The Power of the Spoken Word

The Power of the Spoken Word The power to speak that we possess is a formidable power. It is not an easy task to correctly understand the full potency of this power that lies in us. Neither is it an easy task to maintain a decent moderation in our speech in our daily life. We speak to elders in one way. We speak with our youngsters in a totally different way. Then there are friends, relatives, neighbours, strangers, learned people, illiterate people, genteel people, idiots, jealous people, short-tempered people, egoistic and arrogant people, people wielding power over us, politicians, etc. With each category of people, we adopt a separate way of speaking. We cannot speak in the same way with all of them. Consider the talk that occurs between men and women. When men speak to women, or when women speak to men, extreme caution and deference is needed. He, who knows how to speak, never gets into a fight; he who knows how to eat never falls ill. He that can speak the right words at the right place and the right time has all doors open before him. Speech instils life, speech again invites death. Proverbs such as these are to be found in all cultures. They are born out of generations of experience of the collective consciousness of mankind. It is an incontrovertible fact that the kind of words we utter shapes our personality. Similarly, the kind of speech we constantly indulge in creates the environment around us. Our deeds reflect our thoughts and words. Wont you agree with this observation? Yes. People pay attention to our deeds more than they do to the words we utter. But then, this doesnt mean that we can underestimate the importance of the words we utter! We ought to know that just as words express our knowledge, they also expose our ignorance. Keep quiet and the world may suspect you are a wise man; open your mouth and confirm that you are but a fool! says an old proverb. In fact, the world classifies us as gentlemen or rustics mainly based on the words we utter. Therefore, if we are really serious about creating an image of ourselves as true gentlemen in the eyes of those around us, we are bound to pay special attention to our faculty of speaking. Do you notice that if ten people stay together in a dormitory, each of them however carries a separate aura, a unique ambiance around himself? This signature ambiance of each person would have been created to a large extent by the quality of words he would have uttered over a period of time. This is indeed a most startling fact, worthy of much deeper study by all of us. Using our faculty of speech, we can create heaven. Abusing that same faculty, we can create hell! As is the quality of our speech, so is the quality of our personality! As is the quality of our speech, so is the quality of the ambience we create around ourselves! Hence the urgent necessity of paying attention to the words we utter. If we wish to really understand the real effect of the words we utter on our listeners, we will have to literally follow the words that have escaped from our mouths and see for ourselves how it unfolds events as it reaches various people, over a period of time. It would indeed be a great awakening! The words we utter play a vital role in the overall success or failure of our lives. We may ask in order to achieve success, should we be speaking more, or should we be speaking less? Instead of asking this, we should rather be bothered about learning how to speak correctly! This naturally raises the question how are we to learn the correct way of speaking? We must seek out persons around us who speak meaningfully, rightly, emulate-ably, if we may use such a word. We must interact closely with such persons. [Now, we may seek their company, but it may so happen that wise persons, who are really masters of the right kind of speech, may not wish to have the likes of us around them!] We must develop the habit of regularly reading good literature. We must associate ourselves with holy men, open ourselves Page 1 of 3

The Power of the Spoken Word

to them, discuss with them the various thoughts and feelings arising from time to time within us. Mere discussing with them wont be of much avail, if we dont open ourselves to their benign influence on our whole personality. Thus, slowly, but step-by-step, we must culture our mind. This is the only way out. Naanyah panthaa vidyate ayanaaya. {There is indeed no other way.} Listen to a man speaking and you can deduce the family background that reared him says a popular Indian proverb. The quality of a persons speech reveals whether he comes from a good family, or an ordinary family, or a dysfunctional family. Our choice of words and the tenor of our speaking are to a large extent determined by the influence our parents & teachers have had on us during our impressionable growing years. The dramas & movies that we see, the lectures & speeches we listen to, the discussion & conversation we hold with our friends all these have an unimaginable impact on the quality of our own speech! While these are incidental and environmental influences, [which are therefore capable of being manipulated], we all have our own inherent tendencies like lust, anger, greed, delusion, arrogance & jealousy which are part of our own karmic baggage [over which we therefore have but little control]. Again, apart from the external influences and the six internal influences, another factor that we have to contend with are the three inherent qualities of personality called Guna in Sanskrit. These are Sattva, Rajas & Tamas. Thus, the ancient Indian Sages have identified these three factors which shape the quality of speech we all utter. Depending upon the combination of these three factors, our speech gets categorized into cultured, profane or vulgar. There is a small story that shows how exactly our speech reveals the quality of our personality: An old, blind monk was once sitting under a Banyan Tree and meditating. A man came by that path and asked that monk, Hey, old man, did anyone pass by this way? the monk replied, No. No one went by this way. The questioner went away. After sometime, another man came by and asked, Grandpa, did anyone go by this way? the monk said, Yes. Just a little while ago a person had come here. He asked the same question that you have asked. The questioner thanked him and went away. After some more time, yet another man came by and said, Holy one, did anyone go by this way? the monk replied, Yes, Your Majesty. Sometime ago, your soldier came and went. He was followed by your Minister. Both of them too asked me the same question that you have asked me. Now, the man who had come by was completely surprised. He asked, Holy one, how did you find out that I am a king and that the persons preceding me were my soldier & minister? the monk patiently explained, Your Majesty, I deduced all that by the quality of speech uttered by you all. The first man was very rude. The second one was gentle to a degree. Your words showed high culture and were suffused with humility! The King was stupefied by the Monks penetrating powers of insight into human nature. True. As the education and upbringing, so will a persons dealings and manner of speech be! But then, an alternate possibility is always there. The King too, filled with the blinding arrogance of his absolute monarchical powers, could have spoken in a most rude fashion. And a most humble, ordinary minion of his kingdom, owing to the continued influence of good people, could be speaking in a highly cultured fashion! These alternate possibilities do exist. Silence is golden, it is said. But then, we ask, what indeed is the benefit that society derives from the silent ones? And indeed, how much? Their silence may make the environment a little bit serene; but what of that? The really elevating, exalting, purifying thought-currents that are generated by means of speech can contribute enormously towards sweeter and more meaningful human relationships in this world, and we all need that most urgently. We need that more urgently than we need silence!

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The Power of the Spoken Word

Society has a tendency to get ossified into lassitude quite often. It is then possible to rouse it to meaningful activity and self-actualisation only by means of the Prometheus-fire of human speech! It is quite possible to completely annihilate a personality by means of mere speech. True. But it is much more true that speech when properly used, can win over the entire world. Time and again, we have seen evidences of this. Irrelevant rambling is called Gossip. But, relevant, meaningful, exalting speech has been hailed in our cultural heritage as the veritable manifestation of Goddess Sarada, the giver of all Knowledge. Kaama dugde viprakarshatyalakshmeem; Keertim soote durhrido nishpralaati; Shuddhaam shaantaam maataram mangalaanaam; Dhenum dheeraaha soonrutaam vaachamaahuhu. - Uttara Rama Charita. Words that are well-thought out and meaningful bring us the results we desire. They bring us fame and glory. They quell enemies. They dispel misery. Such words are the repository of all Good. The Wise Ones call such words as the veritable Kamadhenu [the mythical Wish-Fulfilling Cow]. Paarushyamanrutam chaiva paishunyam chaapi sarvashah; Asambaddhapralaapascha vaangmayam syaatchaturvidham. - Manu Smriti Irrelevant ramblings, i.e. swear words, lies, nagging, and other degenerative speech these four are the sins committed by means of our faculty of speech. Yadeecchhasi vasheekartum jagadekena karmanaa; Paraaparaadhasasthebhyo gaam charanteem nivaaraya. - Unknown. If you wish to conquer the entire universe by means of one and one only means, I prescribe this: call back the cow [i.e. your faculty of speech] that goes out to graze the grass [of denigrating others]. Apraaptakaalam vachanam brihaspatirapi bruvam; Labhate bahvavajnaanam apamaanam cha pushkalam. - Panchatantra A word spoke out of context, even if it was the Guru Brihaspati [the preceptor of the gods] that spoke them, will invite censure on him. Apriyasyaapi pathyasya parinaamaha sukhaavahaha; Vaktaa srotaa cha yatraasthi ramante tatra sampadaha. - Hitopadesha Some words may not be sweet, but they do have a palliative effect. All prosperity will gravitate towards the place where people who speak and hear such words reside. **********************

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