Mind Your Words

Raju was a short tempered man. Though he did not intend to hurt anyone, his temperament had become a cause for concern. The reason was that he wasn’t not able to hold his nerves and the heat of moment would lead him to even use abusive language and insult others.

Realising his mistake, one day Raju went to seek the preacher’s advice and ask for forgiveness. He promised that he would do whatever the preacher asked him to do.

The preacher asked him to collect a bag of feathers. Raju didn’t understand but dared not asked how the bag of feathers would help him. It took him a few hours to collect them and he went back to the preacher. Now the preacher asked him to drop the bag of feathers at the city square. Raju obeyed him silently. Then the preacher asked him to collect those feathers back into the bag. Raju tried, but the wind had blown away all the feathers and Raju had to return empty handed. Now the preacher said to him, “Your words are like these feathers that you could collect rather easily but once spoken out they cannot be retrieved just like the feathers that have gone away with the wind. My dear, always mind your words.”  

Raju now knew that none other than his own conscious effort could help him.