16th December 2009
Watch What You Talk…
Great people talk about ideas. Average people talk about things. Small people talk about other people.
–Unknown
Just imagine that an unknown tape recorder is recording all that you talk and hear throughout the day and believe that you have no power to stop or edit what is recorded. With this idea in mind, spend the day. What will your mindset be? Just imagine what would be the quality of your life if you could eliminate everything you need not speak or hear.
There is a Sanskrit proverb: yathaa shrutham thathaa Budhhi . This means, our knowledge is directly related to what enters our mind through our ears. There are only two ways through which an information can enter our mind-through our eyes and our ears. We can close our eyes and shut off our eye sight. But it is more difficult to shut off our ears and avoid listening to what others speak. We need to be selective in what we are hearing. We need to use our discretion to decide whether we should listen to what is offered to us.
There is a story about Aristotle. Some one went to him and said that he wanted to tell Aristotle about his friend. Aristotle said that before he could hear him, the message should pass through three tests. Aristotle asked him the first question: `tell me if you have something good to say about my friend?'. To this the other person replied that it is not. `On the contrary………' the other person dragged.
Aristotle said, `So, what you wanted to say about my friend is nothing good about him and in fact it could be something bad. Doesn't matter. Let me ask you the second question. Have you personally verified whether what you have to say is true? For this the other person replied that he had not verified the truth. Then Aristotle asked the third and the final question: "can you tell me what benefit will I get if I hear what you have to say?' For this the other person could not reply.
Then Aristotle said, `So, you want to say something bad about my friend, which you have not verified, and I am not going to get any benefit by listening to that! In that case, I don't want to waste my time listening to you!'
Now you understand why Aristotle was so great?
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundati
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