असत्ये वर्त्मनि स्थित्वा ततः सत्यं समीहते // वाक्यपदीयम् २.२३८ //

He stands on a false path, thence longs for the truth.

Knowing the truth itself is the ultimate quest of man kind. It is a natural tendency of mankind to try and investigate truth. But why is it so? The Indian philosophers offer a metaphysical explanation to this. They have a theory- Every thing finally goes to the place from where it originates. Water tends to flow towards the ocean. Fire remains unaffected by gravity and tends to move upwards towards the Sun. Earth comes back to the earth, and so on. Similarly, since all beings have originated from the 'truth', no mater what activity they do, every moment they are heading towards it through that activity.

The 'Path (or वर्त्मन्)' to me is the epistemological standpoint. No epistemological standpoint of us human beings can be perfect or correct enough to view the truth. Man's logical thinking ability is limited, and 'truth' as Rishis describe is beyond logic. No epistemological frame is sufficient to capture it. It can only be experienced when all epistemological frames break.

Man tries to perceive the truth through a particular epistemological framework that he feels is appropriate at that particular time depending upon his level of understanding. From that frame he is also able to perceive some aspect of the truth. That is the truth for him at that point of time.

It it is here that he has two choices to make. He can either be satisfied by the view of truth that he has from that point and rigidly stick to it for ever or he can continue further investigation. Further investigation is possible from this point only if he is ready to believe that what he has seen may or may not be the complete truth. Thus he keeps on verifying what he has found to be true in different way. When an investigation is carried on in this way, a person invariably realizes the need to modify his epistemological frame work. This process goes on and on. As he progresses, he goes on realizing that all the frameworks that he followed in past were not appropriate until the time comes when he understands the need to give up all the frame works. That is when he experiences the truth and becomes one with it.

It is like watching the sun rise. Perhaps initially man must surely have thought that sun actually sets behind a hill. He must have then gone to that hill top where he thought sun set. Then it must have dawned upon him that there is another hill or an ocean behind that hill, and that is where the sun sets. The path he followed to investigate was not correct. But the inquiry had started. It is the result of this very persistent inquiry that must have prompted the man to change his path of inquiry innumerable times till he finally realized that Sun does not set. It does not move at all. It is the earth that is moving. And to realize that man had to go out of the sun and the earth in the space.