Page 73 - Towards The Goal Of Beautiful Life

member of the society and comes in contact with many other people having virtues and
vices. Generally common people indulge in criticing others about their bad qualities and

ignore their good qualities, because it is very easy to do so. However in their own
interest, people must do exactly the opposite, namely, they must ignore the bad qualities

of others and take cognisance of their good qualities. Unfortunately, common people are
unable to do this, because they are neither adequately educated nor trained to cultivate

this attitude. For instance, a group of men or women easily get engrossed with joy while
slandering and defaming others, but you will never find them admiring the good qualities

of others. In fact in his own interest Man must cultivate the habit of appreciating the
good qualities of others and ignore their bad ones. In brief, Man must develop the habit

of admiring the virtues of others, appreciate honestly their good deeds and should also
cultivate the habit of speaking sweetly or pleasantly with others. If Man succeeds in

doing this, he will be definitely blessed with health, wealth, fame, success and peace in
his life according to the universal laws of nature.

Another aspect of speech

Speech has considerable importance in Man's life because Man accumulates sin
(Pāpa) and blessings (Punya) through speech and is also recognised as a good or evil

person by others. There is an interesting story in this context. Once a king with his royal
retinue was wending his way in a procession on a royal road in his capital. The

attendants of the king were in the forefront of this procession to make adequate
arrangements to ensure that no event occured which could lower the prestige of the king

and also to prevent any obstruction to the procession. However the attendants faced one
problem. A sage was sitting leisurely with his legs stretched, at some distance on one

side of this royal procession, under a tree. The attendants thought that the sage should
be asked to go away from that area. So the mace-bearer of the king went to the sage

and said, "You fool, has God not given you any common sense to you? In a short while,
the King will pass through this area, you better go away from here or else I will have to

kick you out.'' The sage calmly listened to what the mace-bearer said and looking at him.
He only remarked, "That is the reason why!'', but he did not leave the spot. Thereafter,

the baron of the King came forward and said to the sage, "Sir, don't you feel that it is
wrong for you to sit here with your legs stretched? Is it right for a wise person like you to

sit here in this manner? The King will arrive here shortly. I therefore request you to
kindly leave this place immediately and oblige us.'' This time also, the sage listened to

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