SCHYS's students on Satya
Truthfulness in thought, feeling, and action. I am wondering why it is not non-lying, but instead just truthfulness. I've read about how if truthfulness causes harm then we must choose non-harming over truthfulness. So, telling someone that you don't like their hat could cause harm, don't do it. But when I really sat with the idea of capital-T truthfulness as experienced by the highest capital-S Self, I don't know that truthfulness could cause harm. The little self cares about things like hats and preferences. The larger Self knows and lives in this Truth: that hats and preferences don't matter and in fact we are not separate from one another, we are one, and anything that we could think, feel, say, or act towards another would carry this Truth with it, making Satya and Ahimsa never in conflict.
—by M.Hope
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Satya, the second of the Yamas, means restraining oneself from being, speaking, or acting in false ways-Practice Truthfulness in all matters. When I think about the opposite of Truth, I think of deception, lies, (white and black lies), exaggeration, misrepresentation, manipulation and twisting of reality. When I think of Being false, I think of what it looks like and feels like to "live a lie," to be untrue to yourself or others. I read that Satya or non-lying "enables the operation of the Universe," and I very much agree. Without truthfulness, there can be no trust. Without trust, we cannot relate to each other as human beings and cannot provide ourselves and others in community with the basic needs of life- food, shelter and safety.
—by MJ Meadows
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Satya - truthful. Truthful, from the dictionary means; telling or expressing truth; honest; characterized by accuracy or realism; true to life. Which made me think of Polonius when he stated, "This above all; to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." Which lead me to think about a bible verse, James 3:8-12 ...but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord, and with it we curse human beings. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. ...this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ...can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? (paraphrased) My point is, we should strive to be truthful all the time. Having truthful parts in our lives and non-truthful areas in our lives, either with others or ourselves, would be mis-leading and therefore not truthful of who we are or should be.
Our tongue is a powerful unit. Can truth be relayed only in speech? I don't believe so,... but that is my truth. Here are some quotes that came to mind; "actions speak louder than words," "The cruelest of lies are often told in silence. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson"
"But that is my truth" Who's truth is truth? Is not our perception from our own experiences what we believe to be truth? I watched a great documentary about our brain and they did some experiments and even though it was video taped and we could see in replay what happened, the eye witnesses believed their truth about the situation and even when the video was replayed, they had a hard time understanding what they thought was truth, wasn't.
Bringing my crazy monkey brain back to her seat, Satya is truthful. Anytime we feel confused or lost or hurt, we can ask our selves, ''what are my truths?'' My truth, I am loved, I am blessed, I am kind, I will do my best....etc....fill in your blank. Lastly, one of my favorite quotes, T.H.I.N.K before you speak. Is it TRUE, Is it HELPFUL, Is it INSPIRING, Is it NECESSARY, and Is it KIND. Keeping this quote in mind as we share our truth I think would also keep us in ahimsa.
—by S.Loeffler
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Satya, truthfulness, restraint from falsehood and distortion of one's expressions and actions. This one always ends up crossing with Ahimsa to me too, something that “M” touched on above. I don't always feel certain that my being truthful in certain instances won't end up causing harm. Which is why I have certain areas/relationships in my life where I am honest with myself about how I feel but not honest with others, especially when I deem my feelings to be negative or hurtful. I judge myself for this too. I've journaled more about this one and my final sentence in my journal is "the path to clarity on this yama is not clear or easy for me. I withhold truth, my truth. It hurts me most and has a negative impact on my attitude and probably my behavior. Break this pattern."
—by K.Slater
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Satya - Truthfulness. Yogi Satchidananda wrote that by the establishment of truthfulness yogis get to attain for themselves and others the fruits of work without doing the work. At first this seemed a strange comment on truthfulness but as I thought about it I remembered an aha moment I had when reading a book by Joan Halifax. As I was reading it, I thought wow I don't have to spend the time in deep contemplation discovering the meaning of this, I just have to feel the truthfulness of it. I think what Yogi Satchidananda is saying is that truth has its own energy and the more you reach for it, dwell in it, and learn to speak with it, the more you will know it. To me when working with Satya, I have to move through its sister/friend misapprehension. When truth appears sometimes it hits up against old beliefs, values, or just things I thought were true that start to unravel. This can feel unnerving and uncomfortable. At times I have felt it as a physical sensation of dizziness or upset in the stomach. I have learned to give this space. Not to get too panicked, but to let the truth settle in and find its new home in my mind and heart. Sometimes it is like watching a boat emerge from the fog. Perhaps I can only see the helm, not sure of how big the boat is or what kind, but knowing there is more coming and I just won’t know - till I know. Through this process I have learned not to hold tightly to what i believe to be true. I know it is what I believe now, but I may learn something or gain a new perspective that will expand the truth yet again.
—by C.Oliver
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How do we know what is truth and what is distorted by our perception? Discernment of the truth can be really challenging. At first I thought that truth was the things we come back to over and over again. And that could be true in some cases, but those things we return too could also just be the path of least resistance and not necessarily what we need. Can our deepest ruts be the ones that "feel right". And how reliable is a feeling. During these past few weeks I have been thinking about how we separate "real" truth from we want to be true and what we tell ourselves to be true. And it has been hard. I see satya as a deep knowing that I need to remind myself to have faith in. I have been trying to figure out what I want to do with my life and trying to look at this question with truth. And I have been using the concept of vinyasa krama and class planning as a tool for this contemplation. What is my ultimate goal, and how can I “vinyasa krama” my life in order to support my goal. This has been helpful to me in a somewhat unstable time:)
—by S.Swan