MBA CENTRAL APTITUDE QUIZ-6
Truthfulness is inherently life-enhancing. Not only does it simplify our interactions with one another, it also is dignifying and even ennobling. For in sharing the truth with another person, we affirm that person's intrinsic worthiness. Above all, through truthfulness, we participate in truth itself.
We can readily observe the chaotic effect of untruthfulness in daily life, especially among our leaders. Politics has become almost synonymous with lying and cheating. Big business is another area where lying is considered expedient, lest the truth should require better business standards or an ecological conscience and hence cut into the all-pervasive profit margin.
But lying may go even deeper than that. Two and a half millennia ago, the Greek philosopher Plato wondered in his Republic whether one could contrive a "noble lie" that would carry enough conviction for a whole community. In fact, such a core lie is operative in our society. That lie is the belief, spawned by scientific materialism, that life is one-dimensional and that all talk about a higher Reality is mere fantasy.
From this central lie, springs an entire outlook on life that deprives us of our participation in the higher dimensions of existence and thus of our human dignity. For as long as we think and reinforce in each other the belief that we are only meat bodies destined to vanish into nothingness at the hour of death, we are living a lie that diminishes us incisively.
Little wonder that truthfulness has traditionally been celebrated as the highest moral virtue, and the foundation of all other virtues. Thus, in the Mahânirvâna-Tantra, composed nearly one thousand years ago, we find the following declaration:
Without truthfulness, worship is futile. Without truthfulness, recitation is useless. Without truthfulness, asceticism is as unfruitful as seed in barren soil . . . . Truly, truthfulness is the best asceticism. All actions should be rooted in truthfulness. Nothing is more excellent than truthfulness.
This expresses a sentiment that once was global but that, today, is generally little more than a pretty saying. However, the spiritual traditions of the world, notably Yoga, contain many poignant considerations of the nature of truth and truthfulness, which have lost none of their relevance.
For the traditional yogi, truthfulness is a manifestation of Truth, otherwise referred to as "the ultimate Reality" or "the Divine." By being truthful in our words, actions, and even our thoughts, we are automatically true to our own higher nature, which is the ultimate Truth.
According to Yoga, everything is a manifestation of the ultimate Reality anyway, but this fact is not obvious to us so long as we are under the spell of spiritual ignorance. Therefore, while we are subject to this spell, we automatically live inauthentic lives. To put it bluntly, we live a lie. The lie consists of the illusion that we are a limited body-mind that needs to fear death and that is separate from all other equally limited and fearful body-minds. Thus, even when we attempt to be truthful, our truthfulness is circumstantial rather than radical, because we fail to know our own true nature. Only when we are in touch with Reality can we be completely truthful in any situation.
Truthfulness in words, actions, and thoughts is the moral foundation upon which Yoga practitioners must build their temple of spiritual discipline and conscious living. Through steady practise of this virtue, they gradually let go of the big lie at the core of ordinary (unenlightened) human existence and discover who they truly are.
These thoughts seem almost outlandish to our modern mind, which is so used to a wide variety of deceptions. It is no exaggeration to say that we are surrounded by pretense and lies – from advertising to politics to interpersonal relationships. For many of us truth is what is expedient in the moment.
Truthfulness is inherently life-enhancing. Not only does it simplify our interactions with one another, it also is dignifying and even ennobling. For in sharing the truth with another person, we affirm that person's intrinsic worthiness. Above all, through truthfulness, we participate in truth itself.
We can readily observe the chaotic effect of untruthfulness in daily life, especially among our leaders. Politics has become almost synonymous with lying and cheating. Big business is another area where lying is considered expedient, lest the truth should require better business standards or an ecological conscience and hence cut into the all-pervasive profit margin.
But lying may go even deeper than that. Two and a half millennia ago, the Greek philosopher Plato wondered in his Republic whether one could contrive a "noble lie" that would carry enough conviction for a whole community. In fact, such a core lie is operative in our society. That lie is the belief, spawned by scientific materialism, that life is one-dimensional and that all talk about a higher Reality is mere fantasy.
From this central lie, springs an entire outlook on life that deprives us of our participation in the higher dimensions of existence and thus of our human dignity. For as long as we think and reinforce in each other the belief that we are only meat bodies destined to vanish into nothingness at the hour of death, we are living a lie that diminishes us incisively.
Little wonder that truthfulness has traditionally been celebrated as the highest moral virtue, and the foundation of all other virtues. Thus, in the Mahânirvâna-Tantra, composed nearly one thousand years ago, we find the following declaration:
Without truthfulness, worship is futile. Without truthfulness, recitation is useless. Without truthfulness, asceticism is as unfruitful as seed in barren soil . . . . Truly, truthfulness is the best asceticism. All actions should be rooted in truthfulness. Nothing is more excellent than truthfulness.
This expresses a sentiment that once was global but that, today, is generally little more than a pretty saying. However, the spiritual traditions of the world, notably Yoga, contain many poignant considerations of the nature of truth and truthfulness, which have lost none of their relevance.
For the traditional yogi, truthfulness is a manifestation of Truth, otherwise referred to as "the ultimate Reality" or "the Divine." By being truthful in our words, actions, and even our thoughts, we are automatically true to our own higher nature, which is the ultimate Truth.
According to Yoga, everything is a manifestation of the ultimate Reality anyway, but this fact is not obvious to us so long as we are under the spell of spiritual ignorance. Therefore, while we are subject to this spell, we automatically live inauthentic lives. To put it bluntly, we live a lie. The lie consists of the illusion that we are a limited body-mind that needs to fear death and that is separate from all other equally limited and fearful body-minds. Thus, even when we attempt to be truthful, our truthfulness is circumstantial rather than radical, because we fail to know our own true nature. Only when we are in touch with Reality can we be completely truthful in any situation.
Truthfulness in words, actions, and thoughts is the moral foundation upon which Yoga practitioners must build their temple of spiritual discipline and conscious living. Through steady practise of this virtue, they gradually let go of the big lie at the core of ordinary (unenlightened) human existence and discover who they truly are.
These thoughts seem almost outlandish to our modern mind, which is so used to a wide variety of deceptions. It is no exaggeration to say that we are surrounded by pretense and lies – from advertising to politics to interpersonal relationships. For many of us truth is what is expedient in the moment.
In a mini library there are four shelves. Each shelf contains books of a different subject among physics, chemistry, maths and biology. Each shelf contains a different even number of books. None of the shelves is empty. A confused librarian misplaced these books. The following is known about the books in different shelves.
- All the shelves together have 24 books, out of which half are misplaced.
- The number of books in Chemistry shelf is twice that of the number of books in Physics shelf.
- The books of any specific subject are placed in a maximum of two shelves.
- Each shelf has the same number of books as it initially had.
- Two third of books in maths shelf should have been in biology shelf.
- All but two books which are now in maths shelf do not belong to that shelf.
- A maximum of half the physics books are misplaced by the librarian.
In a mini library there are four shelves. Each shelf contains books of a different subject among physics, chemistry, maths and biology. Each shelf contains a different even number of books. None of the shelves is empty. A confused librarian misplaced these books. The following is known about the books in different shelves.
- All the shelves together have 24 books, out of which half are misplaced.
- The number of books in Chemistry shelf is twice that of the number of books in Physics shelf.
- The books of any specific subject are placed in a maximum of two shelves.
- Each shelf has the same number of books as it initially had.
- Two third of books in maths shelf should have been in biology shelf.
- All but two books which are now in maths shelf do not belong to that shelf.
- A maximum of half the physics books are misplaced by the librarian.