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THE WAY OF LIFE
Supposing some guests come to your house seeking a marriage alliance. They have come to see your daughter and if you begin to converse with them about your business or about your activities, what would happen? They would go away even without seeing the girl. A certain girl remained unmarried upto an advanced age. Such a thing happened because her father used to speak about irrelevant things when bride-grooms or their brothers and parents came to see the girl. When a friend drew his attention to his mistake, he rectified himself and the girl was married.
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Some people while speaking are not aware of the propriety of time and occasion. They keep on talking of various things whether they are relevant or irrelevant and the listeners get bored. They do not even like to meet such a man again and they would not have any confidence in his words. Ignoble people are not trusted. Talkative people will not also be trusted by others.
Does this point appeal to you? Speaking irrelevantly and speaking limitlessly would cause loss. I think you have realised this point. Should you not get rid of that habit? You will get rid of that habit, if you make a firm determination thus. "I must get rid of this habit of talkativeness, I should not speak irrelevantly. I should not speak too much". After making this determination, you begin to admire the noble people, who possess the virtues of reticence and relevance in speech. A great sage has said,
'अतिभुक्तिरतिवोक्तिः सद्यः प्राणापहारिणौ ”
(Excessive eating and excessive talking endanger life). Have you understood the meaning of this statement? By eating excessively, a man may develop indigestion and that may endanger his life. He may also die. Talkative people are not aware of what they are speaking. They lose all sense in their enthusiasm to speak endlessly. They talk of things that ought not to be mentioned. Now-a-days, some leaders go on delivering lectures every day and they speak irrelevantly and without thinking of what they are saying. When they read their speeches published in newspapers the next day, they feel
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