India, Nov. 11 -- Dr Manasa Nagabhushanam, Daiv

Truth sometimes costs us something, but what we keep is worth more than what we lose.

The Chandogya Upanishad tells of a boy named Satyakama Jabala, who wished to become a student of the sage Gautama. The teacher, as was customary, asked about his family and his father's name. Satyakama went home and asked his mother. She told him honestly that she had served in many households in her youth and did not know who his father was. She added that he should say his name is Satyakama, son of Jabala.

He returned to the teacher and told him exactly this. He could easily have invented a respectable name, and no one would have known. Gautama said: "None but one with the heart of a Brahmin could spea...