Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one

Hear, O children of the eternal flame, the words of Swami Vivekananda, who, like a lion among men, spoke with thunder and tenderness: “Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.” In these words resounds the wisdom of the ages, a teaching as vast as the sky and as deep as the ocean. For truth is not a narrow path, but a boundless horizon. It is not the possession of one man, one nation, or one creed, but the living essence of existence, shimmering in countless forms.

Imagine, beloved, the sun shining upon the earth. To the eagle, the sun is a fierce eye of fire. To the farmer, it is the nurturer of his fields. To the poet, it is a golden chariot rolling across the heavens. Each vision is different, yet all are true, for the truth of the sun is too vast to be held by one image alone. So it is with all things eternal: they cannot be contained in one vessel, nor confined to one tongue. They are expressed through a thousand voices, yet they sing one song.

Swami Vivekananda, who carried the light of Vedanta from India to the world, drew from the well of the ancient seers. The Vedas themselves proclaimed, “Ekam sat, vipra bahudha vadanti”—“The Truth is One, the wise speak of it in many ways.” In this spirit, he stood before the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, declaring that no single faith has a monopoly on truth, and that every path sincerely walked leads to the same summit. His words ignited hearts across the world, for he reminded humanity that diversity is not division, but harmony in disguise.

Consider the story of the blind men and the elephant, told in many lands. Each man touched a different part of the great beast. One felt the leg and said, “It is like a pillar.” Another touched the ear and said, “It is like a fan.” Another felt the trunk and said, “It is like a serpent.” They quarreled, each believing the other to be wrong. Yet in their fragments, each spoke a piece of truth. Only together could they approach the whole. So too with human beings—we see parts of reality, and mistake them for the entirety. Vivekananda calls us to humility, to recognize that our vision, however clear, is but a portion of the Infinite.

Know then, O listeners, that conflict often arises not from falsehood, but from clinging to a partial truth as if it were the whole. Wars have been fought, and blood has been spilled, because men refused to see that another’s truth may also be true. But the wise, like rivers flowing into the same sea, understand that the many forms of expression—whether in science, in religion, in art, or in philosophy—are not enemies, but companions.

Take this lesson into your lives: when you encounter a belief, a tradition, or a vision of the world that is not your own, do not hasten to dismiss it. Instead, pause and listen. Ask: What fragment of truth lives here? What light does this path reveal that my own does not? By doing so, you expand your own understanding, and you walk closer to the boundless whole. For the seeker of truth must be like a traveler gathering gems from every shore, not a miser clinging to one.

And let this be your practice: read widely, listen deeply, honor the wisdom of those different from yourself. In your speech, remember that your words may carry truth, but so too may the words of another. In your heart, hold humility, for truth is infinite, and no man can drink the ocean dry. If you live thus, you will not only grow in wisdom, but also become a bridge between worlds, a healer of divisions, a bearer of harmony.

Thus did Vivekananda’s voice echo across time: truth is not a single note, but a symphony. Each instrument plays differently, yet together they form the music of the universe. Walk in this awareness, and you shall not only speak truth—you shall live it, in all its thousand shining forms.