[Advaita-l] Rtam and Satyam

[jaldhar at braincells.com]

On Fri, 1 Jul 2022, Anand N via Advaita-l wrote:

> Subbuji gave an example where Satyam is the practical aspect and Rtam is
> the potential aspect of truth.
> Are these not contradictory?
> Could anyone please clarify.
>

To get some idea of the concept of Rta, let us look at derivative words 
from various languages.

In most Indian languages Rtu means season of the year or a womans' 
menstrual period.  In English (derived from Latin I believe) rights are 
inherant privileges of a person (i.e. civil rights or human rights.)  In 
Gujarati and possibly other languages if we talk of reet-rivaj we are 
talking about customs or traditions.  This overlaps with English rite or 
ritual.  Or we say in Gujarati e.g. mithai banawani reet "method or recipe 
for making sweets"

So I would translate rta as "cosmic order".  The universe is not chaos; it 
has a meaning and purpose and fixed laws which are understood through 
dharma.  This is the truth so rta is satya.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>