On Mundaka Upanishad: Truth alone conquers

Following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

सत्यमेव जयते नानृतं सत्येन पन्था विततो देवयानः ।
येनाक्रमन्त्यृषयो ह्याप्तकामा यत्र तत् सत्यस्य परमं निधानम् ॥

satyameva jayate nānṛtaṃ satyena panthā vitato devayānaḥ
yenākramantyṛṣayo hyāptakāmā yatra tat satyasya paramaṃ nidhānam

It is Truth alone that conquers and not falsehood; by Truth was stretched out the path of the journey of the gods, by which the sages winning their desire ascend there where Truth has its supreme abode.

~ Verse 3.1.6, Mundaka Upanishad

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Acharya Prashant (AP): “It is Truth alone that wins and not falsehood; by Truth was stretched out the path of the journey of the gods, by which the sages winning their desire ascend there where Truth has its supreme abode.”

Probably the most famous of the Upanishadic verses in the contemporary world. Satymaeva jayate* — Truth alone wins. And it goes on to re-emphasize by saying: *Satyameva jayate nānṛtaṃ satyena, Truth alone wins and not falsehood, not asatya. So, there is double emphasis. We will have to go very carefully and very attentively into this.

Is it your experience in your life, in the daily world, that Truth alone wins? Do you see that happening? How is it that the sages are emphatical — there is the double emphasis — announcing here that nothing but the Truth is going to win and not falsehood? Let’s see.

Begin from the fundamentals. To whom are these things being said? To the mind, to the student, to the ego. The ego is the recipient of these words: Truth alone wins.

Now, the Truth is a chooser, a decision-maker at every point in its existence. Truth is one of the choices in front of the ego. The ego always has two choices, in a general way. Even if there are forty choices, they can be distilled down to two: thirty-nine choices can be bundled into one, false…