Satya

 (Sanskrit: ; IAST: ) is a Sanskrit word translated as truth or essence. It also refers to a virtue in Indian religions, referring to being truthful in one's thoughts, speech and action. In Yoga, satya is one of five yamas, the virtuous restraint from falsehood and distortion of reality in one's expressions and actions.

Etymology and meaning
In the Vedas and later sutras, the meaning of the word evolves into an ethical concept about truthfulness and an important virtue. It means being true and consistent with reality in one's thought, speech, and action.

has cognates in a number of diverse Indo-European languages, including the word "sooth" and "sin" in English, "" ("истина") in Russian, "sand" (truthful) in Danish, "sann" in Swedish, and "" in Avestan, the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism.

 (सत्) is the root of many Sanskrit words and concepts such as ("pure, truthful") and  ("truth"). The Sanskrit root has several meanings or translations:
 * 1) "Absolute reality"
 * 2) "Fact"
 * 3) "Brahman" (not to be confused with Brahmin)
 * 4) "that which is unchangeable"
 * 5) "that which has no distortion"
 * 6) "that which is beyond distinctions of time, space, and person"
 * 7) "that which pervades the universe in all its constancy"

is a common prefix in ancient Indian literature and variously implies that which is good, true, genuine, virtuous, being, happening, real, existing, enduring, lasting, or essential; for example, means true doctrine,  means one devoted to the truth. In ancient texts, fusion words based on refer to "Universal Spirit, Universal Principle, Being, Soul of the World, Brahman".

The negation of is, that is delusion, distorted, untrue, the fleeting impression that is incorrect, invalid, and false. The concepts of and  are famously expressed in the Pavamana Mantra found in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (1.3.28):

is one of the three characteristics of Brahman as described in. This association between, 'truth', and , ultimate reality, is also expressed in Hindu cosmology, wherein , the highest heaven of Hindu cosmology, is the abode of.

Vedic literature
is a central theme in the Vedas. It is equated with and considered necessary to the concept (ऋतं, )—that which is properly joined, order, rule, nature, balance, harmony. results from in the Vedas, as it regulates and enables the operation of the universe and everything within it. is considered essential, and without it, the universe and reality falls apart, cannot function.

In Rigveda, opposed to and  are  and  (falsehood). Truth and truthfulness is considered as a form of reverence for the divine, while falsehood a form of sin. includes action and speech that is factual, real, true, and reverent to in Books 1, 4, 6, 7, 9, and 10 of Rigveda. However, isn't merely about one's past that is in context in the Vedas, it has one's current and one's future contexts as well. states, that in Rigveda, " is the modality of acting in the world of, as the truth to be built, formed or established".

Upanishads
is widely discussed in various Upanishads, including the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad where is called the means to Brahman, as well as Brahman (Being, true self). In hymn 1.4.14 of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Satya (truth) is equated to Dharma (morality, ethics, law of righteousness), as

"Nothing is higher than the Law of Righteousness . The weak overcomes the stronger by the Law of Righteousness. Truly that Law is the Truth ; Therefore, when a man speaks the Truth, they say, "He speaks Righteousness"; and if he speaks Righteousness, they say, "He speaks the Truth!" For both are one."

- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

Taittiriya Upanishad's hymn 11.11 states, "Speak the (truth), conduct yourself according to the  (morality, ethics, law)".

Truth is sought, praised in the hymns of Upanishads, held as one that ultimately, always prevails. The Mundaka Upanishad, for example, states in Book 3, Chapter 1,

"सत्यमेव जयते नानृतं Translation 1: Truth alone triumphs, not falsehood. Translation 2: Truth ultimately triumphs, not falsehood. Translation 3: The true prevails, not the untrue."

- Mundaka Upanishad, 3.1.6

Sandilya Upanishad of Atharvanaveda, in Chapter 1, includes ten forbearances as virtues, in its exposition of Yoga. It defines as "the speaking of the truth that conduces to the well being of creatures, through the actions of one's mind, speech, or body."

Deussen states that is described in the major Upanishads with two layers of meanings—one as empirical truth about reality, another as abstract truth about universal principle, being, and the unchanging. Both of these ideas are explained in early Upanishads, composed before, by variously breaking the word or  into two or three syllables. In later Upanishads, the ideas evolve and transcend into as truth (or truthfulness), and  as the Being, Be-ness, real Self, the eternal.

Epics
The Shanti Parva of the Mahabharata states, "The righteous hold that forgiveness, truth, sincerity, and compassion are the foremost (of all virtues). Truth is the essence of the Vedas."

The Epic repeatedly emphasizes that is a basic virtue, because everything and everyone depends on and relies on.

Yoga Sutras
In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, it is written, “When one is firmly established in speaking truth, the fruits of action become subservient to him." In Yoga sutra, is one of the five, or virtuous restraints, along with  (restraint from violence or injury to any living being);  (restraint from stealing);  (celibacy or restraint from sexually cheating on one's partner); and  (restraint from covetousness and craving). Patanjali considers  as a restraint from falsehood in one's action (body), words (speech, writing), or feelings / thoughts (mind). In Patanjali's teachings, one may not always know the truth or the whole truth, but one knows if one is creating, sustaining, or expressing falsehood, exaggeration, distortion, fabrication, or deception.  is, in Patanjali's Yoga, the virtue of restraint from such falsehood, either through silence or through stating the truth without any form of distortion.

Jainism
is one of the five vows prescribed in Jain Agamas. was also preached by Mahavira. According to Jainism, not to lie or speak what is not commendable. The underlying cause of falsehood is passion and therefore, it is said to cause (injury).

According to the Jain text Sarvārthasiddhi: "that which causes pain and suffering to the living is not commendable, whether it refers to actual facts or not".

According to the Jain text Puruşārthasiddhyupāya:"All these subdivisions (injury, falsehood, stealing, unchastity, and attachment) are as indulgence in these sullies the pure nature of the soul. Falsehood etc. have been mentioned separately only to make the disciple understand through illustrations."

- Puruşārthasiddhyupāya (42)

Buddhism
The term (Pali: ) is translated in English as "reality" or "truth." In terms of the Four Noble Truths, the Pali can be written as , , , and.

'The Four Noble Truths' are the briefest synthesis of the entire teaching of Buddhism, since all those manifold doctrines of the threefold Pali canon are, without any exception, included therein. They are the truth of suffering (mundane mental and physical phenomenon), of the origin of suffering (, craving), of the extinction of suffering ( or ), and of the Noble Eightfold Path leading to the extinction of suffering (the eight supra-mundane mind factors).

Sikhism
": ਜਿਨਾ ਰਾਸਿ ਨ ਸਚੁ ਹੈ ਕਿਉ ਤਿਨਾ ਸੁਖੁ ਹੋਇ ॥
 * Those who do not have the Assets of Truth-how can they find peace?


 * ਖੋਟੈ ਵਣਜਿ ਵਣੰਜਿਐ ਮਨੁ ਤਨੁ ਖੋਟਾ ਹੋਇ ॥
 * By dealing their deals of falsehood, their minds and bodies become false.


 * ਫਾਹੀ ਫਾਥੇ ਮਿਰਗ ਜਿਉ ਦੂਖੁ ਘਣੋ ਨਿਤ ਰੋਇ ॥੨॥
 * Like the deer caught in the trap, they suffer in terrible agony; they continually cry out in pain.


 * ਖੋਟੇ ਪੋਤੈ ਨਾ ਪਵਹਿ ਤਿਨ ਹਰਿ ਗੁਰ ਦਰਸੁ ਨ ਹੋਇ ॥
 * The counterfeit coins are not put into the Treasury; they do not obtain the Blessed Vision of the Lord-Guru.


 * ਖੋਟੇ ਜਾਤਿ ਨ ਪਤਿ ਹੈ ਖੋਟਿ ਨ ਸੀਝਸਿ ਕੋਇ ॥ खोटे जाति न पति है खोटि न सीझसि कोइ ॥
 * The false ones have no social status or honor. No one succeeds through falsehood.


 * ਖੋਟੇ ਖੋਟੁ ਕਮਾਵਣਾ ਆਇ ਗਇਆ ਪਤਿ ਖੋਇ ॥੩॥
 * Practicing falsehood again and again, people come and go in reincarnation, and forfeit their honor.


 * ਨਾਨਕ ਮਨੁ ਸਮਝਾਈਐ ਗੁਰ ਕੈ ਸਬਦਿ ਸਾਲਾਹ ॥
 * O Nanak, instruct your mind through the Word of the Guru's Shabad, and praise the Lord.


 * ਰਾਮ ਨਾਮ ਰੰਗਿ ਰਤਿਆ ਭਾਰੁ ਨ ਭਰਮੁ ਤਿਨਾਹ ॥
 * Those who are imbued with the love of the Name of the Lord are not loaded down by doubt.


 * ਹਰਿ ਜਪਿ ਲਾਹਾ ਅਗਲਾ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਹਰਿ ਮਨ ਮਾਹ ॥੪॥੨੩॥
 * Those who chant the Name of the Lord earn great profits; the Fearless Lord abides within their minds."

- Guru Granth Sahib, 4.23

"The Gurmukhs do not like falsehood; they are imbued with Truth; they love only Truth. The shaaktas, the faithless cynics, do not like the Truth; false are the foundations of the false. Imbued with Truth, you shall meet the Guru. The true ones are absorbed into the True Lord."

- Gurubani, Hymn 3

Indian emblem motto
The motto of the republic of India's emblem is Satyameva Jayate which is literally translated as 'Truth alone triumphs'.