Inner Silence ~ Episode 6

Finally, we are about to discuss ‘How do we silence our speech?’  It seems obvious that we can silence our speech by simply eliminating all useless, pointless talk. And one of the tests to know how much of our life is filled with useless, pointless talk is to just look at the quality of our conversations. We know that, as a family or sometimes a group of friends, we sit and we chat, we talk. It might be a helpful practice.

At the end of every conversation, we usually ask ourselves, what have we learnt? Have we learnt anything new? And I don’t honour gossip, as a form of conversation. You can learn a lot of true and false things about all the other people, in your neighborhood or in your community. I am not sure whether that does any of us, any good?

“Remember, Words are given by God to us, to create ‘Silence’ ~ in the hearts, in the consciousness of people.”

So conversations, as a form of exchange of ideas, can really make us better people or more knowledgeable, but are we engaging in that kind of conversations? That kind of dialogue would really be very nice. And perhaps many of us might agree that, that kind of conversation is becoming more and more rare. Nowadays, if at all people find time to sit and converse or talk about something, it’s either an occasion to while away one’s time, or avoid being just left to one self. So it becomes what we sometimes call socializing. There is nothing inherently wrong in socializing, but at the end of it all, we just still need to ask, whether all of it just added up to having a good time, or did we learn anything out of it at all?

Because time is passing, swiftly and quickly, we have really limited time and with the limited energy resources that we have, how much can we afford to indulge in useless thinking, useless talking, and useless activity? Because when it is time for us to go, none of those useless activities are going to help us, or protect us? We also tend to forget that there would be a day, may be sooner than people think, when we would have to go too?

So all these three (3) types of silences, the silence of the body, the silence of the mind, the silence of the speech, have to be practised at all the time and in every way. Only then can we, as spiritual seekers, hope to experience real meditation.

When all sounds cease, external sound and internal sound, then only the sound of the mantra remains. When all forms, all of the worldly forms, with which we are dealing all the time, move aside, only then the form of our ‘Ishta or lord or Mother or Allah’, the form of our chosen deity, the object of our meditation remains. As long as there are many of these competing forms, it will be very difficult to see God in our heart, in whichever way we are able to visualize and conceptualize the presence of the Divine. Because of this, the hundreds and millions of competing forms, hundreds and millions of competing ideas, all of it needs to be moved away. There has to be some real inner space and inner silence. Only when this silence is achieved within the different dimensions of our being, can meditation truly occur.

In that state of deep inner meditation, we will experience real inner silence. And it is that real inner silence which will produce real knowledge, real peace and real fulfillment. Not just temporary bouts of peace. It is not like we don’t experience peace at all.

There are times in life, when we do feel very peaceful. There are times in life, when we do feel contented. There are times in life, in which we feel fulfilled. But, we know how fragile that kind of peace, joy and fulfillment is. Now it is there and then something else comes and all the peace goes away. Well, it’s good to have that kind of peace than no peace at all. But, we would rather have peace that stays?

What Vedanta tells us, is that, if we really want it, all of these are within the reach of all of us?  And we must begin by practicing these three (3) kinds of silence, of the body, of the mind and of the speech. We then begin to experience it in deep meditation. That is the goal that the Vedanta has put before us.

May there be peace on earth and in the sky. May there be peace in the water and in all directions. May there be peace in the plants, in the trees and in animals. May there be peace in the hearts of all beings. May there be peace in everyone and in everything. May all be happy and healthy? May all say what is good and may no one experience misery. May all overcome their obstacles and acquire good tendencies. May people everywhere find joy and fulfillment?

Let us now spend some time, touching the center of peace and joy, in our hearts. A good way to begin the practice is to withdraw the scattered energies of the mind and bring them to rest at one point. That point can be our own breathing. Let us, therefore, practice breathing with awareness. As we breathe in, let us visualize, that our body and mind are being filled with love, strength and compassion. And as we breathe out, let us release all the stress, anxiety and exhaustion, in the body and mind. Let us practice this way, for our mind to attain that peace.

Prayer

May The Heavenly Father, Mother, Our Heavenly Friend,

Lead us from the unreal to the real,

From darkness to light,

From ignorance to bliss,

From death to immortality.

May all our wishes come true?

Bibliography:

• Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda ~ God Talks With Arjuna ~~ Bhagavad Gita ~ Published By Yogoda Satsanga Society of India.
• Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda ~ Inner Silence ~~ Inner Peace ~ Published By Yogoda Satsanga Society of India
• Swami Tyagananda ~ Monk of Ramakrishna Order ~ Ramakrishna Vedanta Society, Boston, USA
• Swami Adiswarananda ~ Meditation & Its Practices ~ Published By Advaita Ashrama
• Swami Vivekananda ~ Voice of Freedom ~ Published By Advaita Ashrama
• Inner Voice & Reflection, as Guided By Divine Mother Through Robbin Ghosh