In plain words
What is its limit? The tongue that speaks can speak. But what kind of words? Good words or bad words? Or words that blame others? Words that make others happy? Or words that make one seem a beast? Words that make one seem Paśupati? That we must decide. Here we must set our own limit. The Upaniṣads called this very thing ‘mātraḥ’. It means a limit. God gave us the nose only to take in good smells, not to sniff snuff as much as we please. When we make this nose, given us to take in fragrance, follow a contrary path, our health wastes away. This nose too becomes unclean. What is the reason? It goes against what God has decided.
Next, the eye. It is the eye that has to see. But to see what? Is it to see perverse ugliness? Is it to see indecent sights? No, no. God did not grant us eyes for this. He granted us eyes to see beauty in what is seen, and people swaying in the Ānanda of God, forgetting themselves, absorbed, wild with joy: to see such divine feelings. If with such eyes we try to look at sinful deeds, sinful acts and sinful sights, we become people who have gone against what was set for our eyes. Then the eyes become unclean. In the same way, the ears, the skin, the mouth, all of these become unclean when we set them on a contrary path.
The tongue. It earns us four kinds of sin. What are those four sins? I have told you many times. Speaking untruth is the first sin. It goes against Dharma. Carrying tales against someone is the second sin. Talking too much is the third sin. Reviling others is the fourth sin. Reviling others is a sin, so we must not revile others. Why must we not revile them? The Paramātma dwells in all. The Bhagavad Gītā has said, ‘Mamaivāṃśo jīvaloke jīvabhūtas sanātanaḥ.’ All living beings are My own part. What is in all living beings is My own part. What part? My eternal part. So, when we regard all as embodiments of God, by reviling others we become people who revile the Paramātma. So this is a sin. We must not revile others. Next, tale-bearing. These against those, those against these, we must not carry tales against one another in this way. This too is a sin. This too is not what was set for the tongue. It is contrary.
Next, speaking untruth. Untruth is a greater sin still. We say that God is the embodiment of Satya. But we worship untruth as God. So untruth is like a devil. It is like a great ghost. It is like a piśāca. It is a dreadful torment.
Next, the excessive talk we indulge in. For many it comes naturally. Excessive talk is not good. Too much talk is loss of wits. I have told you many times. Talking too much destroys the power of memory. The strength to work wastes away in us. Enthusiasm wastes away. These two may slip away without your knowing. But the third everyone knows. When someone who talks too much comes near us, we try to slip away, saying, ‘Here comes the chatterbox!’ Why? If we give a naya paisa and get her started, we cannot be rid of her even if we give four thousand. They bring all sorts of needless things, all the gossip of the world, and tell it to us. That girl is like this, this girl is like that. And why should we have all this? We have come to know our own good, to remove our own bad, to develop our own purity: why should we take into our heads all the poison of others! So we must not listen to others' talk. Carrying tales and chattering on with too much talk, these two forge a close bond with each other. Excessive talk and carrying tales: these two are twins. Into those who talk too much, tale-bearing is sure to enter.
For those who carry tales, excessive talk becomes their friend in it. Without this excessive talk, tales cannot be carried. For those who carry tales, if they lack this excessive talk, the tales have no strength. That is why they cultivate both of these well. So this excessive talk is not fitting. That is why our mouth must be pure. ‘O tongue, knower of tastes, lover of sweetness, the truth that is good for you’: even when we speak Satya, we must not say it in anger, nor in a way that disheartens, nor what causes pain. ‘Satyaṃ brūyāt, priyaṃ brūyāt.’ We must speak Satya; it must be pleasing. ‘Na brūyāt satyam apriyam.’ Just because Satya is unpleasing, we must not try to tell an untruth. That is why the Bhagavad Gītā said, ‘Anudvegakaraṃ vākyaṃ, satyaṃ prītihitaṃ bhavet.’ It must be good. It must be pleasing. It must be Satya. With speech of this kind we must purify the tongue. That is why they gave all these karaṇas the name mātraḥ. Mātrā means a measure. You know what a measure is! She is very good-looking.