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A lot has so far been written on the power of silence, called maunam in Vedas, and the unspoken word, but it is only recently that the modern medical science has started recognizing its therapeutic value. When we speak a lot – during or in the absence of illness – we lose a lot, and when we don’t, we tend to gain; through the accumulation of our vital inner energies and mental clarity and concentration. Research has revealed that those who suffer from what is popularly known as “mental clutter” are able to clear the “cobwebs of thoughts” by observing long hours of silence. Just as our body needs rest, so does our mind. A restless mind is an overtly “thoughtful” mind, and the mind at rest means “thoughtlessness”. This may come as a terse statement, but periodic thoughtlessness is essential for proper mental clarity and stability. Silences could draw their parallel in our daily dose of sleep. Sleep detaches us from the worldly worries, which are often related to materialistic pursuits. Materialistic pursuits, de facto, and more as a rule than an exception, are the reasons for draining us of our prized happiness. It is a misconception that a lot of wealth would lead us to a lot of happiness, and it often goes unnoticed how a non-materialistic person derives pleasure even from the smallest of things around him, which normally go unnoticed by the rich. A non-materialistic person is naturally wed to the ‘silence of nothingness’ around him, but that is what inadvertently – and may be in absence of his understanding of this phenomenon – leads him to happiness. To observe silence is to deliberately lose consciousness towards desire, fear and anguish, and that almost means being in a meditative state whereby you combine wise, discriminative receptivity and uplift activity. Many people argue that this is like renouncing everything and eliminating activity. It is not! Instead you are only providing your nervous system with a responseful and purposeful substitute. A healthy nervous system shoulders a healthy body. In a pushy world that all of us live now, most of our illnesses have their roots in an improperly functioning nervous system rather than a body invaded with microbes. (That is one reason why they attribute the cause of your illness to an unknown source?) Despite that, we often go to the doctors to get our bodies treated rather than taking stock of things at a more deeper and subtle level of the mind. Something has to power the mind, and it is not a fuel, a food, a potion or a miracle panacea; but it is – and that is what is usually undermined – some level of “mental purgation” we have to go through. Silence has the power to purge the mind of what is no more wanted therein. A calm mind is better than a blabbermouth is. Most of us don’t observe it through the grind of the daily life that a major portion of the thoughts that we engage our mind with is not related in their entirety to our present. While you eat your daily bread your mind would be racing 12000 miles away, dwelling on a thought that would have least impact on your today’s duties. A great soul has aptly remarked: “It is a revelation to many people who have sought to enter fully into the present to discover how largely their consciousness is ordinarily concerned with distant things. The attention is constantly turned here and there by thoughts that disturb one's repose. The past is regarded with regret, the future with fear and suspicion. Neglected duties occur to consciousness, and there is a sense of uncertainty in regard to what the mind ought to be engaged in. The thought occurs that perhaps one ought to be elsewhere, instead of taking time for a quiet meditation. One has set aside precisely half an hour for thought and one watches the clock lest one overstep the limit. The nervous, hurrying tide of our modern life pulses through all one's thinking, and not for one moment is the mind in repose.” That way – and thus we can say literally– unconsciousness can sometimes be better and rewarding than consciousness. When you enter periodic moments of silence, you can know the bliss of being unconscious. Silences, by nature, are introspective and therapeutically interventional. They help you Stop, Look and then Go … on to the next step that you ought to take today. When your mind races through your consciousness, it races through time as well. You start thinking of next year or next month, which simply becomes an unnecessary activity that tends you to lose your focus on Today. Our mind has a fixed capacity to think, work and execute; almost the same way your computer processor has. Open an n-number of programs on your desktop and your cursor will refuse to move. Similarly put your mind to n-number of thoughts at a time and it will refuse to budge. For each action of yours, your mind, the nervous system or the soul gets its own share of wear and tear. You eat food to replenish your body, what do you do for the soul? Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), most revered souls of the 20th century, has said: “In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.” Stay healthy. Wellness Wisdom Archive Author Interactive : Write to Sanjay Get Connected Promotional Support All Wellness Wisdom articles are copyrighted and reprint or distribution, electronic or otherwise, may please be done only after seeking the author's permission through the Reprint Request form below. |
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