"Satyam"

1. Satyam is generally translated as 'Truth.'

 

2. In itself this translation is mum, and does not express any idea.

 

3. In the Vedanta, Satyam, is that which is the changeless substratum for all change and modification.

 

4. Examples: a). The post is the 'truth' in the ghost-vision; b). the rope is the 'truth' behind our mis-understanding that it is a serpent or a dry twig or a crack on the surface of the earth, or a streak of water. 

 

5. Therefore, the superimposition, the ghost, is declared as 'false,' while, relatively of course, the post is considered as 'Truth.'

 

6. In the life we are watching an endless variety of change : a). time changes, b). season changes. c). individuals keep on changing in their body, mind and intellect.

 

7. Nothing is permanent even for a moment; in the general and continuous state of flux, there must be a changes possible upon it. That Satyam is Brahmam.

 

8. The screen in the movie-house, the river-bed in the river, the rails in the railways --- these are the changeless, permanent, the 'Truth.' 

 

9. That factor which is immutable, upon which the finite changes are rendered possible, is Satyam-------The Brahmam of the Upanishadik literature.

 

10. Taittiriya Upanishad : Chapter-2. ( Brahmananda Valli), Section-1. ( Brahmam is Satyam, Jnanam, Anantam-- Enunciation of the Doctrine of Sheaths), Mantram-1.