Creating Silence

Creating Silence

“When the mind is silent, then it can enter into a world which is far beyond the mind.” - The Upanishads

Usually, communication with other people is made by talking. Language is learned at an early age and conversations become a mechanical function requiring no attention throughout one’s life. An enormous amount of time is wasted in talking unnecessarily with other people, inner talking with oneself: for instance, talking about sports, politics, current affairs, the economy, movie stars, and so on. Mr. Ouspensky beautifully described our day,

“There are some strange moving functions which represent useless work of the human machine not intended by nature, but which occupy a very large place in man's life and use a great quantity of his energy. These are: formation of dreams, imagination, daydreaming, talking with oneself, all talking for talking's sake, and generally, all uncontrolled and uncontrollable manifestations.”

Today on the way to work I was immersed in the activity of many ‘I’s in the machine. After closing the front door of the apartment, I pushed the call button of the elevator to go to the parking lot, but the elevator did not arrive. I was getting restless and was swamped with many ‘I’s and suddenly woke up, it was like a jolt. I had never pushed the call button of the elevator, but due to dense sleep instead, I had pressed the car unlock button, and that is why the elevator never came. Mind was occupied in many thoughts, and the heart was absent, presence was absent. My Teacher said, “Silence is the answer. Silent presence is the answer.”

Active body types waste energy with unnecessary talk externally, while passive body types mechanically talk internally. Both are mechanical and require efforts of self-remembering to wake up. One of the difficult areas in awakening is to be present while speaking. It could be speaking over the phone or in person. There is a tendency to pace up and down or gesticulate while speaking over the mobile. We are engulfed in a state of sleep during the conversation. Bayazid a Persian Sufi said, “Thirty years I was thinking of God. When I became silent, I could see that my thoughts were the veil that separated me from God.”

While it is relatively easy to minimize talking and being silent, the work on stopping inner talk requires a higher degree of effort. One needs to be in the continuous effort of self-observation and observe one’s state – it is either sleep or consciousness. Rumi said, “Uncover in silence your soul’s own rose garden.” Maintaining the energy and keeping it focused on listening rather than speaking unnecessarily and repeating this repeatedly during the day, allows one to go beyond the mind as Upanishads explained earlier.

“All work must bring us to the point where we really feel God as the centre of everything, everywhere and in ourselves. Then work becomes no longer effort but pure joy... This realisation grows in silence.” - Rodney Collin

From our Friend, Dharmesh Shah.

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Cherry Blossoms, Tidal Basin, Washington, D.C.