Is it necessary to speak ?

After the essential discussion on the beauty of words, the rules of speech and the characteristic of the tongue (which was covered in last two articles) now we need to think little bit on the usefulness and necessity of silence in the life as speech, words (tongue) are of special importance as a special gift from God to man. Almost no species other than human beings has developed such a distinctive and powerful speech so the significance of words in human life must be valued. We may never think about the significance of speech before we speak. Moreover, since words and speech have a tremendous power of creation and destruction, it is important to know that what we are destroying by words and what we are creating by words.

When we talk about words or speech, the first question normally come in mind that how much is needed? Why we speak? What is the purpose behind it? If we stop speaking completely, it won’t work? If not, why not? A little closer look at our daily lives reveals that we are usually speaking for the following reasons :

1) To run daily affairs – Language is a medium of exchange of ideas. Daily transactions can be of two types a) Family affairs and b) Business transactions. In daily practice, if two words can work, then four words are not required. But normally we use forty words unnecessarily where only four words are required, and it is a well-known fact that even when language did not exist, there were daily family and business dealings.

2) The purpose of talking in vain to spend the time – time pass talking is a hobby of most people. Second reason to talk too much is to spend the time. We don’t have time just to pretend otherwise free population is so high in every society and they are constantly making noise in vain. That is quite natural because for a free man who has no work, talking is the only job and talking is the easiest way to spend time. Gathering people and chatting is just a waste of energy. It does not benefit the country or the world in any way but it is the biggest reason behind speaking.

3) Purpose of getting information about what is going on in the society and in the lives of other people We have a very deep interest in the gossip, which makes it necessary to communicate with people. Majority people are very much interested in gossip. What’s going on in someone’s life? Whose girl ran away? Which mother-in-law had a quarrel with her daughter-in-law? What happened to the academic result of neighbor’s children and relatives? because if there is a low result of others child then there is a reason to be happy that my son is smarter than others. In general, our happiness in society is determined by the suffering of others.

4) The purpose of giving the most essential advice to the person we are connected with in life – emotional attachment due to the infatuation and passion of the relationship, i.e. the need to speak through the squeezing of our experiences to save our love ones from troubles and stumbling of life such as parents, elders, teachers the source of words, teachings, advices is constantly flowing through them. They have a heartfelt desire not to annoy or hurt their love ones. But the results expected by such speeches are rare. On the contrary, there are conflicts in the family, bitterness in the relationship and nothing to improve as everyone wants to try and solve their personal problems at their own. Everyone wants to live their life on their own standards.

5) The purpose of proving oneself to be very intelligent and knowledgeable through special discussions is also a great reason to speak. Speech is also used to prove own self superior to others by constant arguments. Nothing is gained from it, only time, resources and energy are wasted which is a situation of net loss for the society.

6) There is a need to speak to convey the information of many personal achievements to the people. Thus even through this only ego is fulfilled. In the so-called intellectual society there seems to be a gamble to prove and establish oneself skilled and intelligent. In which speech or words are used excessively, the purpose is only ego fulfillment. The success of any endeavor is usually accomplished by public praise. Achievement or success seems incomplete until praise is given, how do people know without saying? So it becomes necessary to speak but there is big question behind the individual benefits or society benefits from such words.

7) Many negative people are normally remain interested in showing other wrong or inferior and commenting on them continuously so that 24 hours a day they constantly find something bad and then spread it all around. This is a great reason to talk more for certain category of people through which only the propagation and dissemination of destructiveness increases which is not advisable to any society.

8) The philosopher or the writer has a belief that his work is very useful for the society, through which social change may be possible, which is inevitable to speak with the intention of propagating. The same motive is probably behind the discourses and sermons of the saints. From time immemorial many saints, incarnations, philosophers have tried to teach a lesson but still no pain or problem of human life has been solved till today as there is inevitability of conduct for it, without which no speech can be beneficial. However, the purpose of the SATSANG behind the speech is very noble. In my view this is the only noble purpose of speech. There can be no better use of words (tongue) or speech like moral teaching. I think this will be the only purpose of God behind giving the most developed and powerful gift of speech or words to human beings. If silence is to be broken, it should be broken only for SATSANG.

In short, a cascade of words and speech seems to be flowing in the world due to the above eight different reasons. Considering all the above reasons one can easily realize that the need of words or speech in our life is pretty low than our expectations. Actually there is nothing the best in the entire world like the SADHANA of silence because the accumulation of the energy is possible only through silence. All the objectives of life can be achieved through appropriate noble speech. All kinds of success can be achieved. Power or energy is very much needed to get rid of many problems of life as well as for attaining supreme soul. According to research maximum energy of human beings is used in thought and speech. That is why a man who thinks too much and talks too much gets tired quickly. According to a research, shipping and teaching business is the highest stressful business in the world. Individuals are found to be constantly bored, tired, irritated and stressed in many areas of speech importance such as advocacy, marketing, public relations. The only reason for this is unnecessary excessive talking. The freshness, energy and vitality that are felt after a night’s sleep or rest is due to the silence of thought and speech. The basic reason behind speech is thought the first thing that comes to mind is the idea or thought that is displayed verbally. According to one study, there are about 60,000 thoughts during the day that consume more than eighty percent of a human’s energy. So that even by calming and limiting the thoughts the SADHANA of silence becomes possible.

Thus the main reason behind speech is thought, if thought is calmed and stabilized then speech automatically becomes quieter and less. It is necessary for gaining energy as energy can be obtained in two ways 1) by increasing and 2) by saving. With less talk energy can be saved beyond the imagination. Through which predictable success can be achieved in life as power is a prerequisite for success. It is our experience that the sharpest result often comes from silence rather than from speaking. None of the eight main reasons behind speaking seem so necessary (except SATSANG). There is nothing better than the practice of silence (to make life quieter and better) there is no loss in silence.

Many sayings about speech also serve a very deep philosophy. Such as “nine virtues in keeping silence i.e. there is no other excellent virtue like silence which is equal to the sum of many virtues or qualities, which saves man from many unnecessary pains and exasperations. Another saying is “use water and speech by filtering” which means using a precious gift like God’s given speech very prudently and thinking many times before using each word whether these words are really necessary in life. The third is a saying “BOLE TENA BOR VECHAY” which explains the importance of speaking but also the purpose behind it that there is a need to speak for the one who wants to sell any product. Thus the need for speech is only for the person who has some personal interest or goal in life. From that point of view, there is no need for speech for a desire free and selfless man. Moreover, if we think that our speech will bring about a radical change in life, family or society, it is our delusion, a blunder mistake, a big superstition. Speaking never changes anything because the ego of so-called intelligent people is so high that even if they understand your truth, they cannot accept it. It can be explained only to those who want to understand, speech is useless in front of those who do not want to understand and if person who wants to understand can understand without saying anything, then for whom to speak?

In the modern age where there is a significant place for talking smartness and majority people remain impress by the individual who is smart in talking if someone suggest practicing silence may not be easily accepted or digest, but in my view, talking smartness means understanding the importance and significance of silence, that is, when to speak? How much to speak? Why to speak? How to speak and when not to speak, if the eternal truth is understood that speaking is actually not a real benefit but just a loss of energy, then perhaps useless war of words will definitely stop in life.

Cost Benefit Analysis experts can only understand that getting less (taking materialistic advantage of speech) and paying more (losing energy) may not be sensible in any way. Is it right for a business to spend twenty rupees for a profit of ten rupees ?

Shilpa shah, director in-charge HKBBA College