10/30/2020
Words can give hope to others or discourage others, help one get business or lose business, save relations or break relations, save lives, or destroy lives. The characteristics of good speech are vividly described in the Bhagavad Gita
anudvega-karaṁ vākyaṁ
satyaṁ priya-hitaṁ ca yat
svādhyāyābhyasanaṁ caiva
vāṅ-mayaṁ tapa ucyate
Austerity of speech consists in speaking words that are truthful, pleasing, beneficial, and not agitating to others, and also in regularly reciting Vedic literature. (BG 17.15)