He Speaks to Himself

There was a strange man named Dhananjayan who lived in the coastal village of Kanyakumari, where waves utter words and the winds whisper. Day after day, he walked on the beach alone—talking to himself, laughing, and even quarreling at times. Children would chuckle behind him, fishermen referred to him as pey (madman), and shopkeepers looked at him askance. 

“No friends, no family, only talks to the sea and himself,” they whispered.

What they did not realize was that Dhananjayan had previously been a well-established school teacher—quick-witted, well-spoken, and popular. Until one day he was bogged down by loss and disillusionment, and turned inwards, preferring isolation to society. He quit the effort to explain himself to others and started to speak only to one person—his own mind. 

Years passed. He never sought doctors or gurus. Instead, every morning at sunrise, he sat facing the ocean and asked himself three questions:

“What did I feel yesterday?”

“What can I do better today?”

“What am I truly grateful for?”

His hair remained black while others greyed. He walked tall while others stooped. His smile never left his lips, even as life around him grew harder.

One monsoon, the village fell into a deep depression—floods, crop failures, sickness. Many broke down emotionally. That’s when people noticed: Dhananjayan was the only one still standing strong, physically and mentally. Calm. Steady. Laughing.

When the village priest asked him how he remained so untouched, he said only this:

"Because I never missed a meeting with the only person who never lies to me—myself."

That year, the villagers stopped calling him mad. They called him Gnani anna instead.

Moral:

The world may misunderstand your inner dialogue, but in truth, self-awareness is the highest form of sanity.

Inspiration:

"Talk to yourself at least once in a Day... Otherwise you may miss a meeting with an excellent person in this World." — Swami Vivekananda