Get connected with the power of silence

Oct 14, 2009, 12.00am IST
SUMIT DHANRAJ.


What is silence? It is to retreat in wordless prayer, gazing out the window of your heart, and going for slow meandering walks in a garden.



You can look for silence in two ways: inner silence and outer silence. Outer silence helps us find inner silence. But inner silence is more precious. There are two kinds of inner silence: passive and active. In passive inner silence the heart and mind are at rest at the unconscious level whereas in active inner silence the heart and mind are at rest at the conscious level. We are consciously quiet and this is necessary to experience God.

In silence, we feel the presence of God though we may not see Him. Suppose we are seated in a room during the night and talking to one of our dear friends. Suddenly the lights go off. In the darkness as we are seated by the side of our friend, we do not hold our friends hand, we do not talk to him; we do not see him yet we feel his presence and that feeling implies strength, love, joy, peace, togetherness, and support. The same thing happens during the period of silence,


Silence is wordless prayer. Silence transcends thoughts, concepts, images and reasoning. It is a state of consciousness in which there are no words or images. In silence, if at all there are words or images, they should merge from inside and not from outside. Silence recharges body and mind.


Every week St Francis of Assisi, who is called the second Christ, used to go to a cave in a place called Portiuncula and remained there in silence. M K Gandhi observed silence on all Mondays. For sheer adventure, writes Patricia Clifford in her introduction to Sitting Still, exploring the inner space of the human spirit has to equal the exploration of outer space. Inner space holds a realm of existence not readily apparent when we are in the grip of a strident external world. A powerful launching vehicle for the discovery of the realm within is silence. It is in the vessel of silence that inner transformation can appear.

Silence can be acquired by just letting go of thoughts, distractions, and images. Forced silence is of no use. You can try chanting mantras or prayers what is called centring prayer to enter silence. Attention is to be given to the correct pronunciation and intonation of the mantra. Sacred vibrations by their very nature have the power to put our spirit at rest. To fix our eyes on an object, preferably a sacred object and to gaze at it constantly, is called as icon prayer. What is basic is the act of gazing. Gazing by its very nature has the power of placing our spirit at rest to achieve intrinsic silence.


Just as we care for our bodies with good food and rest, so we must also care for our spiritual selves, that part of us that is connected to God. If we are spiritually ill, our bodies and minds also become sick. This is why regular prayer and times of silent contemplation are necessary parts of our daily lives. Periodic self-examination and learning help too. Meeting God becomes more achievable in an atmosphere of complete silence.

The writer is a Christian missionary.