In plain words
So that the Manas might rest, our forebears laid down dhyāna as a sādhana. We must recognise the Satya that śravaṇa, manana and nididhyāsana all arose only for the rest of the Manas, and not for Mokṣa. Some people keep saying that we must restrain the Manas. This is never possible for anyone, at any time, in any age. Restraining it means only ridding it of the impurity that is in it. How?
To catch fish, a man puts bait on a hook and casts it, and at once the fish is in his hand. It is with the goad that they bring a savage beast under control. Man brings even poisonous snakes under his control. What does it mean to bring this poisonous snake under control? A poisonous snake has two kinds of teeth. Only when both these poison fangs are drawn does the snake come under control. Bringing it under control does not mean catching it and keeping it in the hand. However you keep such a snake near you once its poison is drawn, there is no danger. In the same way, mastering the Manas does not mean holding the Manas in your hand. When we remove the impurity of the Manas to some extent, the Manas stays within our own control. What are these impurities? They are nothing but the sway of the ariṣaḍvarga. Because anger, hatred, envy and the like hound the Manas, the Manas stays at a level beyond our reach. So, to tread down the sway of the Manas little by little, we must keep certain kinds of fancies and inner conversations under control to some extent. Only then does purity of the Manas come about.
Now the second is the word. This word costs nothing. Its value is great. It is the word that raises a man to a high level or drags him down to a low one. Good and bad, too, come from words alone. The word is mighty in power. Men display this tremendous power and uproot even humanness with it. A small example. When a man is told something perilous or something terrible, he sinks little by little and loses all his strength. Though what was said is only a word, it draws to itself all the strength there is in a man. The word itself sucks up all the strength in a man. The word makes a man powerless. When that same word is spoken in a good and joyful way, a man gains the strength of an elephant and takes part in many mighty tasks. It is this word that gives this strength, or that brings weakness. When a tree is cut down with a sword, it may sprout again after some days. A Manas broken by a word cannot sprout. By a word, many great undertakings too come to a stop. Above all, keeping words under control is the chief sādhana. Satyaṃ vada. Priyaṃ vada. We must speak Satya. We must not speak a harsh Satya that makes a heart cave in, on the plea that it is, after all, Satya. Yet we must not speak untruth because it is pleasing. The Satya we speak should always be pleasing and beneficial. A body not defiled by violence and the like, speech not defiled by untruth, hands not defiled by doing harm, a citta not defiled by evil feeling: these are what man needs most of all. So we must recognise that, in humanness, the word is a thing of mighty power. But at times, when passion rises, the run of our words changes. It also happens that, through weakness, words tumble out and hurt others. And so all the words we have spoken keep settling into the heart, as on a tape recorder. These words wake us up now and then in the midst of our life. That is why words must always be good and calm. Because words run to excess, one may keep silence. This silence, kept only in speech, can never be true silence. We must learn silence of the Manas to some extent. Silence within and without helps purify the trikaraṇas of man.
The word is very important. But the words of today are all like bundles of water. The man who talks achieves nothing at all in action. Work does not need words. The man who talks cannot work. Of all that has to do with Manas, word and action, it is words we must cut down. We must restrain the Manas. Saṅkalpas alone are the root cause of everything. Whatever word we speak, the effects of that word settle in the heart. What has settled in this heart settles in the Manas and feeds some saṅkalpas and vikalpas.
Now the third is action. Action does not mean only what is done with the hands. Everything done with the body is action. Whatever deeds we do, such is the result we receive. This, one may say, is the law of nature. Heat, wind and cold show their effect on us whether we believe in them or not. Whether you believe in the fruits of karma or not, their effect cannot be escaped. So we must try to do good karma and enjoy good results. Some may say, ‘I have no faith in these karmas.’ Karmas do not weigh your beliefs and disbeliefs in the least. You cannot escape receiving the fruit of the karma you have done. It is through karma that man falls into many kinds of suffering. In the world, men fall into many kinds of sorrow.