Silence is Golden!

 

Silence is Golden!

Silence is golden – this is a very old saying and I am sure it has been established by those who experienced the golden silence. The trouble with us is that we feel that the absence of noise in our day-to-day life is silence. During the severe lockdown last year, we experienced that external silence – so much so that without the usual traffic in many places all over the world wild life started taking over the streets! We are so used to the sound of traffic, dogs barking, birds chirping, people talking and arguing, etc – the usual day to day sounds that they become a part of our life and we learn to live with a certain decibel level without actually hearing it!

This noise is not what affects as much as the noise within us. The continuous chatter of our mind with matters which concern us and worry us is never ending. It is when we stop hearing this sound in our mind that we begin to experience the golden silence. We can get glimpses of it when we go to the mountains, forests, secluded sea shores – in such natural surroundings our mind automatically merges with nature and becomes silent – that is because as Swamiji says – nature does not have thoughts, it just exists!

With regular yoga and meditation your body becomes quiet and obedient followed by the mind. Continuous, regular practice of meditation stills the mind to such an extent that you start listening to the silence within you. The sound of that silence is wonderful – it brings peace, quiet, joy, bliss, love in abundance as you start becoming one with mother nature – your existence and that of nature start merging within you, that is when you start experiencing the golden silence. The beauty of that sound is ethereal and once experienced you will start yearning for it 24x7 – but that is very difficult, as with the initial experience the expectation that this will happen arises in the ‘mind’. That becomes the barrier to continuous joy. You need to forget every experience on a daily basis and live each day as if it is your first and last, then only will one be able to live continuously in that golden silence. Let us all do our spiritual practice daily with dedication and learn to live in that phenomenon called the Golden Silence!