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== Introduction ==

<div style="color:#000000;">Take a deep breath. Close and open your eyes. Look at the phrase ‘mental silence’ without analysing or trying to intellectualise it in some other way. Slowly pronounce each syllable mindfully (say men-tal si-lens). Listen to the spaces and sounds behind the sounds. Be a witness in the space, present yet unmoved by the physical sensations and inner experiences triggered when you say and listen to the phrase. Mental silence is a certain calmness, like a substance of eternal and indestructible peace. This article is an attempt to help you harness this, understand, experience and apply the concept of mental silence in your pursuits. </div>

<div style="color:#000000;">To experience it completely, one needs to first understand what the mind is. </div>

<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">The mind is like water in an ocean. Waves, ripples and currents are akin to the thoughts and their intensity. Impurities can be mixed into it and they can also be removed. </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">The mind is a substance which can accommodate various movements and objects but is not a movement or an object by itself.</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">However, the identity of oneself is a large object in each person’s mind. </span>

<div style="color:#000000;">The conventional meaning of silence can direct one into thinking that mental silence occurs when the mind shuts down. Interestingly, it is the opposite. Mental silence is when the mind is truly open. Receptivity is at its highest when there are no thoughts. This is the receptivity to intuition and direct knowing.</div>

<div style="color:#000000;">Sri Aurobindo says:</div>

<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">Silently witnessing one’s own thoughts without analysis, judgement or emotion is the beginning of practising mental silence.</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span>

<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">Mental silence is a certain calmness. This does not necessarily mean that there are no thoughts; it means that regardless of the number, frequency and intensity of thoughts, the mind-substance remains peaceful. </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">The key to keeping the mind calm is treating thoughts as a temporary guest in the mind</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">, and not to prevent these surface thoughts from entering or eliminating inner thoughts of clarity, light and deeper aspiration. </span>

<div style="color:#000000;">Sri Aurobindo writes “The difference between a vacant mind and a calm mind is this: when the mind is vacant, there is no thought, no conception, no mental action of any kind, except an essential perception of things without the formed idea; but in the calm mind, it is the substance of the mental being that is still, so still that nothing disturbs it. If thoughts or activities come, they do not rise at all out of the mind, but they come from outside…”</div>

<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">Peace and mental silence go hand-in-hand. </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">Mental silence is not a state in which one feels empty and devoid of thoughts. On the contrary, mental silence comes about when peace as a substance enters one’s mind from higher planes.</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">In this solid peace, one is unperturbed by the coming and going of thoughts, as at the maximum they scratch the surface of the rock-solid peace.</span>

<div style="color:#000000;">What is the purpose of opening oneself to the practice mental silence? As mentioned previously, it brings peace and tranquillity. The mind is like still water with no disturbances. Apart from this, there are a few other benefits which can be applied to all aspects of one’s life. </div>

<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">The Mother says “</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">When one has learned to silence the mind at will and to concentrate it in </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">''receptive''</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">silence, then there will be no problem that cannot be solved,</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">no mental difficulty whose solution cannot be found.”</span>

<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">A blank slate is one that is ready to be written on. </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">Both knowledge and its usage can descend into one’s mind when one removes the noise. This can guide in decision-making, the direction of efforts and everyday actions. </span>

<div style="color:#000000;">According to The Mother, when Sri Aurobindo wrote his books, “It was neither a mental knowledge nor even a mental creation which he transcribed: he silenced his mind and sat at the typewriter, and from above, from the higher planes, all that had to be written came down, all ready, and he had only to move his fingers on the typewriter and it was transcribed.”</div>

<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">When one is in receptive silence, revelations can occur.</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">These might be personal or pertaining to something for which one is seeking answers. These insights can deepen one’s understanding of a particular topic. </span>

<span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">The intensity of the emotions felt is greatly reduced since one is not personalising an experience or situation.</span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="background-color:transparent;color:#000000;">With practice that is integrated into everyday life, handling conflicts, relationship issues, crises and other triggers that can impact emotions can be made easier. At the same time, one becomes an instrument for a greater Force, Love, Will and Delight to course through, in a calm state and act on the world.</span>

<div style="color:#000000;">Practising mental silence brings the ever-jumping mind to a state of rest, in which one can experience solitude and be receptive to divine guidance. The practice of mental silence can be used to understand the subjects which one finds difficult. It improves concentration. It is extremely effective for reducing stress and anxiety. The applications of mental silence in education and health are effective. The next step in the road ahead is to increase awareness and improve the practice. </div>