Sanskrit
अनुद्वेगकरं वाक्यं सत्यं प्रियहितं च यत् । स्वाध्यायाभ्यसनं चैव वाङ्मयं तप उच्यते ॥
anudvegakaraṃ vākyaṃ satyaṃ priyahitaṃ ca yat svādhyāyābhyasanaṃ caiva vāṅmayaṃ tapa ucyate
Translation
Speech causing no annoyance, truthful, pleasant and beneficial, the practice of the study of the Scriptures, are called the austerity of speech.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Notice the qualification on satyam here: truthful speech alone isn’t enough to count as austerity, it also has to be priya-hita, pleasant and beneficial — a version of the older Indian ethical maxim that truth should be spoken kindly, not wielded as a weapon. Pairing that discipline with svādhyāya, the practice of scriptural study, makes “austerity of speech” cover both what you say to others and what you take in — an unusually balanced definition of a virtue often reduced to mere restraint. Austerity of speech: words that are satya (true), priya (kind), hita (helpful), anudvega-kara (not upsetting) — all four at once — plus svādhyāya, recitation and study. The hardest of the four is usually priya-hita together with satya.
Study deeper
Word by word
- anudvegakaraṃ vākyaṃअनुद्वेगकरं वाक्यं
- speech that gives no distress (anudvega-karam + vākyam)
- satyaṃ priyahitaṃ ca yatसत्यं प्रियहितं च यत्
- truthful, pleasant, and beneficial (satyam + priya-hitam + ca + yat)
- svādhyāyābhyasanaṃ caivaस्वाध्यायाभ्यसनं चैव
- and the practice of study (svādhyāya-abhyasanam + ca + eva)
- vāṅmayaṃ tapa ucyateवाङ्मयं तप उच्यते
- is called austerity of speech (vāṅ-mayam + tapaḥ + ucyate)
Commentary
Site Commentary
It’s worth noticing that svādhyāya, scriptural study, gets folded into “austerity of speech” even though it looks more like intake than output. In an oral culture where scripture was recited and studied aloud, the line between what you speak and what you take in blurs, and the verse seems to want exactly that: disciplining your speech isn’t complete if you only watch what leaves your mouth and never examine what you’re filling your mind with to say.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Disciplining your speech isn't just about watching what you say — it includes being deliberate about what you read, watch, and absorb, since what eventually comes out of you is downstream of what you've been putting in.
Professional
- If you're trying to communicate more carefully at work, don't stop at editing your outgoing messages — audit what you're consuming, the takes, the group chats, the sources, that's shaping the framing you reach for, since output discipline without input discipline rarely holds.
Family & Social
- Watching your tone with family members is only half the discipline — what you're absorbing elsewhere, news, arguments, other people's complaints, shapes what comes out of you at home, so the input deserves the same attention as the words themselves.
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