Wednesday, Dec 25 2024  

NOT SPEAKING ILL OF OTHERS, ESPECIALLY IN THEIR ABSENCE- 3 NOVEMBER 2003

My Humble Pranams at the Lotus Feet of Swami.  

Sai Ram uncles, aunties, brothers & sisters. I am Bindhya from Group 4 and my topic for today is Swami's 8 th Code of Conduct : 'Not Speaking Ill of Others Especially In Their Absence'.  

Swami has said that "Be very careful of your speech. Animals have horns. Insects have stings. Bees have claws and fangs. But man's biggest weapon of offence is his tongue. The wounds caused by it take long time to heal." When we speak ill of others, we hurt the person's feelings and create bad karma for ourselves.  

I would like to share a personal experience. One day, I saw a new student in school. She had just migrated to Singapore recently. My group of friends and I thought that she did not look friendly at all and so we decided to ignore her. She was so lonely and looked pitifully at us. We noticed that she wanted to talk to us but strangely we tried even harder to avoid her. We even began spreading stories about her that were not true. Others began to ignore her too. Even though I knew that our behaviour was wrong, for some reason, I did not make an effort to correct myself.  

A few days later, when I was taking the bus home, the new student was also on the bus and she sat beside me. She politely began a conversation with me. Without realizing it, we were involved in a long conversation. I discovered that she was quite a nice person and I should not have judged her by how she looked. I regretted adding to the conversation when my friends spoke ill of her and I really felt sorry for her. From then on, she became a close friend of mine. When I told my other classmates that she was a nice person, they too became friends with her.  

From that incident, I learnt a few important lessons :  

Firstly, we must never speak ill of others whether they are present or not. It will always lead to hurting the feelings of others  

Secondly, if others are speaking ill of someone, do your best to give positive comments instead. Hopefully, that will change their perception. If that does not succeed, just keep silent. Swami will be happy. Thirdly, by speaking ill of others, we are in fact reducing the love the love in our own hearts. As we all know, Swami will only reside in the hearts that are full of love. So only speak positively and fill our hearts with love for Swami.  

You may be wondering what we can do to follow this 8 th Code of Conduct more effectively because it is is so difficult to keep our tongues under control. Swami has made it very easy for us by giving us simple and effective guidelines such as :  

•  Namasmarana - constantly chanting the name of the Lord
•  Gayatri Mantra - chanting the mantra as often as possible
•  Light Meditation - practice daily so that we send light to our tongues.  

Therefore, by following the guidelines Swami has given to us, we must cleanse our speech. I would like to conclude my talk with one of Swami's quote, "The tongue should be used for spelling the name of Lord and not for hissing like a serpent."

Om Sai Ram

Sis Bindhya
SSEHV Group 4