Among all other sadhanas (spiritual discipline?) for me keeping ‘silence’ is the best one. One cannot avoid ‘noise’ of all forms in life—both within and outside, even in nature. So practicing ‘silence’ as a sadhana is the most difficult and challenging one. I am not talking here about silencing the mind through some techniques related to the so-called ‘yoga’. In my experience, we cannot silence something which is not there. Even if taken for granted that we have a mind, the moment we ‘realize’ the silence in our mind, the mind itself will break the very silence.
Well my point is different one. How to practice the ‘presence of silence’ as a sadhana? As a talkative person (both outwardly and inwardly), I am not competent to prescribe any steps for this sadhana. However, as I am interested in this discipline, I would like to share some elementary methods which could help others to invent their own methods.
Don’t get up from the bed quickly. When you wake up, first lay down for a few seconds and silently recall the good sleep that you had. If you have faith in god and believe in prayer, then thank god for the good sleep that She gave. Then think about others who are with you either in your room or in the same house. Thank god for their presence and help/seva that you received through them to have that silence in that morning. You can at least be thankful that they are not disturbing your morning silence.
Then get up from the bed as silently as possible without making much noise. Try to do all other activities silently, not disturbing others as well as you. The point is that your movements should not disturb the silence in your room or house.
If you are lucky to have your own separate bathroom, then try to do all your morning duties with minimum sound and disturbance to you and others. Even brushing the teeth and answering natural calls should be done with less noise. Opening the tap should be done without disturbing the silence in your bathroom. I put a long cloth on the mouth of the tap so that water will gather in the bucket without making much noise.
Then I need not to tell what all the other activities that one should do then. All the activities that we need to do should be done with making minimum noise and not disturbing the silence both within you and outside. For example, when I sit for my morning worship and meditation, I will sing a bhajan or chant a mantra first loudly, then worship it and then will silently recite it.
I know what I narrated so far is easier said than done by anyone—including me. I have the privilege to live in a remote place outside the society in a quiet and calm place. As I am staying ‘alone’ I try this sadhana as much as possible. But others living in society with family and all kinds of responsibilities cannot even think of doing one thing without breaking the silence in some form or another. But no discipline is possible without first trying it. Even if we fail, we should not give up and try to start again and if needed to do the same first steps again and again till it becomes part of us.
However, we need to keep a few things in mind before attempting to do this sadhana. First is that we need not to begin this only from the morning, but can be practiced at time of the day according to our convenience. Next is that we need not to learn this discipline from another person, or any center. Finally, one should not even read this kind of article on this subject. Because when it comes to spiritual discipline (sadhana) we should invent our own according to our temperament, vocation need and circumstance. Above all, sadhana of silence should be done in our own interest and not promoted by others. Only for our personal need and not even motivating others to do [as I do here] we should do this sadhana
Let me give one example. After my mother has gone, I prefer to practice ‘silence’ as much as possible. So I won’t listen to much music or watch TV news. Whole day [after the helpers were gone working just for an hour in the morning], I would close the door and remain silent the whole day. Thankfully I rarely receive any phone calls. But night I will watch TV News for an hour. So this afternoon after reading books, I sat calmly immersing myself in the silence around me. As I was living in the same room in which my mother lived and died, suddenly her memory came back as I looked at her photos. Then my mind [brain] was much disturbed. That time I thought of playing some Carnatic Music on the TV to divert my attention. Then I told myself: wait a minute! What you are trying to do. You can use one external ‘NOISE’ to reduce another external ‘NOISE’. But when your mind [brain] breaks the silence, then no amount of ‘outside noise’ will help much.
This is true. When my mother watches TV serials [for two hours in the evening] I will sit in the next room playing loud Carnatic Music as I don’t like to listen to those serials which always glorify every form of domestic violence, particularly perpetuated by one woman against another woman. That external music helped me a lot that time. But this kind of playing loud music won’t help the mind [brain] to observe the silence. That needs patience and practice. For this when my mind wanders, I won’t try to control it but will try to follow its thought. It will switch from one thought to another within a few seconds. After allowing it to do this, then I will drag it back to immerse in the silence around me.
Recently I was with one family in the evening. Next day a morning taxi was arranged to go to the railway station around 5.00 am. Generally before retiring to bed I used to request the host [always women] to keep a vessel for me to make tea, tea dust, filter and milk in the fridge. But I forgot to do that as I retired early to bed. But I got up around 3.00 am and got ready to leave even before 4.00 am. Then I wanted to have a cup of tea. Generally I used to “INVADE” others’ kitchens, if I stayed for more than one day in the name of cooking special food for them. So I will easily locate the vessel etc., to make morning tea for me. As I stayed only one evening I missed that opportunity to “INVADE” that kitchen also. But as I had experience with various kitchens I know where to locate the vessel etc. So I went to the kitchen around 4.00, not disturbing others sleeping in their room. Hunted for the vessel etc., and managed to locate them easily and made a cup of tea and kept an extra cup for her husband who will take me down to the taxi. As I used to practice this sadana of silence I managed to make my tea with very minimum noise not disturbing others.
Dayanand Bharati
Gurukulam. September 7, 2012. Revised on 28-4-2023.
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