Subhashithaani-Quotable quotes

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10. lakshmeeh vasathi jihvaagre jihvaagre mithrabaanDhvaah

banDhanam chaiva jihvaagre jihvaagre maranam Dhruvam

 

Lakshmi lives at the tip of the tongue; the friends and relatives are at the tip of the tongue; bondage is also at the tip of the tongue and the death is also at the tip of the tongue.

 

Of all the senses the tongue is the most powerful one. It is used for both taste and talk. When one learns to eat wisely, he gets good fortune in the form of health and also wealth when he uses his tongue to speak wisely. Learned men who express their knowledge well get acclaim and make progress.

 

One's friends and relatives are what they are depending on how one talks. All surround the one who is pleasing in his speech and leave the one who uses harsh words or speak ill of others. On the other hand it is possible to kill a lifelong friendship or relationship by offending words.

 

Bondage is also through the tongue only as a man gets addicted to tasty but harmful food and drink. Similarly, idle gossip, slander and cruelty by words, all create a reaction that recoils on the speaker and produces further karma which binds him to the cycle of birth and death, to experience the effect of his doings. It is said that if you speak ill of someone his bad karma adheres to you partly and he gets free from that part of karma. There is story to illustrate this.

 

 

A devotee who was living alone wanted to attain salvation and prayed to Lord who appeared in his dream and told him that there was still some karma remaining which he had to exhaust. The devotee asked whether there is any way to get rid of that soon. The Lord showed him a way. There was a serving woman who used to come and do the chores for the devotee out of respect everyday. He was told by the Lord to ask her to stay overnight in his place. He did so and the good woman also had so much regard for him and accepted to do so without question. The next day the whole village was talking about it slandering the man for having slept with the woman. Then all his remaining bad karma was shared by the people in the village and he became free and attained salvation. That is why talking ill of others is a worse sin than we imagine.

 

Death also happens because of the tongue. By food and drink which is injurious to health one can kill himself. Sometimes saying what should not be said can lead to death of oneself or others. An example of one who met his death through his tongue was Sisupala. He hurled abuses at Krishna who had promised the mother of Sisupala that he would be patient till Sisupala uttered 100 abuses towards him. When Sisupala crossed the limit he was killed. If he had kept his mouth shut he would not have died! There is another sloka also which illustrates the value of silence.

 

11. aathmanaH mukhadhosheNa baDhyanthe SukaSaarikaaH

bakaasthu naiva baDhyanthe mounam sarvaarTha

saaDhakam

 

The parrots and mynas get bound by the fault of their mouth. The storks are never captured and bound in cage. Hence silence is the best means of success!

 

Parrots and Myna are known to speak, repeating the words taught. Hence they are caught and imprisoned in cages. But no one does so with other birds like a stork, which is known to wait at the riverbank silently to catch fish . So silence alone will lead to success!

 

In Srimadbhagavatham there is a sloka ,

 

Thaavath jithendhriyo na syaath vijitha anyaendhriyaH pumaan

 

Na jayeth rasanam yaavath jitham sarvam jithe rase

 

By conquering other indhriyas a man will never become self-controlled as long as he has not controlled his tongue, which when restrained all else become controlled.

 

In this context let me give one of my own compositions which is relevant here.

 

kaThayathi kimchith thena baDhyathe naraH

 

rasaruchilobhaath thaysa peedyathe udharam

 

vaachaa himsathi paraan viprakrthyaa athah

 

jihvaa eva SathruH praThamam naraaNaam

 

The tongue is the prime enemy of man because, he says something and gets caught his stomach is tormented by his greed for taste and he hurts others by offensive speech.

 

 

 

 

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Dear Sarojamji,Thank you so much for these beautiful quotes. It is so nice of you to take time to provide us the meanings as well as stories to elaborate the point. Really enjoy reading these e-mails.With Love & Regards

LakshmyOn Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 2:45 AM, sarojram18 <sarojram18 wrote:

 

 

 

 

10. lakshmeeh vasathi jihvaagre jihvaagre mithrabaanDhvaah

banDhanam chaiva jihvaagre jihvaagre maranam Dhruvam

 

Lakshmi lives at the tip of the tongue; the friends and relatives are at the tip of the tongue; bondage is also at the tip of the tongue and the death is also at the tip of the tongue.

 

Of all the senses the tongue is the most powerful one. It is used for both taste and talk. When one learns to eat wisely, he gets good fortune in the form of health and also wealth when he uses his tongue to speak wisely. Learned men who express their knowledge well get acclaim and make progress.

 

One's friends and relatives are what they are depending on how one talks. All surround the one who is pleasing in his speech and leave the one who uses harsh words or speak ill of others. On the other hand it is possible to kill a lifelong friendship or relationship by offending words.

 

Bondage is also through the tongue only as a man gets addicted to tasty but harmful food and drink. Similarly, idle gossip, slander and cruelty by words, all create a reaction that recoils on the speaker and produces further karma which binds him to the cycle of birth and death, to experience the effect of his doings. It is said that if you speak ill of someone his bad karma adheres to you partly and he gets free from that part of karma. There is story to illustrate this.

 

 

A devotee who was living alone wanted to attain salvation and prayed to Lord who appeared in his dream and told him that there was still some karma remaining which he had to exhaust. The devotee asked whether there is any way to get rid of that soon. The Lord showed him a way. There was a serving woman who used to come and do the chores for the devotee out of respect everyday. He was told by the Lord to ask her to stay overnight in his place. He did so and the good woman also had so much regard for him and accepted to do so without question. The next day the whole village was talking about it slandering the man for having slept with the woman. Then all his remaining bad karma was shared by the people in the village and he became free and attained salvation. That is why talking ill of others is a worse sin than we imagine.

 

Death also happens because of the tongue. By food and drink which is injurious to health one can kill himself. Sometimes saying what should not be said can lead to death of oneself or others. An example of one who met his death through his tongue was Sisupala. He hurled abuses at Krishna who had promised the mother of Sisupala that he would be patient till Sisupala uttered 100 abuses towards him. When Sisupala crossed the limit he was killed. If he had kept his mouth shut he would not have died! There is another sloka also which illustrates the value of silence.

 

11. aathmanaH mukhadhosheNa baDhyanthe SukaSaarikaaH

bakaasthu naiva baDhyanthe mounam sarvaarTha

saaDhakam

 

The parrots and mynas get bound by the fault of their mouth. The storks are never captured and bound in cage. Hence silence is the best means of success!

 

Parrots and Myna are known to speak, repeating the words taught. Hence they are caught and imprisoned in cages. But no one does so with other birds like a stork, which is known to wait at the riverbank silently to catch fish . So silence alone will lead to success!

 

In Srimadbhagavatham there is a sloka ,

 

Thaavath jithendhriyo na syaath vijitha anyaendhriyaH pumaan

 

Na jayeth rasanam yaavath jitham sarvam jithe rase

 

By conquering other indhriyas a man will never become self-controlled as long as he has not controlled his tongue, which when restrained all else become controlled.

 

In this context let me give one of my own compositions which is relevant here.

 

kaThayathi kimchith thena baDhyathe naraH

 

rasaruchilobhaath thaysa peedyathe udharam

 

vaachaa himsathi paraan viprakrthyaa athah

 

jihvaa eva SathruH praThamam naraaNaam

 

The tongue is the prime enemy of man because, he says something and gets caught his stomach is tormented by his greed for taste and he hurts others by offensive speech.