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Before you speak, THINK
The first step in the Sadhana is the cleansing of the
speech. Talk sweet without anger. Do not boast of your scholarship or
attainments. Be humble, eager to serve; conserve your speech. Practice silence.
That will save you from squabbles, frittering thoughts and faction.
Spend a few minutes every morning and evening in the silence
of your own shrine or home; spend them with the highest of all the powers that
you know of. Be in His elevating and inspiring company; worship Him mentally;
offer unto Him all the work you do; you will come out of the silence nobler and
more heroic than when you went in.
I insist on silence. Talk less, talk low when you must talk.
Do not thrust your sorrows, your needs, your problems into the ears of those who
have come here with their own bundle of such things. They are not interested in
adding to their troubles. I am here to listen to you, to console you. Do not by
loudness of voice disturb those who are meditating or reading or writing the
Name of God.
The old man had seen people carrying transistor radios,
people miss a very valuable thing if they do not listen in, even while they are
moving about or resting in the parks or beach! They are afraid of being alone;
they avoid silence as something detestable! But, you can discover your own
truth, only when you are alone with yourself and there is silence all around
you.
Dakshinamurthy taught His disciples by His silence. Yes, what
He did was to make the disciples rely on their own intelligence. Do not demean
your talents, when you dive deep into yourselves, you can discover the source of
all strength.
Be silent yourself, that will induce silence in others. Do
not fall into the habit of shouting, talking long and loud. Reduce contacts to
the minimum. Carry with you an atmosphere of quiet contemplation, wherever you
happen to be.
Do not pretend or patronize. If you simply say: "Do not talk
loud" or give some blank direction, you are patronizing and treating people with
disdain. They deserve to be told why. Tell them that silence is the very first
rung of the ladder of sadhana; that it is the hallmark of Prasanthi
Nilayam; that they must learn to make every place where they are a Prasanthi
Nilayam; that loud talk disturbs those who practice Namasmarana or
Dhyanam or Japam; that noise breeds further noise. This is a
workshop, where damaged minds and hearts come for repair or overhaul.
Learn the value of silence, of Namasmarana, of
Bhajan, of Japa, of Dhyana, of single minded remembrance of
the Lord, of the association with spiritually kin. These will stand you in good
stead, when distress assails you.
The less you talk, the more will become your mental power.
With the increase in your mental capacity, there will be increase in your power
of discrimination too. Consequently, you will give up "individual
discrimination". Because of this, you will begin to consider the good of the
world at large rather than your own individual welfare. You must cultivate such
broad feelings from this young age itself.
One of the first principles of straight living is the practice of silence. For the voice of God can be heard in the region of your heart when the tongue is stilled and the storm is tilled and the waves are calm. There will be no temptations for others to shout when you talk to them in whispers. Set the level of the tone yourself; as low as possible, as high as necessary to reach the outermost boundary of the circle you are addressing. Conserve sound, since it is the treasure of the element akasa, an emanation from God Himself. Reason can prevail only when arguments are advanced without the whipping up of sound. Silence is the speech of the spiritual seeker. Soft sweet speech is the expression of genuine love. Hate screeches, fear squeals, conceit trumpets. But love sings lullabies. It soothes. It applies balm. Practice the vocabulary of love; unlearn the language of hate and contempt.
Less talk - more work! There is too much talking going on.
Because of excessive talking, spiritual energy is being wasted.
Be silent yourself; that will induce silence in others. Do
not fall into the habit of shouting, talking long and loud. Reduce contacts to
the minimum. Carry with you an atmosphere of quiet contemplation, wherever you
happen to be. There are some who live in a perpetual hullabaloo, in a tornado of
noise. Whether they are in an exhibition or a fair or in a hotel, or a temple or
the Prasanthi Nilayam, they wag their tongues and will not stop. These will not
proceed on the Godward road.
Each one eats to assuage his own hunger; so too, each one
must discover the best way to appease his own spiritual hunger. Do not be led
away by the scorn of others, or by the recommendations of others. Contact your
own reality in the silence that you create by quieting the senses and
controlling the mind. There is a voice that you can hear in that silence. The
true witness of your having listened to that voice is your behavior. The tree is
held and fed by the roots that go into the silent earth; so also, if the roots
go deep into the silence of your inner consciousness, your spiritual blossoming
is assured.
Silence is the only language of the realized. Practice
moderation in speech. That will help you in many ways. It will develop Prema,
for most misunderstandings and factions arise out of carelessly spoken words.
When the foot slips, the wound can be healed; but when the tongue slips, the
wound it causes in the heart of another will fester for life. The tongue is
liable to four big errors: uttering falsehood, scandalizing, finding fault with
others, and excessive speech. All these have to be avoided if there is to be
santhi for the individual as well as for society.
You feel the presence of God when silence reigns. In the excitement and confusion of the market place, you cannot hear His Footfall. He is Sabdabrahma, resounding when all is filled with silence. That is why I insist on silence, the practice of low speech and minimum sound. Talk low, talk little, talk in whispers, sweet and true. Examine each act of yours and see that you execute it with minimum noise. Do not shout to a person standing far; go near him or beckon to him to approach you. Loud noise is sacrilege on the sky, just as there are sacrilegious uses of earth and of water.
Silence is the only language of the realized. Practice moderation in speech. That will help you in many ways. It will develop Prema, for most misunderstandings and factions arise out of carelessly spoken words. Silence will charge the battery and you will win through a longer period of dhyanam. The silence maintained in Prashanthi Nilayam must be carried over to wherever you go; it is to be taken as an exercise in the control of senses that are exterior oriented.
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