Gita 17.15 Speech is meant not just for commnication but also for purification

Transcript

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us act destructively. Thank you. Bhagavad Gita 17.15 anudveg karambakhyam satyam priya hitam chayat svadhyaya visanam chaiva vanmayam tapo uchchate.
Here in the Bhagavad Gita Krishna is speaking about austerity in the three modes. And before that he is speaking about the three faculties with which we can do austerities. The body, the speech and the mind.
So, he talked about austerity of the body in the previous verse 17.14. And he will talk about austerity of the mind in the next verse 13.16. In between he is talking about the austerity of the speech. So, anudveg karambakhyam, speak in a non agitating way. Satyam priya hitam chayat, that speak truthfully, speak in a pleasing way.
Hitam, speak in a beneficial, what is the tongue to recite scripture. Svadhyaya visanam chaiva vanmayam tapo uchchate. All these comprise austerity of the tongue or of speech.
Of course, austerity of tongue can also refer to regulating or eating. So, here it is more vanmayam, it is of speech austerity. We all have a tendency to speak impulsively.
And it is very rare that we impulsively speak praise of someone. More often than not, what we speak impulsively is criticism of others, hurting words towards us. In general, austerity means to go against that which is impulsive for us.
And of course, that which is destructively impulsive for us, impulsively destructive for us. So, speaking harshly is a destructive impulse. And that can be curbed and countered by study, application of our intelligence for the purpose of purifying ourselves.
Recognizing that our speech is meant not just for communication with others, but it is also meant for purification of ourselves. If we can keep this in mind, then our attitude towards speech will change substantially. If we simply think that speech is a tool for communication, I told you to do this, why haven’t you done it? And I become angry with you because you haven’t done it.
So, as long as we keep seeing speech as simply a tool for communication, then we will be utilitarian. And of course, there are utilitarian benefits also in not speaking in a way that agitates or alienates others. But more importantly, if we see that the purpose of all our actions is ultimately to purify ourselves.
In 5.11 Krishna says that whatever we do with body, mind or speech, we are meant to do it for Atma Shuddhaye, for purifying our consciousness. So, in the rear view, one senses the tongue which has the faculty of speaking. So, purpose of speaking is also to purify ourselves.
So, when we see communication as not the only purpose of speech, but purification also, then we will act in a way that purifies ourselves, speak in a way that purifies ourselves. In general, giving in to our impulses practically never purifies us, it only contaminates us. The more we recognize the reality and the gravity of our own conditionings and of our own vulnerable situation in the material world and even when we see others acting in ways that disturb us, irritate us, we won’t let ourselves get worked up by it.
We will calmly, rationally, objectively try to deal with it in a way that helps us grow and helps us come closer to Krishna. So, the world is already an agitating place. There are enough sources of distress in the world.
We don’t have to add to the world’s distresses. So, people are already agitated enough and we have to be agents of peace and harmony and clarity as much as possible. Of course, sometimes people do have faults and shortcomings and they need to be corrected.
And for that purpose, we need to speak in a way that points out their faults. So, it’s not just that we always have a smeet mouth and never speak the truth. Krishna talks about it in Anudvega Karam Vakya, Satyam Priya Hitham Jayat.
We also should not be flatterers. Speak truthfully. Speak truthfully.
Hitham Jayat. Speak that is pleasing and that is beneficial. We all have many faults and it’s not possible for us to correct our faults immediately.
We all will require time and effort to overcome our conditionings. And during the intermediate period, we need patience. So, that patience is something which has to be steadily and diligently cultivated.
So, for us, just as we would like while battling our conditionings for others to be understanding. Similarly, we need to be understanding with others. So, is pointing out a particular conditioning beneficial to that person? We need not just the knowledge to correct ourselves, but we also need the encouragement to correct ourselves.
We also need the confidence that I can do it. If too many of our faults are pointed out too frequently, then we just feel overwhelmed by negativity. And we feel what is the point of this? How is this worth it at all? And we become disheartened thinking that I can’t improve at all.
I am worthless. I am good for nothing. So, Hitam, if we keep the point of benefiting the other person in mind and then speak, then sometimes people are discouraged and they need encouragement.
So, you can speak gently affirming their core value. And sometimes people are complacent, not realizing the gravity of their shortcomings. And that time speaking beneficially means pointing out in strong words.
So, speaking non-agitatedly is not the sole characteristic of speech. All these characteristics have to be combined together. And going back to the starting point of how speech is meant not just for communication but also for purification.
One way speech is especially for purification is when we use our power of speech for reciting scripture. स्वाध्याय आब्देसनम् जैव. So, we do swadhya, self-study.
But it’s not just in the mind, but rather while studying scripture, we read it out aloud. And in that way, we get the overall perspective by which we can elevate ourselves. By which we can use our God-given power of speech for our and others’ good.
So, it’s interesting that Krishna doesn’t talk about any such thing as fluency. Most people when they talk about speaking, how can I make my speech more fluent, more smart? How can I become a good public speaker? Krishna is pointing to character values more than personality values. That is, he is focusing more on the values that matter at the core.
Sometimes a person may have halting speech, but they may have a loving heart. And some people may have very fluent speech and they may have a very incongruent heart. Where their heart is often filled with deception.
So, some people just have by their past karma, the capacity to speak fluently. Of course, we all can by practice improve the fluency of our speech. But more important than that is improving the mood and the intention with which we speak.
And when we speak thus, our speech will lead to more effective communication. Because our harsh judgmental words, even if spoken unthinkingly, won’t lead to shutting down of people’s mind and closing of their hearts. But our non-agitating, well-thought beneficial words will help us communicate with them better, connect with them better.
And also they will help us purify ourselves because we will be speaking in a mood of service to Krishna and in a mood of service to others to benefit them in the most effective way in their particular situation.