Silence and Contemplation
“Some people think Silence is nothing…
But those who Discover the Secret,
Realize that Silence is Everything!”
What is the way to realize God? Is it enough to believe in God and offer prayers to him with faith, hope, trust, and love? No! Unless our enthusiasm drives us to go on a quest, we can never realize God. What is it that stops us from our quest, from our realization?
We human beings are slaves to our own senses. The 5 sense organs – ears, eyes, nose, tongue, and skin, constantly trigger our mind to think. The mind is a rascal. Even without the senses, it jumps like a monkey from thought to thought. The mind is said to think a thought practically every second. Therefore, it thinks up to 50 thoughts a minute. This leads to a whopping 50,000 thoughts per day. Because of this constant clutter and murmur of thoughts, we are unable to contemplate the Truth. Further, we get lost in this world or Samsara. We live in a blanket of ignorance that is caused by Maya or illusion.
This earth is like a humongous stage on which 8 billion people are enacting the drama of the Divine. But it looks very real. Although we know that in the end, the body will die and like actors in any drama, we just come and go after we play our part, somehow, our ignorance makes us believe that all this is true. In reality it is just like a dream, an illusion.
How can we overcome this illusion? How can we realize the truth? The answer is Silence. The only way to be successful in our quest, to realize the truth and to overcome ignorance is to slow down the pace of our mind. Our mind is like a thought factory. It is like a popcorn machine constantly producing thoughts. Unless we stop this constant production of thoughts, we will never be able to Contemplate and realize the Truth. Although we believe in God, the illusion or Maya that is projected in this world, makes the drama or Leela look so real.
Silencing the mind leads to two things. First, it creates peace of mind and we don't get carried away by thoughts that become desire, that create attachments and make us sink in ignorance. As our thoughts reduce, our intellect, another domain of the subtle body is activated and helps us discriminate the myth from the truth. It helps us choose right over wrong. It leads us forward on our journey to God. Normally, people believe in rituals and superstitions, but the one who lives with an active intellect, discriminates and moves forward on the journey of truth away from dogmas.
Silence has several benefits. Not only does it create peace as the mind slows down, and not only does it activate the intellect to discriminate, it also helps us live in Yoga, or in Union with the Divine. Normally, we are connected to the world and disconnected from the Divine. Yoga helps us build an active connection with God, just like a good SIM card is constantly connected to the satellite network.
All this helps us succeed in our quest for the Truth. It helps us overcome the ignorance in which we live, and it leads us on the path to heaven. In my quest or Talaash, my Spiritual Master insisted that I spend time in silence. In the beginning, I used to argue with my mentor – “Of what use is it to be silent? How does it benefit me?” My Master had a great sense of humour. On one such occasion, he replied, “Why do you pay your security guard a salary when he sits morning to evening doing nothing in silence?” I said, “Because his job is to watch and catch the thief that might come.” “So also,” said my Master, “you need to observe and watch in silence for the thief that is making you sink in ignorance. There is a thief who is robbing the Divine from you and because you are not observant, you are not conscious, awake and alert, you are losing the biggest treasure of your life. Stop! Become aware and conscious of who you are. Spend time in silence to realize the truth of 'Neti Neti' I am not the body, I am not the mind. It is with this that you will realize the Truth that you are indeed the Divine Soul. It is this that will take you forward on the Ladder to Heaven.”
Based on my Master's advice, I never missed my daily appointment with God. It was anywhere between 10 to 30 minutes every morning and every evening, preferably at a fixed time. I used to do nothing, just sit in silence and I used to try to listen to God's soft and silent voice. Slowly but surely, I moved further on the journey to God.
It was this silence that made me contemplate what I had read in many books. Reading gave me the knowledge, but it was silence that converted the knowledge into realization of the truth. This led me to the next step on the Ladder to Heaven.
Silence and Contemplation
TAKEAWAYS