Upanishads · Gaṇapati 2.1
॥
Devanāgarī
ऋतं वच्मि । सत्यं वच्मि
Transliteration (IAST)
ṛtaṃ vacmi | satyaṃ vacmi
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ऋतं वच्मिṛtaṃ vacmiI speak the cosmic truth
सत्यं वच्मिsatyaṃ vacmiI speak the truth
Translation
I speak the cosmic truth, I speak the truth.
Version
775b90d40ccf · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Two words, both translated the same in English — "truth"; but in Sanskrit they differ, and the difference is worth unpacking. Ṛta is the oldest Vedic word, meaning the order of the world: that by which the sun rises on time, rivers flow their courses, and word matches deed. Its root is the same as in ṛtu, "season," and in our word "rite," "ritual."
Satya — from sat, "being": that which is really so; hence "truthfulness" as a quality of speech. The difference between them, put briefly, is this: ṛta is the truth of order, satya the truth of correspondence. The one answers "is it as it should be," the other "is it as it is."
Joining both in a vow formula means: I speak both in good conscience and in fact. It is worth noting that the speaker begins with this before asking for anything. He does not go straight to the request but first vouches for his own speech; and this, to my mind, is the right order, for the request of a man whose word carries no weight carries no weight itself.
The Vaiṣṇava side counts truthfulness first among the four pillars of dharma — truthfulness, purity, mercy, austerity — and the Bhāgavatam says that in this present age three pillars have collapsed, and everything still rests on the one, truthfulness (1.17.24–25). Hence it is called the last support: where people stop speaking the truth, everything else ends too.