In plain words
Satyaṃ nāsti paro dharmaḥ
What is our true Dharma? There is no Dharma higher than Satya. ‘Satyameva jayate.’ Satya alone wins through for us. We must never forget such Satya. Emperor Bali said: is there any sin greater than to give your word and then go back on it? He made it plain that the one who goes back on his word once he has given it is a great sinner. If we have given any promise, if we have taken any vow, we must make every effort to keep that promise, even if it costs us our life. But today that is the one thing that has grown scarce. In the world today, the promise given today dies the very next day. Many times a moment this promise is dying and living again. The person who takes the life out of his word in this way is a living death, the equal of one who is dead while alive. That is why one may sacrifice even one's life for one's promise, but one must never break a promise or change it. That is why Satya is the life of the word. The life of our word is truth. The life of a fort is its army. The life of a nation is its morality. The life of a promissory note is the signature. If we write a promissory note, what is its life? Our signature is its life. Without a signature this promissory note is good for nothing.
So Satya is the life of the word; so if one day we let go of our word in some matter, letting go becomes a habit for the rest of our life. For the sake of keeping to Satya, Hariścandra gave away his kingdom, his wife and even his son, and in the end, though he had to live as the keeper of a cremation ground, he did not let go of Satya. That is why the story of Satya Hariścandra has shone brilliantly from generation to generation and to the farthest ends of the earth. If we want to earn a name as true to its meaning as that, we must hold to Satya. Whatever name of God you take, among the names of God such as ‘Satya vākpālanāya namaḥ’, ‘Satyapracārāya namaḥ’ and ‘Satyasvarūpāya namaḥ’, God is called Satya. Satya itself is the form of God. Truth is God. So it has been said. To hold such Satya sacred through our speech, through our tongue: that is the purification of this second instrument.