“Meditation is silence, energising and fulfilling. Silence is the eloquent expression of the inexpressible.”
– Sri Chinmoy
“Silence, the mystic birthplace of the soul.”
– Sri Aurobindo
When we speak of silence in meditation, we speak not of outer silence, the absence of sound; but the inner silence, the absence of thought and desire. This inner silence is the womb and cradle of our meditation and all spiritual progress.
We are not accustomed to inner silence. Our minds and emotions are in such constant movement and chaos, it is very difficult to conceive of, let alone achieve, inner silence. Our identities are so enmeshed in our matrix of thoughts, phobias, desires, prejudices and preconceived ideas that we simply cannot imagine ourselves existing without them: our mind therefore fears silence as it fears its own extinction.
How then to achieve, how to become inner silence?
To merely want silence is not enough; we have to treasure it as our only need. We must yearn for silence the way we yearn to be with our beloved. We must cry for silence the way we would thirst for water after days in the desert. We must strive for silence the way we would strive in an Olympic gold medal playoff. We must fight for silence the way we would fight for our life. We must cherish silence the way we cherish our own child…
… because silence is the Source: silence embodies every answer, every solution, every resolution, every fulfilment, every satisfaction, every victory; all love, all knowledge, all beauty, all perfection, all happiness, all wisdom and all bliss. Silence is not only golden: silence is all colours, all forms, all music, all art, all science, all learning, all spirituality, all aspiration and all realisation. Silence is all, and all is in silence.