satyam bruyat priyam bruyat
na bruyat satyam apriyam
priyam ca nanrutam bruyat
esha dharmah sanatanah
-Manusmriti
Speak the truth, speak pleasantly,
Do not speak the truth in an unpleasant manner
Even if pleasant, do not speak untruth,
This is the path of eternal righteousness.
thank you for this knowledge
Namaskar
Great teaching -truly our scriptures teach us to be Truthful and also Not hurt any one- in speech or action.
Taittriya Upanishad-“Satyam Vadaa Dharmam Chara”.
This Manusmriti sloka gives us a way and path to speech that will not hurt. This teaching was a subject in our Satsangh many years ago-
Thank you
Rgds TR
Speak truth in such a way that it should be pleasing to others.
I have a concern regarding “na bruyat satyam apriyam”. If the truth is unpleasant, but that is unfortunately true, and we don’t do anything about it, will justice have been served? Example: If someone has been unfairly treated by an individual in authority whom most people like or fear. Can’t the person who’s been treated unfairly not say it and raise awareness or seek remediation? Did what he experienced become false?
One should tell truth and hold back truth for the greater good of the world……but should not hurt people individually….let your neighbours, family and
friends happy…..
It is not correct to say that unplessnt truth should not be told. It should be told but not in a unplessnt manner, need to be told by reducing the unplessntness. e.g. how krishna tells about death of Abhimanyu during Kurukshetrs
“Na Bruyat Satyam Apriyam” is translated as ‘Do not speak the truth in an unpleasant manner’. It does not say ‘do not speak the truth if unpleasant’. Rather, the sloka’s basic essence is:
Always speak in a beautiful manner, but never lie.
The truth (whether pleasant or unpleasant) must be spoken – only beautifully, at the same time do not make the truth a lie.
There would be situations in life that demand speaking out bitter truth..hurtful truth. In the interest of society, if it is required not to follow tanvient wisdom, one cannot find fault.his
Satyam bruyat:- speak the truth
Priyam bruyat:- speak the truth that is pleasant
Na bruyat asatyam:- do not speak that is not the truth
Ch bruyat apriya satyam:- and do not speak the truth that is unpleasant.
This is a jewel from the Manusmriti!
Satyam bruyat, priyam bruyat – Speak the truth and speak pleasantly.
na bruyat satyam apriyam – do not speak the truth that is unpleasant. Here we should not confuse between a truth and crime. An offence committed by someone will always be unpleasant to the criminal. This verse is not telling us to suppress the truth related to offences of any kind. What it is essentially trying to teach us is to check the mentality of ” I don’t care whether you are hurt, I will speak the truth” or “Hum to sach bolenge, tumhe bura laga to laga”.
priyam ca nanrutam bruyat – even if it is pleasant, do not speak the untruth. As we should not speak the unpleasant truth we should also not speak utter lies however they may be pleasant.
esha dharmah sanatanah – this is the philosophy of eternal righteousness. the Sanatan Dharma teaches us this principle.
*Art of speech*
Always speak truth never lie in any circumstances
Truth agreed or disagreed must be said for the welfare of the being in pleasant full manner – Manusmriti
Sukant Sarkarji my opinion.
Here Na bruyat satyam apriyam does not mean do not speak truth that is unpleasant.
You have to speak the truth all the time,
but speak the truth in a pleasant manner. Thanks.
There is a bhashanam of the present Mahasannidhanam Bharathi Theertha Swamiji of Shringeri.
He gives an example, if there is a child that is not pleasant to look at and the mother of the child asks, “ My child is so beautiful isn’t he?” We should not say no, your child is not beautiful, even in a pleasant manner. It is still hurting. It is better to just stay quiet and smile. Or even saying yes, if an answer is insisted on, is not wrong here.
Whereas, in the case of Drona and Krishna, in the Mahabharatha war, Krishna told Yudhishtra to whisper inaudibly the word, Ashwathama. That is tantamount to a lie. Yet it is not wrong.
Because Drona had so much Thapas Shakthi and there is no way anyone could have beaten him. And he was on the side of Duryodhana by choice that he made when they were young. He wanted to avenge his insult at the hands of Drupada.
So to remove Drona, for the sake of establishing Dharma by exterminating the Kauravas who were Rakshasas, evil even in ruling their kingdom, Krishna resorted to such unethical means.
If the choice is between lying and killing Dharma or hiding the truth and protecting the Dharma that protects the whole world, then the choice is always protecting Dharma as it protects the world.
So the only Apriyam is Adharma.
Dharma eva hato hanthi, Dharmo Rakshathi Rakshithah:
@Jay V, you very rightly pointed out, but there lies the beauty of this shloka: ” Na bruyat Satyam apriyam.” If the truth is unpleasant, but that is unfortunately true, and we don’t do anything about it, will justice have been served?
This shloka never says anything about not ‘doing anything’ what it says is to check whether the revelation of the truth is unpleasant or not. If we encounter a situation where we find the truth is unwelcome, our first duty is to follow the first principle of “satyam bruyat priyam bruyat” and try to present the truth in such way that is not unpleasant. Our communication of truth should not come in the way of justice. Sometimes facts are discussed behind closed walls with the judge, and justice is served without society being made aware of the facts. Like if there’s an unpleasant truth about a teacher doing something unethical with children needs to be communicated but only to the extent it serves the purpose of justice, it need not be published in society which may lead to discouragement in parents to send their kids to schools.
Hope, I have been able to clarify your doubts to some extent.