Page 64 - Mystic Pathways through the Bible

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58 Mystic pathways through the bible
You have spoken the truth, no doubt, but your truth violated the basic ethical principle of ahimsa or nonviolence. Your intention was directed more towards hurting the person for your own advantage than promoting the truth. If your speech is compelled by anger or hate and is intended to harm someone, then although technically your words are perfectly truthful, from a spiritual point of view, it is not truth. Your “truth” is a form of falsehood. You are actually perpetuating your ego, which is false, rather than serving truth.
One of the most well known illustrations of the misuse of truth on the verbal level is the story in the Mahabharata of how Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas, insulted the Kaurava leader, Duryodhana, with harsh words that accelerated the beginning of the Mahabharata War. As recounted in this great epic work, the ve Pandavas and their wife Draupadi were living in a royal palace that had been designed in a most unique way; it was constructed of transparent walls and oors that shimmered like pools of water.
One day, their enemy, Duryodhana, walked into the palace to observe its unusual architecture. Disoriented by the transparent walls, he banged against the walls because he couldn’t see where he was going. Perplexed by the optical illusion of the shimmering oors, he lifted his clothes as if