Dishonesty is an affirmation of the ego to succeed in its ways in the world for its own good, though it may mean another s harm. Truthfulness is correspondence to fact. Yoga stresses the importance of the practice of truth in human life. There are dilemmas in which we are placed when we find ourselves often in a difficult situation. Sometimes truthfulness may appear to lead one to trouble and one might be tempted to utter falsehood.
Scriptures give many answers to our questions on the issue.
Truth that harms is considered equal to untruth. We have to see the consequence of our conduct and behaviour before we can decide whether it is virtuous or not. A most outstanding instance on the point is narrated in the Mahabharata. Arjuna and Karna were face to face in battle. Krishna mentioned to Arjuna that Yudhishthira was very grieved because of his combat with Karna on that day, on account of the severity of which he had to return to his camp, badly injured.