‘ ‘Ninda’ sunna aur ‘ninda’ karna paap hai …’

Swamiji says …

“We love talking. We can talk incessantly for hours on end, and that too, quite unnecessarily. And why not – we say to ourselves. After all we have the ‘Right to Speech’ – we remind ourselves, and thus, we make the most of this right. We love to air our opinions and thoughts – at our will and fancy – not really bothered if someone is in actual want of our words. Words which can either impart wisdom or spew venom; build relationships or destroy them beyond repair; are many a times, spoken uncaringly by us, with a total disregard to the ripples they could cause in the otherwise placid life of others! ”

“Do we ever remember that words breathe, sing and have a life of their own ? We just have to listen to the song that is hidden in every word to understand this. They not only have the gift of conveying a wealth of meaning even when they are unspoken; but they also take a completely different connotation, the moment they are said to us, and by us, in a particular manner ! Words said by us in the form of a monologue or a conversation – dialogues being exchanged – could be either fruitful, healing and productive ; or totally worthless, hurtful and unhelpful. Our aim should be to choose words carefully, never hurt or speak disparagingly about anyone and avoid carrying tales from one person to another.”

“Are we aware of the responsibility that we hold towards words and the way in which they should be used by us? Do we remember while speaking that the worth of every word can be weighed in gold?
Have we ever paid attention to the fact that it is words that are powerful enough, to either build a person’s name and spread his fame, when spoken with respect, or tear one’s reputation to tatters, destroying his name forever, when spoken with malice, insinuations and wrong intent !”

“The use of words is under one’s control till the time one is busy and involved in doing something constructive and creative. Words – sensible and meaningful – take some time in being formed, phrased and presented to others around us.
But the complete opposite happens when we have a lot of time to spare! How does one fill in those vacant hours of ‘boredom’ when one is doing nothing ? The mind needs some thought to feed on, to think and reflect on; and when it finds itself devoid of thoughts, it runs helter-skelter aimlessly, and does what it does best – Firstly, it thinks and mentally discusses about others! Later, it gossips – discusses the office or neighbourhood grapevine, indulges in loose, inane character assassination of others!”

“ The mind, hurriedly and happily, formulates a long list of malicious ‘points’ about friends and acquaintances – ‘he said this and that about you’ – which ‘it’ decides is its duty to share with others. The tirade of words aimed at heaping insult, humiliation and injury on others, unceasingly flow from our mind which is very active by now.”

“The wicked, devious elements in the mind – which have been waiting patiently, for ‘goodness’ to accomplish its task, and to leave some space for them now – joyfully take over the mind. They are delirious with delight, literally rubbing their hands gleefully in anticipation of the pleasure they will derive in maligning others and talking ill about them. All they need is that tiny spark of negativity and dislike that is crackling in them, for no reason, to light up a fire of mistrust and misunderstanding between people, who had earlier trusted and cared for one another implicitly… ‘ Aur phir aise log, doosron ki ninda karne mein lag jaate hain … Na chahate hue bhi tumhe kisi ki ninda sun ni padhti hai , joh tumhe nahi karni chahiye ! ”

“We submit meekly to this abominable weakness – of being slanderous and talking ill of others – which in turn, turns out to be so strong, that it galvanizes us into action, by making us leave the perimeters of our homes even at odd hours, saunter into houses of neighbours and acquaint them with a verbatim report of what the other person has been saying about him – what he thinks of him – and enjoys the immediate reaction of anger that he is able to draw from him.”

“’Kuch logon ko aadat hoti hai ki ek ghar se doosre ghar mein jaate hain, aur doosron ki chugli karte hain… Usne yeh kaha, usne woh kaha … Unke ghar mein chingari laga dete hain … Yeh galat hai!” – and then happiky watch fireworks erupt, as a showdown takes place, between the people involved. Can’t we mind our own business and not interfere in the lives of others? ”

” The ones who suffer the most ‘ apni ninda sun kar ‘ – are those who lend their ears a bit too easily to others – go by hearsay, and believe every word that is said to them by the avid gossipers, and refuse to give the innocent person an opportunity to say anything in his defense…’Kuch log kaanon ke kacche hote hain aur doosron ki baaton mein aa jaate hain … Unhe pehchan nahi hoti hai satya ki aur unki baaton se apne ghar mein aag lagaa dete hain !’ ”

” Why do we waste our time by listening to rubbish of this kind ? We should not bother to listen to a word said by such vicious minded people, who are bent on tarnishing names of others and ruining sound, strong relationships …’Unki baatein sunke tum achche logon se rishta tod dete ho…unse alag ho jaate ho!’ We must stop them then and there by making it clear to them that we are neither willing to listen to them, nor do we believe in saying anything against anyone – and skirt the issue by changing the line of conversation immediately. ”

“The foundation of strong relationships that have withstood the test of time should not be weakened by the poisonous darts of a few useless people, who are unhappy themselves, and gain happiness by causing unwanted misery to others…’aur iss tarah ka zeher samaj mein phelate hain!’ We must refrain from committing this sin, from indulging in this vice that can cause irreparable damage to many a lives ! Rather, use words of appreciation, hope and trust to bond and bring people together.”