Satya is defined as truthfulness without any hidden agendas or motives. As part of the 8 limbs of Raja Yoga, it forms the social practices in managing the senses of oneself. Aligned with Satya, I have always pride myself in being an honest person. I used to think of that as a quality of being “real” as opposed to being “fake” in today’s society. However, I realised that I haven’t adhered to Satya.
This is because I have only seen things from the lenses of my life. Be it in the social construct of Singapore, my personality or the experiences that I have gone through. Satya is only fulfilled when we remove the illusion of what we see from our perspective and see something as it simply is. However, I used to have fixed assumptions about people I am close as I was unable to shift it out of my experiences. I now realised that my perceived certainty has been misleading to what is actually truth; because I can never know everything about another person’s experiences, thoughts, intentions and actions. I have came to understand that this certainty has been the basis of conflict between opposing people sticking to their version of “truth”.
Satya also requires truthfulness that is in harmony with the other Yamas as well. For instance, this can refer to Yamas such as Ahimsa (non-violence) where one should show compassion and kindness while speaking the truth. Although I always speak about my truth, I am usually too blunt and don’t think about how my choice of words can cause hurt to someone else. It usually also comes with the intention of asserting my opinions onto others. In the past, I usually justify hurting someone’s feelings with the impression that I am right and they should the one that should change themselves. I realised that I should be more aware to express empathy to others even though I am speaking my truth.
Through this topic, I have realised my personal shortcomings in certain areas of my personality and will continue to reflect and work on them in terms of Satya and the other Yamas. I hope that this ignorance of mine would turn to knowledge for me to be a better version of myself starting today.
