Silence⁹

Dear seekers, dear sisters and brothers, I wish to give a very short talk on silence. Therefore, with your kind permission, I wish to maintain silence for a few minutes…

[Sri Chinmoy meditates with the audience briefly.]

Life needs and wants victory, but the victory that we achieve in the world of sound does not last for long. This victory is very fleeting. The victory that we achieve in the world of silence is everlasting, and each time a victory dawns in this inner world we feel that we are being prepared for a higher and more fulfilling victory in tomorrow’s Dawn.

An ordinary man thinks either that silence cannot be achieved or that it is of no avail. But a seeker knows that silence can be achieved on the strength of his inner cry. He also knows that silence is of tremendous importance, for without silence we cannot see the face of Truth or grow into the very image of Truth and Light. Silence is within, but we have to discover it. Unless and until we discover our inner silence, we cannot feel that we are of God and for God. Inner silence is not just the absence of thoughts. No! Silence is the blossoming of our indomitable inner will. Silence is our inner wisdom-light. This wisdom-light is our conscious and constant surrender to the Will of our Inner Pilot, who inspires us, encourages us and guides us to the Shores of the Golden Beyond.

Silence is preparation, our preparation for God’s examination. We come to know God’s Hour only when we observe silence, only when we dive deep within. An unaspiring person does not and cannot know God’s Hour. If God’s Hour dawns in his life he fails to notice it. But a seeker who practises silence every day for half an hour or an hour knows when God’s Hour is going to strike. And God not only tells him when the Hour will strike but also, like a private tutor, helps the seeker to pass his inner examination.

Silence is our protection. When we live in silence, we are protected by God’s mightiest Power, His all-illumining Light. At that time the negative forces of fear, doubt, anxiety, worry, insecurity and selfishness can have no access to our inner being. We are protected by God within and without at every moment.

Silence is our transformation. When we observe silence consciously, our outer being is transformed. This transformation is a great achievement for Mother Earth. When a human being is transformed, Mother Earth feels that she has achieved something momentous, something that can be kept for eternity for the rest of humanity to treasure. And this transformation becomes a foundation for a higher and mightier achievement in the ever-continuing process of evolution.

Silence is our will-power. This will-power conquers the very pride of ignorance-night and manifests the Light of Divinity’s Delight in aspiring souls who want to climb up to the highest Pinnacle and bring down the message of Immortality to earth. Our human mind says, “Silence is emptiness; it is sheer emptiness and nothingness.” But our aspiring heart knows that silence is the fulness and plenitude of our Eternity’s Height and Infinity’s Light.

Infinity is that.
Infinity is this.
From Infinity, Infinity has come into existence.
From Infinity, when Infinity is taken away, Infinity remains.

This is the message that we get from silence. Again, the soul tells us that silence is oneness, our inseparable oneness, our universal oneness with the Pilot Supreme.

Silence is our Truth-consciousness, our highest Reality. This Reality in the inner world is our divine Love, our supreme Love for the world at large. And this Reality in the outer world is the supreme Glory of the Supreme for aspiring humanity.

Here we are all seekers. At times we are prone to watch our weaknesses, incapacities, limitations and imperfections. When we do this we are bound to be disappointed with ourselves. But our inner silence illumines us. It says, "Don't be disappointed. It is God within you who is going through a series of experiences in and through your imperfections." When we realise God, we see that these imperfections were necessary at the time for our evolution. And then, when they were no longer necessary, these imperfections were turned into perfections. From darkness we enter into Light. From the unreal we enter into Reality. From death we enter into Immortality.

Asato ma sad gamaya
tamaso ma jyotir gamaya
mrityor ma amritam gamaya

Lead me from the unreal to the Real.
Lead me from darkness to Light.
Lead me from death to Immortality.

Silence tells the seeker in us to love, to love himself. It tells us it is wrong to hate ourselves because of our imperfections. When the seeker loves himself, loves the Divine within himself, he eventually realises the Ultimate Truth. Then he comes to realise that it was not he who loved the Divine in himself, but it was God the Lover who loved God the eternal Beloved Supreme within him.

In Heaven God is Silence-dream. On earth God is Reality-sound. In His Silence, God prepares Himself. Through His cosmic Sound, God manifests Himself. The transcendental Silence is our Source, and the emanating sound is our manifestation. The higher we go, the deeper the silence we enjoy. And the deeper the silence we enjoy, the more fulfilling the manifestation of our divinity.