Baba says, “The children who control their words and save their time and energy automatically experience the sweetness of introversion.”

There are fast effort-makers and there are effort-makers, explains Baba. The fast effort-makers, as the name suggests, are those who are moving forward with a fast speed and effort-makers are those who sometimes have a fast speed and sometimes, don’t. Everyone is receiving the same study, sustenance and attainment from the One; so why is there a difference in the speed? There are two reasons, explains Baba. Firstly, the power of thought, the most elevated power, is not always used accurately for the self and for service at the right time. Secondly, the power of speech (words) is not used accurately and powerfully. In other words, both thoughts and words are wasted more than they are accumulated.

For the power of thought, Baba advices me daily: “Children, continue to remember Me like a genie. While eating, sitting and moving around, remove your intellects from everywhere else and connect them to Me. Do the service of remembering the Father and heaven.” Thought is the seed; if the seed is powerful, the fruit that emerges from it will also be powerful. That is, my words, my attitude, my feelings, my actions will all be powerful and elevated. At the same time, my words have an effect on the mind too. The mind pulls speech (or words) to itself. And while thoughts are internal, my words have a connection to the self and to others. My mind needs to stay in remembrance and for my words, Baba’s shrimat is: “Speak less, speak softly and speak sweetly.”

The sign of those who speak wasteful things is that they speak a lot. I might control myself by force based on the company I’m with but, inside, I feel as though I might explode at any moment! And while I might succeed in keeping quiet outwardly, I am saying all the words inwardly. I feel as if I’m dying while being forced to keep quiet. Then due to all the suppression, I become sad and depressed. This is because just outward behavior modification does not help. What I need is a heart transformation and that can only happen when I have a deep relationship with the Supreme Father, the Ocean of Knowledge, the Purifier. It’s one thing to realize that I ought to change but just that realization does not help on its own; I also need power that comes only from the remembrance of the One. It is when my intellect is wandering between different people and things that my energy, time and thought power gets wasted. When I become a spinner of the discus of self-realization, I focus my thought energy on considering myself a soul playing the elevated part throughout the cycle and on the One who made me that. This is why they show the discus on one finger in the image of Vishnu, not on two or four fingers. The one finger signifies one thought, one awareness: “I am a pure soul and mine is the one Father and none other.” When this is where my mind and intellect are engaged, I become introverted. Seated in my cottage of the forehead, I experience being an embodiment of tapasya– this is the sweetness of introversion. As a result, my words will automatically adhere to Baba’s principle: I will speak only that which is needed, I will speak softly and sweetly.

The greatest damage caused by wasteful words is not to others, it is to myself. The habit that causes me to waste words is of taking something that is so small and trivial and making it into a big thing. My way then becomes of a story teller. People relate the scriptures, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, with a lot of interest in the form of stories. They will speak with a lot of interest themselves and they will create interest in others- this is the sweetness of extroversion or of words and activity. But, what is the result? Rama went into exile! Here too, no lives are transformed as a result of listening to these stories, they keep me entertained where I am. There is, thus, the difference of night and day between the sweetness of introversion and that of words and activity. The Father, the Ocean of Knowledge, comes and relates the just true essence of these scriptures. He speaks less – uses just a few words – but those words are packed with power that is able to cut through the strongholds of Ravan. It is power that can transform souls that are impure and make them pure. This is why He is known as the Almighty Powerful.

When I speak wastefully, on the other hand, I become like those who relate the scriptures. I start telling long stories about who did what and how that made me feel and why it was so wrong and how it isn’t fair and on and on. Such a soul is a weak soul, explains Baba but I wouldn’t know it from the outside! Why? because such souls are quickly made into companions by others because they want to listen! So the longer and juicier my stories are, the more ‘friends’ I have! But in the process, I become someone who doesn’t know nor have love for solitude. Externally, it appears as though my gathering is big and powerful, but, cautions Baba, “always remember one thing: these are the last steps of Maya’s departure.” Even as she is leaving, she continues to shoot her arrows. This false sense of power and popularity is Maya’s bait. Until the very last moment, if not directly, then indirectly, if not in a bitter way, she will adopt a very sweet, new form and keep on trying with the children of God. Baba says, ‘Beware‘. When I develop the practice of introversion and solitude, I develop the power of silence which also forms the foundation for the power to discern and the power to judge. I can then easily discern what is Maya and what is not and become a conqueror of Maya.

In addition to gathering news from here and there, listening to and telling stories about it, the other common forms of wasteful words, Baba points out, are indulging in jokes and laughter beyond the limit and taunting someone. Also, sometimes when I’m listening to service news, I also speak about the weaknesses of those who did the service. “This is a mixture“, points out Baba. “It is good to listen to and be inspired by service news but to then gossip about those who did the service is wrong.” All these forms of using words are wasteful, He explains. Laughing and joking in which there is spirituality is good. Whomever I laughed and joked with, did they benefit from it or was their time wasted? The virtue of being entertaining, Baba explains, is only good when it is appropriate to the person, time, gathering, place and the atmosphere. If even one of these is not right, then that entertainment is counted as wasteful, He teaches. Then the certificate I’d receive would be that I make everyone laugh but that I speak too much. “So stay within limits“, teaches Baba, “this is part of being Maryada Purushottam (follower of the highest code of conduct).“

“Let your words always be such that others want to hear you say more“, He guides. “You should say something and like chatrak birds, they should hear it.” Such words are called invaluable, elevated versions. Elevated versions are never many. If I continue to speak whenever I want, these are not called elevated versions. The intellect of someone who speaks wasteful things always gathers only rubbish of wasteful things and wasteful news from everywhere because I need fodder to be able to tell stories. “But a child of God“, Baba explains, “ought to keep the intellect engaged in remembering the Father and the inheritance, that is, in being a spinner of the discus of self-realization. This remembrance is the help you give Me“, He explains. Then, I will experience the sweetness of introversion and my words will automatically be those that are necessary, yuktiyukt (tactful), according to the time and place, and those that bring benefit to the self and others.