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DISCOURSE 43
277
You will admire this quality of noble men only when you admire reticence in speech.
From the Audience: If a man likes to speak in a relevant manner, he would say only what is relevant; would he not ?
Maharajashri : There is no such rule. A man may like to speak what is relevant to the context but yet he may have the habit of loquacity. A man who is addicted to a habit does something though he knows that it is not good. When from that habit, he does not get a good result and when an evil result accrues from it, he will realise his mistake but if such a man keeps admiring noble people for their reticence and relevance in speech, he will get rid of his bad habit.
Some speakers also deviate from the topic of the lecture and speak irrelevantly and the result is that the listeners feel bored and such a man's speech will not have any good effect on the listeners. Listeners cannot understand the subject matter of his speech; if his speech is irrelevant and digressive. Let us suppose that a speaker is delivering a lecture on the economic problems of the country, but he speaks only on birth-control. Then it is irrelevant. If the subject matter is spiritual development and if the speaker speaks on economic development, it will be irrelevant. The speeches of such speakers cannot be popular.
TALKATIVE PEOPLE CANNOT ACHIEVE THEIR OBJECTIVES
A teacher has to teach history. In that class, he has to teach history but he begins speaking of civics. A teacher has to teach mathematics but in that period, he begins speaking of science. Such people connot achieve their purpose of teaching their subject. They will fail to achieve their purpose.
A merchant who deals in cloth sits in his cloth-shop but he speaks to his customers about gold and silver. Another merchant has a medical shop but sitting in his shop, he speaks to his customers about cloth. How can the business of such people thrive ? Can they acquire money ?
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