-होना एक ही सत्य के
दो आयाम हैं,
शेष सब समझ का फेर,
बुद्धि के व्यायाम हैं ।
किन्तु न होने के बाद क्या होता है,
यह प्रश्न अनुत्तरित है ।. . . . . .

प्रत्येक नया नचिकेता,
इस प्रश्न की खोज में लगा है ।
सभी साधकों को इस प्रश्न ने ठगा है ।
शायद यह प्रश्न, प्रश्न ही रहेगा।
यदि कुछ प्रश्न अनुत्तरित रहें
तो इसमें बुराई क्या है?
हाँ, खोज का सिलसिला न रुके,
धर्म की अनुभूति,
विज्ञान का अनुसंधान,
एक दिन, अवश्य ही
रुद्ध द्वार खोलेगा।
प्रश्न पूछने के बजाय
यक्ष स्वयं उत्तर बोलेगा ।

****