126. If Speech is Silver, Silence is Gold……………..

Mounam Kalaham Nasti --- "Silence Prevents Brawls" Once a Shishya approached his Guru and asked him, “Gurudeva, Who is Absolute? Where is His abode?” Guru did not reply he remained silent. Shishya insisted and asked him again and again, but in spite of all these, the Guru did not answer at all, he was steadfast in his silence. On frequent persistence from the Shishya for an answer the Guru said, “I have already told you, over and over again, but you are unable to understand. How can I make you comprehend that Brahman, can never be explained in vocabulary! Only in a profound silence with full of aspiration and compassion one can experience Him. There is no use in searching for the means and ways to experience Him outside ourselves. He can be found in the deep silence of the Atma! This Atma is the perpetual Silence “Aham Atma Shantah.” There is insightful strength in silence. Those who have understood this secret will enjoy the result of it. In a newspaper in the job opportunity column there was an advertisement inviting applications for the post of an Inspection Engineer to a company dealing with very precision Sensitive Audio Instruments. As usual there were a lot of applicants who had applied for the job. The company selected a few applicants and asked them to attend for an interview on a particular day. As each applicant has to be interviewed one at a time all the applicants were told to wait for their turn in the lobby. While waiting for interview, some of the applicants were reading magazines, some drank coffee, some smoking, some talking & others and some were trying to make an impact on the officers of the company. The lobby was very noisy and in this environment there was a young man who was sitting calmly. He sat there doing nothing just silent & at peace with himself. All of a sudden an announcement not that easily audible was made from one of the sensitive audio instruments: “The company would like to engage a person who has a quiet nature and a keen listener. Person who is able to hear this instruction may come in and take the appointment letter.” As all of them were in their own world nobody could hear the announcement as it was a noisy atmosphere. But the young man who was sitting silently got up immediately and went in. He was appointed for that position. He came out of the room with the appointment letter in his hand and told the other aspirants: “Why are you all creating a chaos here? I'm already appointed for the job.” All other applicants were angry and accused him of bribing the officials. Then the young man replied quietly: “Before entering into the interview room I thought that there may be another person who would have heard the announcement like me, but now I realized that if you could not hear the announcement then the job of a inspection engineer in this company doing business of sensitive audio instruments is not suited for any of you present here.” Silence if practiced regularly will help us to calm our mind which is always jumbled in thoughts. With our mind clam our transient emotions are under check. Silence helps us to sink into the depths of our heart, and to fully enjoy its unstuck sound. This Silence is inexplicable and ecstatic, and it is the gate for us to enter into tranquility. Every seeker who sincerely aspires to know Absolute has to initially become quiet and still. In this way he then becomes silence itself, and realizes the Absolute HERE and NOW in him.