Upanishads · Rudrākṣajābāla 2.10
॥
Devanāgarī
वस्वष्टकप्रियं चैव गङ्गाप्रीतिकरं तथा । तद्धारणादिमे प्रीता भवेयुः सत्यवादिनः
Transliteration (IAST)
vasvaṣṭakapriyaṃ caiva gaṅgāprītikaraṃ tathā | taddhāraṇādime prītā bhaveyuḥ satyavādinaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
वसु-अष्टक-प्रियं च एवvasu-aṣṭaka-priyaṃ ca evaand dear to the eight Vasus
गङ्गा-प्रीति-करं तथाgaṅgā-prīti-karaṃ tathāand likewise giving joy to the Gaṅgā
तत्-धारणात् इमे प्रीताःtat-dhāraṇāt ime prītāḥfrom wearing it, these become pleased
भवेयुः सत्य-वादिनःbhaveyuḥ satya-vādinaḥand let [the wearers] become truthful in speech
Translation
And dear to the eight Vasus, and likewise giving joy to the Gaṅgā; from wearing it these become pleased, and [the wearers] become truthful in speech.
Version
0e7c4d5fede3 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is the one promise in this whole list that concerns character: satya-vādinaḥ, "truthful in speech." Let us look back over what has been read, to see how solitary this is. What was promised: dissolution, the gods' pleasure, prosperity, health, intelligence, knowledge, purity — and not once until now has it been said that the wearer will become better.
Here it is said, and it is worth noting. Truthfulness, satya, stands very high in the Indian list of virtues: it belongs to yama, the first limb of the eightfold yoga, together with non-harming and non-taking of another's property. And its association here with the Gaṅgā, named in the same line, is no accident: water is called to witness when the truth is told.
The Vaiṣṇava side fully agrees at this point and adds to truthfulness only one thing — direction. The Bhāgavatam, listing the marks of true religion, sets side by side mercy, purity, austerity, and truthfulness; but says all of them hold only so long as they serve bhagavad-dharma, and by themselves easily turn into their opposite. This turning deserves naming, for it is familiar to everyone. Truthfulness without love becomes cruelty: a person speaks the truth not because it is needed, but because it pleases him to say it; and the Mahābhārata examines such cases at length, declaring that a truth spoken to harm ceases to be truth.
Hence the merit of this line, for all its solitude in the list, is incomplete. To promise truthfulness is good; but truthfulness must still be directed toward someone, and of this the book says nothing.