== Silence, Activity and Action ==
It is only in silence that anything great can be done. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/13/india#p59</ref>
For the action is based on the silence and by the silence it is free. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/christianity-and-theosophy#p16</ref>
In silence lies the greatest receptivity. And in an immobile silence the vastest action is done. (The Mother, 19 December 1971) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/19-december-1971#p1</ref>
In the silence of the heart, you will receive the command. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p7</ref>
To know how to observe in silence is the source of skillfulness. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/progress-and-perfection-in-work#p63</ref>
In concentration and silence we must gather strength for the right action. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p16</ref>
It is not possible for the spontaneous silent condition to last always at once, but that is what must grow in one till there is a constant inner silence—a silence which cannot be disturbed by any outward activity or even by any attempt at attack or disturbance. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/silence#p24</ref>
But there can be an action in the Silence, undisturbed even as the universal action goes on in the cosmic Silence. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/silence#p31</ref>
Whatever has been done in the world has been done by the very few who can stand outside the action in silence; for it is they who are the instruments of the Divine Power. They are dynamic agents, conscious instruments; they bring down the forces that change the world. Things can be done in that way, not by a restless activity. In peace, in silence and in quietness the world was built; and each time that something is to be truly built, it is in peace and silence and quietness that it must be done. It is ignorance to believe that you must run from morning to night and labour at all sorts of futile things in order to do something for the world. (The Mother, 26 May 1929) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/26-may-1929#p28</ref>
It is in the silence of the mind that the strongest and freest action can come, e.g. the writing of a book, poetry, inspired speech etc. When the mind is active it interferes with the inspiration, puts in its own small ideas which get mixed up with the inspiration or starts something from a lower level or simply stops the inspiration altogether by bubbling up with all sorts of mere mental suggestions. So also intuitions or action etc. can come more easily when the ordinary inferior movement of the mind is not there. It is also in the silence of the mind that it is easiest for knowledge to come from within or above, from the psychic or from the higher consciousness. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/thought-and-knowledge#p65</ref>
Ah! From the practical point of view, you must be in a state of inner silence, with a mental activity exclusively occupied with forming the thing you want to do, the progress you want to accomplish, that is to say, the mental construction you need for your work. And your capacity for observation—it is infinitely preferable, I could say absolutely indispensable, to use it to observe your field of action, the processes you employ for your action, the results obtained, the principle you can arrive at from the experience, the knowledge you can obtain, indeed, all these things... but not to turn back on yourself and look at yourself acting. (The Mother, 19 January 1955) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/19-january-1955#p26</ref>
It is possible only when one has had the experience of complete silence in the mental region and when the spiritual force with its light and power descends through the mind and makes it act directly without its following its usual method of analysis, deduction, reasoning. All these faculties which are usually considered the normal activities of the mind, must be stopped, and yet the spiritual Light, Knowledge and Power must be able to transform them into a channel of direct expression, without using these means to express themselves. (The Mother, 17 September 1958) <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/17-september-1958#p8</ref>
All speech and action comes prepared out of the eternal Silence. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-277-278#p1</ref>
In any case, as the perfect man would combine in himself the silence and the activity, so also would the completely conscious soul reach back to the absolute freedom of the Non-Being without therefore losing its hold on Existence and the universe. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/21/reality-omnipresent#p14</ref>
== Working in Silence ==