Teachings of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba Volume 2

5

Practise Silence to Conserve Energy

Spiritual energy has to be conserved by all pos-

sible means. The sages practised silence to con-

serve the energy lost through speech.

Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume XVII, 

Chapter 6: Students and Sadhana.

2

Triple Purity That Pleases the Lord

There are three things that are immensely 

pleasing to the Lord: a tongue that never indulges 

in falsehood, a body that is not tainted by caus-

ing harm to others, and a mind that is free from 

attachment and hatred. These three constitute 

the triple purity. Refrain from uttering falsehood, 

inflicting pain on others, and entertaining ill will 

towards others. Practise silence as a means of pre-

venting the tongue from straying away from truth. 

The ancient sages practised and preached silence 

for this purpose. 

Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume XXI, 

Chapter 9: From Annam to Ananda. 

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Restraint in Speech Develops Mental 

Agility

The effect of excessive speech on the behaviour 

and mental faculties of people was the subject of 

research at Columbia University. The experiment 

was conducted in a primary school for twenty-five 

years. The students were grouped separately in 

batches of ten. Those students who spoke the least 

were offered prizes. Tests were conducted on stu-

dents indulging in excessive talk and those observ-

ing silence or reticence. It was found over the years 

that the intellectual abilities of students observing 

restraint in speech were of a high order. There was 

purity in their speech. They had a broad outlook. 

They developed enquiring minds. They had a high 

degree of discrimination.

In the case of students indulging in excessive 

speech, it was found that their memory power was 

weak. They were narrow-minded. They lacked dis-

criminating power. The result of the experiment 

testified to the wisdom of the ancient sages who 

went to the forest for silent contemplation. Every 

one of the practices of the ancient sages was de-

signed to lead men to the highest stage. Remem-

ber that through restraint in speech you can de-

velop mental agility.

Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume XXII, 

Chapter 10: Vidya and Samskara. 

 2

Two Functions of the Tongue

Control of the senses should be one of the pri-

mary aims of students. More than the sense or-

gans, the sensory perceptions are powerful. They 

are: sound, touch, form, taste, and smell. Among 

the sense organs the most important one is the 

mouth (or tongue), with the power of speech. If 

one can conquer the tongue, he will be the master 

of all the other senses.

The tongue has two functions: speaking and 

eating. Whoever is able to master these two fac-

ulties will be able to raise himself to the level of 

the Divine. When the tongue becomes silent, the 

mind begins to talk. To control the mind’s talk, the 

buddhi (intellect or intelligence) has to be awak-

ened. Then one should strive to turn the intellect 

or intelligence towards the Atma (the Divine).

True spiritual striving consists in turning the 

tongue towards the mind, the mind towards the 

intellect, and the intellect towards the Atma. Al-

though this royal road is available to man, he 

chooses to immerse himself in worldly pleasures 

and becomes submerged in sorrow.

Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume XXIII, 

Chapter 13: Royal Road to Realisation. 

 

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6

Pursue the Godly Way of Life

To get rid of ego, there is only one path – it 

is to pursue the godly way of life. When you are 

puffed up with the sense of ego, sit silently in a 

corner and observe what your breathing is telling 

you. It is declaring: “So-Ham” (“So” while inhaling 

and “Ham” while exhaling). So-Ham is made up 

of the two words Sah (He, that is Brahman) and 

Aham (“I”). “Aham Brahmasmi” (I am Brahman). 

If this is constantly meditated upon and this con-

sciousness grows within, the Aham (“I”) will cease 

to be a bother. This mantra (sacred syllable or 

word, by the repetition of which one attains lib-

eration) has been described as Hamsa Gayatri in 

Vedantic parlance.

Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume XXIII, 

Chapter 16: The Buddhi and the Atma. 

2 

Tips on Controlling Anger

You should not become a victim of the feelings 

of anger, hatred, ego, or pride that may arise in 

you. When such feelings arise in you, sit silently 

for a few minutes. Instead of doing so, you must 

not give vent to your anger by scolding or beating 

others as you like. How to put this into practice? 

As soon as you get angry, you should immediate-

ly leave that place and go out into the open and 

quietly walk about 200 metres. Then your anger 

will disappear. An easier method than this is to 

stand before a mirror and look into your own an-

gry face. You will dislike your own face and look 

upon it with disgust or aversion. Then try to laugh 

heartily and your anger will leave you.

If you find it difficult even to do this, go into 

your bathroom and turn the water tap on. To the 

accompaniment of the tune of the sound created 

by the water flowing from the tap, begin to sing 

a good song. Then your anger will certainly dis-

appear. Or else, drink a glass of cold water. Like 

this, you have to seek ways and means of regaining 

a calm and peaceful mood. Instead of doing so, 

if you allow your anger to grow, restlessness will 

also grow along with that anger, depriving you of 

peace of mind. You should never give tit for tat, or 

word for word.

The less you talk, the more your mental power 

will grow. With the increase in your mental capac-

ity, there will be an increase in your power of dis-

crimination too. Consequently, you will give up 

“individual discrimination” and resort to “funda-

mental discrimination.” Because of this, you will 

begin to consider the good of the world at large 

rather than your own individual welfare. You must 

cultivate such broad feelings from this young age 

itself.

Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume XXV, 

Chapter 15: Rise from Animality to Divinity. 

2 

Three Kinds of Silence

The ancients practised three kinds of silence. 

The first was silence of the tongue, the second one 

was silence of the mind, and the third was supreme 

silence. Silence in speech meant confining one’s 

speech to the limit and the needs of the occasion. 

By this discipline, excessive talk was avoided. As 

a result, the power of their speech was conserved 

and enhanced. Discipline in speech also resulted 

in truthfulness. Speaking the truth served to pu-

rify their thoughts. By this means they acquired 

the highest wisdom. Therefore purity in speech is 

vital. It has to be achieved by restraint in speech.

Then, there is silence of the mind. The mind is 

a bundle of thoughts and fancies. These thoughts 

have to be reduced gradually. When thoughts are 

reduced, the mind naturally comes under control, 

like a clock that is unwound. When the activity 

of the mind is reduced, the power of the Atma 

manifests itself. As a consequence, intellect be-

comes more active than the senses. When con-

trol of speech and control of the mind have been 

achieved, the state of supreme silence is easily re-

alised. Students should strive to reach the third 

stage by the disciplines of the first two stages.

Sathya Sai Speaks, Volume XXVII, 

Chapter 7: Imbibe Bharat’s Ideals. 

 

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