SILENCE SPEAKS
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spirit ~ INSPIRATION
S
ilence seems to be making a come-
back of sorts in mainstream
consciousness. Among the better repre-
sentatives of a society’s collective con-
sciousness are the movies, which mirror
the times we live in. Non-verbal commu-
nication is a theme currently being
explored in Hollywood films. Both
Michael Clayton and The Darjeeling
Limited dwell on the deep communica-
tion that occurs in the realms of silence.
In Michael Clayton, the scene between
George Clooney and the three horses on
the hill speaks volumes; an intense
unspoken dialogue between him on one
side and the horses across him, where-
in he gets profound revelations as if they
were speaking to him about life’s lessons
and truths, when all his chips are down.
Likewise, in The Darjeeling Limited, when
the mother realises that no amount of
unspoken communication can be more powerful than speech
by Gautam Sachdeva
august 2008life positive64
talking would help smoothen the rela-
tionship between her and her three chil-
dren as they all kept arguing; she just asks
them to sit quietly and look into each
other’s eyes. As they do so, they share a
most intense and profound moment of
communication, which they never would
when engaged in conversation.
In April/May, Oprah Winfrey took
silence to the world via the Internet, by
beginning the web-cast of her weekly
online teaching classes with Eckhart
Tolle, author of The Power of Now –
with some moments of silence shared
between herself, Eckhart and a live
audience of over two million people all
over the world. Ironically, silence has
started getting its due respect from var-
ious vehicles of mass communication.
Teaching in silence
Talking in silence is not a new phenom-
enon in India. Some of the greatest
Indian spiritual masters taught in
silence. In fact, Meher Baba maintained
silence for the last 40 years of his life!
He expressed himself beautifully
when he wrote:
“When the tongue is silent, the mind
speaks
When the mind is silent, the heart sings
When the heart stops singing, Soul begins
to experience
its original Self
In deep sleep, tongue, mind and heart are
silent, and one
is unconscious
If one can go into deep sleep and remain
awake, one has it
One becomes what one originally was
and eternally is – God.”
Just outside Meher Baba’s samadhi in
Meherabad is a signboard that reads:
‘Things that are real are given and
received in silence.’ That, perhaps, is why
the samadhis of the great Indian spiri-
tual masters continue to draw a large
number of people – to simply be in the
presence of the silence of the master, as
it were. A silence imbued with the mas-
ter’s energy even though he is no longer
present in a body-conscious form.
Masters like Ramana Maharishi and
Nityananda largely taught in silence.
Ramana Maharishi said,“Oral lectures
are not so eloquent as silence. Silence is
unceasing eloquence.” He further said,
“Language is only a medium for com-
municating one’s thoughts to anoth-
er. It is called in only after thoughts arise
– when one remains without thinking,
one understands another by means of
the universal language of silence. Silence
is the eternal flow of language, unob-
structed by words.”
Silence is a potent form of commu-
nication with contemporary teachers as
well. In addition to the morning talks
at the spiritual retreats of Ramesh
Balsekar and Eckhart Tolle – both of
them, I remember, had afternoon ses-
sions that would entail just sitting in
silence with the audience for about an
hour. What was amazing to note was
that the turnout for these afternoon ses-
sions was practically the same as the
morning talks – in fact, some people
even preferred the silent sittings to the
discourses. This truly gives significance
to Ramana’s words, “What one fails to
know by conversation extending to sev-
eral years can be known in a trice in
silence, or in front of silence.”
Of course, the greatest embodiment
of silence is Nature. One can only mar-
vel at the way Nature silently operates.
Take the example of the Earth – a huge
mass that weighs nearly six sextillion
metric tonnes and spins like a top on
its axis, while revolving around the sun
at the same time. At the equator, the
earth’s surface moves 40,000 kilometres
in 24 hours, which is a speed of about
1,040 miles per hour. In addition to this,
the earth revolves around the sun at a
speed of about 18.5 miles per second.
All this it does in absolute silence, while
you sit in your comfortable chair and
read your Life Positive, oblivious to the
fact that the ground beneath you is per-
petually moving. How can you seek sta-
bility in your lives, when the very
foundations are in perennial move-
ment? Closer home, one can only mar-
vel at the way the organs in the human
body perform their task silently. Even
the blood courses through your veins
silently, without your notice while you
channel surf, chat on the phone with
a friend, or simply lie on your bed.
True nature
When it comes to human nature, we
know deep within that silence is our true
nature, the ground of our being. This
quality of silence is emerging among
more and more of humanity today. In
fact, I have recently come across quite a
few young adults, and even children, who
seem to have this calm, composed
demeanour about them – emanating
from a deep stillness within. A few
months ago, I was observing a young girl
about five-six years old, accompanied by
her parents. There was a gathering of
people and she sat quietly on her chair, in
their midst, without uttering a word for
quite some time, and appeared to be
enjoying herself doing nothing in partic-
ular. It was not a forced silence, a silence
under duress, which the child had been
disciplined to maintain by her parents. In
fact, her parents were not even sitting any-
where close to her to impose their rule.
Then, someone came up to the parents
RAMANA MAHARSHI
“Silence is the eternal flow of language,
unobstructed by words”
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and said the child was not normal as chil-
dren her age should be running around
and creating a noise. This left the parents
quite perplexed, and not knowing how to
respond to their new self-appointed advi-
sor, they simply nodded their heads in
quiet consent as it seemed to be the eas-
iest way out. After some time, I found the
child happily conversing with whoever
went up to her; there were no barriers
in place – she did not shy away or go into
a cocoon. Then, she trotted off to her
father and gave him a big smile and a hug.
I did remark to the father that it seemed
his child was a little Buddha, and was not
surprised when he replied that she had
been like that right since he could remem-
ber. If a child’s nature is one of quietude,
then there is no point in trying to change
it in order to fit him or her into the con-
ventional prototype. It is like forcing a
left-handed child to become right-hand-
ed – it only confuses the child more as he
or she is being asked to act against what
comes naturally.
In my own case, I remember being
quiet as a child at home as well as in
school. I was very happy to sit on a sofa
and stare into nothingness. Sometimes,
when I was sitting like this, people
would ask me, “What are you think-
ing?” Then, I would wonder what it was
that I was truly thinking. The mind
went round and round in circles as
multiple possible thoughts surfaced. I
was now swimming in a sea of new
thoughts. The mind got as entangled as
criss-crossing cable wires in the electric
meter room of a building, and the short
circuit was simply waiting to happen.
Fortunately, it never did.
Perhaps the next time you see some-
one lost in thought, it might be better
to ask, “Are you lost in thinking?” giv-
ing them the option to answer with a
straightforward “No” rather than ask-
ing “What are you thinking?” For we
usually take it for granted that, each one
of us is at all times actively thinking of
something. However, it really is not nec-
essary to consume each second of our
existence if not in doing, then in think-
ing. This reminds me of the Zen saying,
“It’s never too late to do nothing.” In
fact, one of the most simple and yet
potent exercises in t’ai chi is standing
quietly, doing nothing.
In his book Stillness Speaks, Eckhart
Tolle says, “What is stillness? It is
the inner space or awareness in which
the words on this page are being per-
ceived, and become thoughts. Without
that awareness, there would be no per-
ception, no thoughts, and no world.
You are that awareness, disguised as a
person.” A significant pointer he gives
is, “When you become aware of silence,
immediately there is that state of
inner stillness.” The next time, if
you pay attention to the silence outside,
you will automatically find your
mind being stilled. Silence is all around
you, enabling everything else to ‘be’. It
is the space in which our planet spins
relentlessly. It is the space between the
words on this page. It is the screen
on which you watch the movie in
your favourite multiplex. It is the traf-
fic signal at the crossroads. It is the photo
in your living room, which speaks fond-
ly of a distant memory of a special time
spent with loved ones. It is the space
between two thoughts. It is the silence
all around you. It is the silence outside
when you are not talking. It is the still-
ness inside when you are not thinking.
Do we take silence for granted because
it does not say anything? Thankfully,
silence does not mind. It is waiting
patiently with arms wide open. It knows
that all of us will feel the warmth of, and
be enveloped in, its inevitable embrace
when we leave this world; just like all
sounds that emerge from the silence even-
tually dissolve into that very same silence.
Next time you are in an argument and
someone tells you to shut up, consider
that it is Ramana Maharishi or
Nityananda talking through them and
reminding you to honour the silence.
After all, you were probably just defend-
ing a mental position, which ultimate-
ly is just a thought. Further, the more
you defend, the more likely it is that the
other person will dig in his heels. So, let
go of it and be quiet, calm and com-
posed. Being silent is sometimes the best
way to win an argument, simply because
you cannot argue with silence. What is
more, Mother Earth could do without
the added weight of your arguments,
while it takes you for a spin once again.
Eckhart gives the beautiful example
of the so-called mad people we some-
times come across on the roads, who are
jabbering inanities to nobody in partic-
ular. He says we do the same but only
at a more sophisticated level, as our jab-
bering is going on non-stop in terms of
the thinking in our minds. This is what
Ramesh refers to as the ‘thinking mind’
as distinct from the ‘working mind’.
Thoughts arise; we have no control over
that. When we latch on to a thought and
start thinking in horizontal time, it
detracts from the task in hand. The
thinking mind is always projecting into
the future or going into the past. The
working mind is always functioning in
the moment, focussing on the task in
hand. The thinking mind comes in
when the mind starts getting involved
in thinking what could happen, and cre-
ates the illusory ‘what if’.
As Ramana Maharishi said, “…Be
still and know that I am God. To be
still is not to think. Know, and not
think, is the word.” ?
With a background in advertising, Gautam Sachdeva is
founder of Yogi Impressions, a publishing house and website
focussed on spirituality. He is also a student of non-duality.
Contact: gautam@groupimpressions.com
We welcome your comments and suggestions on this article.
Mail us at editor@lifepositive.net
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