Young Persons should have Full Control over the Tongue

Discourse of Sathya Sai Baba during the Summer Course in Spirituality and Indian Culture
held for College Students at Brindavan, Whitefield, Bangalore District in May 1973
Published by Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust
Web posted at Apr 25, 2002

If one is able to control his senses, even if he is a blind person, he will reach the destination of Moksha or attain liberation. On the other hand, if one's senses are not controlled, even if he is the best of men, he will not be able to reach the divine destination.

Pavitratma Swarupas, students! You must learn to use the elements of nature in order to promote the well being of man. Although everything in the world is God's creation we must cultivate the wisdom to make a proper use of things. Our sense organs, for instance, for instance, have also to be used in the right manner. Each particular organ has a distinctive feature. Amongst them, the one that tastes, namely the tongue, is a very important one. It is imperative that we keep it in check. Sometimes to satisfy our palate we consume all types of food not knowing that through it bad qualities like lust, anger, greed, attachment, arrogance and selfishness grow in us. Many of the different foods that we eat change, in the gross appearance at least, into waste matter which is not of any value and gets excreted. In a subtle way, the same food is changing into our blood and muscle. Even more subtle parts of this food will appear as our mind. Therefore, either for the distortions in our mind or for the sacred thoughts that generate therefrom, the food that we take is mainly responsible. Therefore, good qualities like peace, forbearance, love and attachment to truth can only be promoted by taking good food.

Indian culture as contained in the Vedas advises us that control of our sensory organs and living on Satwic and good food are the paths for realisation of the self and liberation thereof. This is the reason why from time immemorial, in our Indian traditions, the Rishis ate Satwic food and drank clear flowing water. They kept their minds perfectly clean and this is how they were able to understand the divine spirit. You should make an attempt to control your tongue when you are young. If in this age, you do not control your tongue and all the other sensory organs, you will have to face many difficulties in your later life.

The prosperity of a nation does not descend from the sky nor does it emerge of its own accord from the earth. It depends upon the conduct of the people that constitute the nation. We should recognise that the country does not mean just the lifeless soil around us. The country consists of a conglomeration of people and it is what they make of it. To rectify the world and put it on the proper path, we have to first rectify ourselves and our conduct. If at an advanced age, you try and control your desires and senses, you may or may not win God's grace. On the other hand, if at this young age, you control your organs, there is no doubt whatsoever that you will gain God's grace. There is a small example for this. If you go early in the morning to a restaurant and book your table, you will surely get your meal at whatever time you go there later. On the other hand, if you go at lunch time and ask for food, you may be told that there is no food for you that day.

By reading many books and by developing an argumentative tendency, it is quite common today that young people get into arguments with others. Once a young man aged 22 years went to Sankara. When Sankara was giving spiritual lessons to his disciples, he interrupted and asked Sankara if all human beings in this wide world should not be regarded as equal, since the same kind of blood flows in all of them. Sankara smiled at this young man and said that the blood flowing in that youngster is hot and fast and so he was trying to push things too far. It is not possible for man to distinguish between permanent and impermanent things. One can adopt the notion of non-duality or Advaita in one's own thoughts and attitudes but it is not possible to equate everything in the world in practice. The young man insisted that this does not seem right. He stated that to him, the proper thing appeared to be to treat all living things in the same manner.

Sankara recognised that if this young man was allowed to go on in this strain, he is likely to reach some absurd conclusions. Sankara decided at once to teach him a lesson and immediately asked him if he had a mother. The young man replied that he had a mother who was alive and that he respected her very much. He again asked if the young man was married. The young man replied that he was married and that his wife had also come with him to the Ashram. Sankara then asked him if he had a mother-in-law. The young man replied that the mother-in-law was quite hale and healthy. Sankara again asked if he had any sisters and the young man replied in the affirmative and said that he had two sisters. Sankara asked if all these people were women. The young man asked how it should be otherwise. Sankara asked if he regarded all of them as equal and treating all these people in the same manner and if in particular, he was treating his mother as his wife and his wife as his mother.

In this world of multiplicity one has to recognise qualitative and quantitative difference. Each electric bulb is of varying power and wattage. Therefore the difference in the light radiating from the bulb is due to the difference in the bulbs and not due to the electric current. The current is the same everywhere but the difference arises from the bulbs with different intensities. God's power is like electric power and our bodies are like the bulbs. The light within will be visible to the extent to which we have faith. There is an enormous amount of water in the ocean but the water which you can get back will depend on the size of the pot which you take with you. Similarly by controlling our sensory organs, it is possible to expand our heart. If you become subservient to the organs, the heart will contract.

There is a small example for this. If we have a balloon and as we blow in air, the balloon becomes larger and larger. As the air is blown into the balloon, it increases in size and when it ultimately bursts, the balloon will lose its form and will merge with the infinity of air around it. As we put more air of faith in the balloon of our heart, it will become larger and merge with the Atma which is omnipresent. This process is called one of merging or reaching the final destination. If in this balloon of our heart, there is no air in the form of faith, the heart cannot expand and it will remain flat and will never have a chance to merge with the divine.

Therefore, if we can develop self-confidence and then attempt to control our sensory organs, we can spend our lives remaining near divinity and ultimately reach divinity. In our body, all the other organs are controlled by the tongue. If only we can control our palate and avoid excessive eating, excessive talking and refrain from using words which ought not to be uttered, our health will improve and we can have peace of mind. This is why Sankara taught a very good lesson to the tongue by asking that it should become sacred and utter only sweet and divine words like Govinda, Damodara, Madhava and so on.

We should not cater to the palate unreasonably. If we feel hungry, we should just take good food in a reasonable quantity to relieve the hunger. We should train ourselves in such a manner that our desire to satiate the palate diminishes. In the same manner, if you desire to abuse others, restrain yourself from using bad words for a long time thereafter. If you treat the tongue in this manner, the tongue will realise that you are not willing to give it what it wants. If it becomes necessary to utter some words, you must first ask yourself if the words are sacred and then only utter them. It is very necessary for young people to get control over the words that they utter, if they wish to avoid harm from the tongue.

I have mentioned to you several times that the patience which the tongue shows is not shown by any other organ. If we turn this tongue into a path which is not sacred, we will be turning our life itself into a path which is not sacred. The care and forbearance, for instance, with which this tongue moves amidst the teeth is remarkable. The teeth are like sharp knives all round and if we understand how the tongue moves amidst them, we will then understand the forbearance which the tongue shows. If the tongue is even slightly careless and gets under one or the other teeth, immediate harm is done. In the same manner, we should lead a life which does not get any harm from the enemies who might be surrounding us. If we want to know also the sacrifice which the tongue exhibits, we have to realise that when we put some good tasty food on the tongue, it only recognises the taste and immediately passes it on to the stomach for further digestion, but it does not keep it for itself. On the other hand, if we give bad food which does not taste good, the tongue immediately throws it out of the mouth. If we again take the aspect of respect, we can see that the tongue deserves great respect. It moves about in its own house and is not like a dog, which goes and uses others' houses unnecessarily. Because of the great respect which the tongue commands, it gets a good name for the owner. By using sweet worlds, he gets to be liked by all. If the tongue only abuses and always talks ill of others, the individual gets such disrespect that people will call him an animal. So, either for our getting a good name or a bad name, the main cause is the tongue.

When a crow comes and perches on the top of our house, we take a stone and pelt at it. On the other hand, if a cuckoo comes on the roof and sings, we will listen to its songs with great pleasure. We hate the crow and like the cuckoo, not because the cuckoo has done something good for us and not because the crow has done something bad for us but because the cuckoo has a good voice while the crow has a bad tongue. Therefore, this sacred tongue should be used for the purpose of uttering sweet words. By uttering sweet words, we should be able to turn others in the society also into good ways. In this manner you should spend the years of your youth by uttering sacred words and speaking about good things. This is what I hope you will do. By exhorting you to take this lesson and spread the same to the world, I am bringing this discourse to a close.