{"id":19785,"date":"2019-04-19T13:32:23","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T09:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=19785"},"modified":"2019-04-19T13:32:23","modified_gmt":"2019-04-19T09:32:23","slug":"the-art-of-speaking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/the-art-of-speaking\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Speaking"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tree of Knowledge<\/u><\/span><\/h6>\n

Like a matchstick that can be used both as a tool to lighten up a house or to reduce it to ashes, words are so powerful that they can either be used constructively to heal a person or as a weapon to wound one’s soul<\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"As the Thirukkural (Tamil couplets written by Thiruvalluvar) goes, “To utter harsh words when you have nice words, is like\u00a0plucking an unripe fruit when there are ripe ones”. Speaking pleasantly without hurting others is an art by itself.\u00a0There were times when in our growing years, we were taught to speak gently with humility and respect and we weren’t allowed to express whatever we wanted to.\u00a0Whereas in today’s world of social media we can post whatever we want, share whatever we want to, and troll anyone in the name of freedom of expression.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like a matchstick that can be used both as a tool to lighten up a house or to reduce it to ashes, words are so powerful that they can either be used constructively to heal a person or as a weapon to wound one’s soul.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gary Chapman in his book \u2018Love as a Way of Life\u2019<\/em> uses the vivid metaphor of words as being either \u201cbullets\u201d or \u201cseeds\u201d. If we use our words as bullets with a feeling of supremacy and denunciation, we are going to tear down a relationship. If we use our words as seeds with a feeling of benevolence and sincere goodwill, we are going to rebuild a relationship with love.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Ramayana, Rama Himself lauds Hanuman\u2019s vaku chaturyam<\/em> (oratory skill) to Lakshmana as \u201cNoonam vyaakarnam krisnam anena bahudaashritam ! Bahuvyaakartaanena nakinchit abashabdvitam!!\u201d<\/em> – which means that Hanuman possesses a unique skill of being precise and grammatically flawless in his speech.<\/span><\/p>\n

Put ourselves in others\u2019 shoes<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

When Hanuman returns from Lanka after\u00a0meeting Sita at Ashoka Vanam,\u00a0he conveys his message to Rama as ‘Dhrusta Sita’<\/em> (seen Sita)\u00a0rather than ‘Sita Dhrusta’ <\/em>(Sita seen). Here, Hanuman doesn’t even want his beloved Lord to even pine for a second since Rama was already suffering from separation from his wife, and dejection that other vanara troops that went in search of Sita couldn’t find her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If Hanuman would have uttered the word ‘Sita’ first, Rama’s anxiety would have elicited concern about what\u2019s happened to Sita – whether she has been seen or not and whether she is alive or not. As Hanuman began with “seen”, it not just puts an end to all anticipation but also starts the conversation on a happy note.<\/span><\/p>\n

So it’s very important to convey the message taking into consideration the criticality of the situation and the anxiety of the receiver.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Words can save a life<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

The depth of our character is revealed when we are tested in tough situations. When Hanuman sees Sita in the Ashoka Vanam, Sita was about to hang herself from the tree using her hair as a rope. Hanuman had to stop her but was sceptical that if he appears in his monkey form it\u2019s going to frighten her further into taking her life. If Hanuman hides and speaks in the language of monkeys, Sita won\u2019t understand; or if he appears and speaks in Sanskrit it will create ambiguity. What if she suspects Hanuman as Ravana in disguise?<\/span><\/p>\n

Now Hanuman has to decide wisely and stop Sita on the spur of the moment. Deciding that \u201cRama namam\u201d is the only medicine to avert Sita\u2019s desperate action, he started to recite “Rama namam\u201d and narrated the whole Ramayana story right from the birth of Rama, Sita suyamvaram, Kaikeyi\u2019s boon, Rama\u2019s exile to the forest, Mareecha\u2019s camouflage as a golden deer, Sita\u2019s abduction, Rama\u2019s and Lakshmana\u2019s search for Sita, Rama befriending Sugriva, Vali\u2019s defeat, and ended the narration of how he met Sita in Ashoka Vanam. Thus, he stopped Sita from hanging herself and saved her life!<\/span><\/p>\n

Influential <\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

When Hanuman was taken to Ravana\u2019s courtroom as a messenger to Rama, he most wisely put forth the valour of Rama by recounting the incident of how mighty Vali was defeated by Rama\u2019s single arrow. Vali had a boon that he would gain half of the opponent\u2019s strength. When Ravana tried to attack Vali from behind, he grapped Ravana in his armpit and took him across the ocean and did his sandhya vadhana<\/em>. Exhausted, Ravana conceded defeat and befriended him. Here, Hanuman shrewdly recalls this terrific incident to Ravana. One must know what to speak wisely!<\/span><\/p>\n

The art of speaking is that one must speak the truth, and speak right things that would be convincing for the well-being of living things. As the saying goes, \u201cIf you can speak, you can influence, if you can influence, you can change lives.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Niranjana KarthigaiRajan<\/span>
\n<\/strong>niranjanavk@gmai.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

* Published in print edition on 19 April 2019<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tree of Knowledge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":19787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3113],"tags":[16655,16654,12730,16136,12728,959,16138,12729,16653,16656,7372],"class_list":["post-19785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spirituality","tag-gary-chapman","tag-hanuman","tag-lakshmana","tag-niranjana-karthigairajan","tag-rama","tag-ramayana","tag-ravana","tag-sita","tag-the-art-of-speaking","tag-thirukkural","tag-tree-of-knowledge"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Hanuman.jpg?fit=1123%2C600&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8QzSF-597","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}