Slander & Gossip
The spoken word, though it may be short and appears to be only a sound, has in it the power of an atom bomb. When a word of ananda (bliss) is spoken to a person in despair, it charges him with elephantine strength. When a word of despair is spoken to a person extremely strong and happy, he slumps on the ground overcome with sorrow.
Words can confer strength; they can drain it off. Words can gain friends; they can turn them into enemies. They can elevate or lower the individual. One must learn the habit of making one’s words sweet, soft, and pleasant. A person is judged by his words. Words inflict damage in other ways too. Whenever we talk disparagingly, defamingly, sarcastically, or hatefully of others, they get recorded on the tape that is our own mind. When we record on tape the talk given by someone, it lasts even after his passing away. So too, even after we pass away, the impressions and impacts of evil thoughts, spiteful words, and wicked plots survive physical disappearance. Never, therefore, use or listen to words that ridicule, scandalize, or hurt others. Slander is the direct sin.
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. XI
If you hear something that hurts your feelings, why do you have to discuss it with others and hurt their feelings too? When you know a statement to be irresponsible or untrue, it is natural that your feelings should be hurt. So, why pass it on to others? Keep it to yourself or, better still, dismiss it from your mind. Don’t talk to others and hurt their feelings, particularly when it concerns a person you love or revere. The greatest damage a person does to himself and to other devotees is to discuss slander. You must not in the first place listen to unpleasant or slanderous attacks against anybody. Even if you do so inadvertently, you should just ignore it, instead of becoming a post office. It is a sin to hear slander, and it is a greater sin to indulge in facile talk and then gossip about that slander. It is best to avoid the company of those who indulge in such gossip.
If you have true devotion, show it by talking of good things. You can discuss Swami’s teachings or other spiritual subjects. That is the way to spiritual progress. By discussing and repeating bad or unpleasant things. You taint your mind and spoil the minds of others too! And then you, too, become a slanderer.
Digest 2, p. 299
Be careful of the success you have won in the cultivation of virtue and beneficial habits. Often, what has been gained is frittered away by keeping trite company, being critical or lazy, or talking loosely.
Teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba
