अर्धसत्य-विषम्
Sanskrit
IAST
English (literal)
Half-truth is a great poison, sweet but binding. Speak whole or be silent, so truth is not broken.
English (poetic)
Half-truths wound deepest; wholeness heals.
Commentary
Bhāṣya
The mantra calls half-truth a ‘great poison’ because it preserves enough reality to be believable while bending the will. The mouth is bound not by chains but by sweetness — the pleasure of belonging to a story. This is how communal hatred is manufactured: a true injury is shown, then the context is removed, and an entire people becomes the target. The remedy is austere: speak the whole or keep silence. ‘Whole’ does not mean endless; it means non-deceptive. State the conditions. Name what you do not know. Include the strongest inconvenient fact. Propaganda fears wholeness because wholeness breaks enchantment. In the Param Veda framework, moral law is tied to epistemic law: if you damage truth, you damage dharma. Therefore the ethical person must refuse manipulative narration,
even when it benefits their side. That refusal is the seed of peace.
Praśna–Uttara
Prayoga
- When sharing news, add the missing context in one line.
- Distinguish ‘example’ from ‘general rule’; refuse to generalize from one case.
- Ask: who gains if I believe this?”