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decided to sell the stone to him for two rupees, but he started haggling. Finally, he said he would give me one and a half rupees. I refused him. I don't have time to bargain. I am going to do my work. Kindly leave me in peace." As soon as the businessman heard the price, and that the first man had been haggling for fifty paise, he immediately took out three rupees and gave them to the potter. The potter gave him the stone and proceeded on his way to work.
The jeweller, who had been watching the whole thing, became despondent. He went to the potter and said, "You have just sold your stone for three rupees. It is worth twelve lacs of rupees." The potter replied, "I don't mind. I got it while digging the earth. Three rupees are more than enough for me. It is not less than what I had asked, and I did not expect more." The jeweller said, "Then you are a fool!" The potter stopped and said very calmly, "You knew it was worth twelve lacs and yet you lost it for just fifty paise. Who is the greater fool, me or you?"
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What would you do if you were in the position of that jeweller? All your cheers would turn into tears. The diamond hanging round the neck is nothing but your power of speech. The shruti says, Purushasya vag rahsa, speech is more valuable than yourself. But we are missing this incomprehensible power of speech in our life. God has bestowed it without price; we did not have to pay anything for it. Even so, we have misused it until today. If any person has used it properly, he must have become a great man.
Now, you may ask, what is the meaning of misusing, or using properly, this power of speech? How can we use it properly; how is it misused? The scriptures have shown many methods, but the Vedas say it in straightforward language, vacho rigrasah. Rig means 'mantra'. Mananaat traayate iti mantrah. "The one which liberates you from worldly bondage by reflecting over it, is mantra". Mantra is the essence of speech. If you have chanted the vedic mantras in your life, the speech has been well utilized. If you have used it in worldly affairs instead of in chanting vedic mantras, then it is lost. Vritha gatam tasya narasya jeevitah. "The life of that man has gone in vain."
Let us now take the Rig mantras. You will come across certain people who have learnt all the mantras by heart, but if you ask them the meaning of those mantras, they cannot tell you.
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