satyam vadishyami,rtam vadishyami,

Satyam or Truth, as we know, is one of the attributes of the Supreme. In Vedic Sanskrit there are two equivalents for the English word ‘truth’. They are: satyam and rtam. The expressions in the upanishadic invocation rtam vadishyami, satyam vadishyami meaning ‘I will tell truth’, I will tell truth’ are quite well known. There is a slight difference between the two words rtam and satyam.

Shankara’s commentary on the two words shows that while satyam is an eternally valid statement uncontradicted or uncontradictable in past, present and future, rtam is a truth of lesser order or degree. It is something which is deduced in a particular context in the light of a scriptural injunction. In a way, it is a contextual truth or what is right under the circumstances (not expedient). Like in the story of the sage who was giving shelter to a fleeing victim who was being chased by a robber. On the robber’s query as to whether the fleeing person was hiding in his ashram, the sage seems to have replied: the eyes which see cannot tell and the tongue which tells cannot see. Of course, in those dharmic days the robber did not further interrogate the sage nor search his house but went away. Here what the sage was telling was rtam i.e. what was right in that situation as per dharma. So the word rtamseems to be closer to the English word ‘right’.