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Silence Compilation (view source)

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= What is Silence ? =

Silence: the condition of the being when it listens to the Divine.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p27 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p27]~~ ~~Silence is the absence of all motion of thought or other vibration of activity.~~</~~span~~ref>~~[http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/quiet-and-calm#p13 http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/quiet-and-calm#p13]~~

Silence is the absence of all motion of thought or other vibration of activity. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/quiet-and-calm#p13</ref>

The stilling of this current, running, circling, repeating thought-mind is the principal part of that '''silencing''' of the thought which is one of the most effective disciplines of Yoga.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/purification-intelligence-and-will#p12

The quietude and silence which you feel and the sense of happiness in it are indeed the very basis of successful sadhana.

[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/peace#p4 http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/peace#p4]</ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">I said once that, to speak usefully for ten minutes, you should remain silent for ten days. I could add that, to act usefully for one day, you should keep quiet for a year! Of course, I am not speaking of the ordinary day-to-day acts that are needed for the common external life, but of those who have or believe that they have something to do for the world. And the silence I speak of is the inner quietude that those alone have who can act without being identified with their action, merged into it and blinded and deafened by the noise and form of their own movement. (The Mother, 26 May 1929)</div>

<div style="color:#0066cc;">http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/26-may-1929#p30</div>

But even before reaching this point, silence in itself is supremely useful, because in most people who have a somewhat developed and active mind, the mind is never at rest. During the day, its activity is kept under a certain control, but at night, during the sleep of the body, the control of the waking state is almost completely removed and the mind indulges in activities which are sometimes excessive and often incoherent. This creates a great stress which leads to fatigue and the diminution of the intellectual faculties.</span<ref>[http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/mental-education#p20 ~~http:~~</~~/incarnateword.in/cwm/12/mental-education#p20]~~ref>

But for the knowledge of the Self it is necessary to have the power of a complete intellectual passivity, the power of dismissing all thought, the power of the mind to think not at all which the Gita in one passage enjoins. This is a hard saying for the occidental mind to which thought is the highest thing and which will be apt to mistake the power of the mind not to think, its complete silence for the incapacity of thought. But this power of silence is a capacity and not an incapacity, a power and not a weakness. It is a profound and pregnant stillness. Only when the mind is thus entirely still, like clear, motionless and level water, in a perfect purity and peace of the whole being and the soul transcends thought, can the Self which exceeds and originates all activities and becomings, the Silence from which all words are born, the Absolute of which all relativities are partial reflections manifest itself in the pure essence of our being. In a complete silence only is the Silence heard; in a pure peace only is its Being revealed. Therefore to us the name of That is the Silence and the Peace.</span<ref>[http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-purified-understanding#p18 ~~http:~~</~~/incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-purified-understanding#p18]~~ref>

Philosophy knows nothing about peace and silence or the inner and outer vital. These things are discovered only by Yoga.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/the-intellect-and-yoga#p2 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28~~</~~the-intellect-and-yoga#p2]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">But Yoga is not a mental field, the consciousness which has to be established is not a mental, logical or debating consciousness—it is even laid down by Yoga that unless and until the mind is stilled, including the intellectual or logical mind, and opens itself in quietude or silence to a higher and deeper consciousness, vision and knowledge, sadhana cannot reach its goal.</div>

[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/doubt-and-faith#p1 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/doubt-and-faith#p1]~~ The silence of the mind does not of itself bring in the supramental consciousness; there are many states or planes or levels of consciousness between the human mind and the Supermind. The silence opens the mind and the rest of the being to greater things, sometimes to the cosmic consciousness, sometimes to the experience of the silent Self, sometimes to the presence or power of the Divine, sometimes to a higher consciousness than that of the human mind; the mind's silence is the most favourable condition for any of these things to happen. In this Yoga it is the most favourable condition (not the only one) for the Divine Power to descend first upon and then into the individual consciousness and there do its work to transform that consciousness, giving it the necessary experiences, altering all its outlook and movements, leading it from stage to stage till it is ready for the last (supramental) change.</~~span~~ref>~~[http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/the-divine-force-in-work#p7 http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/the-divine-force-in-work#p7]~~

The silence of the mind does not of itself bring in the supramental consciousness; there are many states or planes or levels of consciousness between the human mind and the Supermind. The silence opens the mind and the rest of the being to greater things, sometimes to the cosmic consciousness, sometimes to the experience of the silent Self, sometimes to the presence or power of the Divine, sometimes to a higher consciousness than that of the human mind; the mind's silence is the most favourable condition for any of these things to happen. In this Yoga it is the most favourable condition (not the only one) for the Divine Power to descend first upon and then into the individual consciousness and there do its work to transform that consciousness, giving it the necessary experiences, altering all its outlook and movements, leading it from stage to stage till it is ready for the last (supramental) change.

<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/the-divine-force-in-work#p7</ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">Obviously to live in the silent Brahman, the best way is to live within where one can have the silence and resist all outward pulls.</div>

Silence: the ideal condition for progress.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p1 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14~~</~~silence#p1]~~ref>

Integral silence: the source of true force.http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/strength-force-and-power#p4

<div style="color:#000000;">In silence lies the greatest devotion. </div>

(The Mother, 6 April 1972)[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/17/6-april-1972#p1 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/17~~</~~6-april-1972#p1]~~ref>

It is in silence that the soul best expresses itself.http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p22In the silence of our heart there is always peace and joy.http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p8In a quiet silence strength is restored.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p10 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14~~</~~silence#p10]~~ref>

In peace and silence the Eternal manifests. Let nothing trouble you and the Eternal will manifest.</span<ref>[http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/peace#p19 ~~http:~~</~~/incarnateword.in/cwm/14/peace#p19]~~ref>

Silence in the vital: a powerful help for inner peace.http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/the-vital#p26

It all depends on the quality of the silence—if it is a luminous silence, full of force and conscious concentration, it is good. If it is a tamasic and unconscious silence, it is harmful.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/10-june-1963#p3 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16~~</~~10-june-1963#p3]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">It is out of this Silence that the Word which creates the worlds for ever proceeds; for the Word expresses that which is self-hidden in the Silence.</div>

It is really an inner silence that is needed—a something silent within that looks at outer talk and action but feels it as something superficial, not as itself and is quite indifferent and untouched by it. It can bring forces to support speech and action or it can stop them by withdrawal or it can let them go on and observe without being involved or moved.~~[http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/speech-and-yoga#p76~~ <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/speech-and-yoga#p76] This condition you had of the inner being and its silence, separated from the surface consciousness and its little restless workings, is the first liberation, the liberation of Purusha from Prakriti, and it is the fundamental experience. The day when you can keep it, you can know that the Yogic consciousness has been founded in you. This time it has increased in intensity, but it must also increase in duration.</~~span~~ref>~~[http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-inward-movement#p82 http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-inward-movement#p82]~~

This condition you had of the inner being and its silence, separated from the surface consciousness and its little restless workings, is the first liberation, the liberation of Purusha from Prakriti, and it is the fundamental experience. The day when you can keep it, you can know that the Yogic consciousness has been founded in you. This time it has increased in intensity, but it must also increase in duration.

<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-inward-movement#p82>/ref>

The condition you describe shows precisely the growth of this inner silence. It has to fix itself eventually as the basis of all spiritual experience and activity. It does not matter if one does not know what is going on within behind the silence. For there are two conditions in the Yoga, one in which all is silent and there is no thought, feeling or movement even though one is acting outwardly as others do—another in which a new consciousness becomes active bringing knowledge, joy, love and other spiritual feelings and inner activities, but yet at the same time there is a fundamental silence or quietude. Both are necessary in the development of the inner being. The absolutely silent state, which is one of lightness, voidness and release, prepares the other and supports it when it comes.[http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/silence#p25 http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/silence#p25]

The condition you describe shows precisely the growth of this inner silence. It has to fix itself eventually as the basis of all spiritual experience and activity. It does not matter if one does not know what is going on within behind the silence. For there are two conditions in the Yoga, one in which all is silent and there is no thought, feeling or movement even though one is acting outwardly as others do—another in which a new consciousness becomes active bringing knowledge, joy, love and other spiritual feelings and inner activities, but yet at the same time there is a fundamental silence or quietude. Both are necessary in the development of the inner being. The absolutely silent state, which is one of lightness, voidness and release, prepares the other and supports it when it comes.

<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/silence#p25</ref>

Remain very quiet, open your mind and your heart to Sri Aurobindo's influence and mine, withdraw deep into an inner silence (which may be had in all circumstances), call me from the depths of this silence and you will see me standing there in the centre of your being.http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/letters-to-a-young-sadhak-iii#p12All experiences come in the silence but they do not come all pell-mell in a crowd at the beginning. The inner silence and peace have first to be established.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-inward-movement#p79

[http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/30-january-1957#p19 http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/30-january-1957#p19][http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/30-january-1957#p19 ]A silence, an entry into a wide or even immense or infinite emptiness is part of the inner spiritual experience; of this silence and void the physical mind has a certain fear, the small superficially active thinking or vital mind a shrinking from it or dislike,—for it confuses the silence with mental and vital incapacity and the void with cessation or non-existence: but this silence is the silence of the spirit which is the condition of a greater knowledge, power and bliss, and this emptiness is the emptying of the cup of our natural being, a liberation of it from its turbid contents so that it may be filled with the wine of God; it is the passage not into non-existence but to a greater existence.

[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/22/the-divine-life#p16 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/22~~</~~the-divine-life#p16]~~ ref>

= Effects of Silence =

<div style="color:#000000;">Besides, for inner growth, I do not believe that words are necessary. In silence all our help is there at its most powerful.</div>

(The Mother, 6 September 1939)http://incarnateword.in/cwm/17/6-september-1939#p3Already someone has told me, quite rightly, that while practising this half-silence, or at any rate this continence of speech, one achieves quite naturally the mastery of numerous difficulties in one's character and also one avoids a great many frictions and misunderstandings. This is true.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/impurity#p27 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03~~</~~impurity#p27]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">This simply means that one suddenly comes under the influence of a higher force of which one is not conscious; one is conscious only of the effect, but not of the cause. That's all. It's nothing more than that. If you were conscious you would know what makes you silent, what makes you meditate, what kind of force has entered into you or acts upon you or influences you and puts you in the silence. But as you are not conscious, you are aware only of the effect, the result, that is, the silence that comes into you. </div>

(The Mother, 24 August 1955)[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/24-august-1955#p48 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07~~</~~24-august-1955#p48]~~ref>

Or else, one may have an experience which is almost its very opposite but which comes to the same thing. Suddenly one plunges into a depth, one moves away from the thing one perceived, it seems distant, superficial, unimportant; one enters an inner silence or an inner calm or an inward vision of things, a profound feeling, a more intimate perception of circumstances and things, in which all values change. And one becomes aware of a sort of unity, a deep identity which is one in spite of the diverse appearances. (The Mother, 26 December 1956)http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/26-december-1956#p19

When one has learned to silence the mind at will and to concentrate it in receptive silence, then there will be no problem that cannot be solved, no mental difficulty whose solution cannot be found. When it is agitated, thought becomes confused and impotent; in an attentive tranquillity, the light can manifest itself and open up new horizons to man's capacity.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/mental-education#p22 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12~~</~~mental-education#p22]~~ref>

The recurrence of the experience of the receding away of thoughts, the cessation of the thought-generating mechanism and its replacement by the mental self-space, is normal and as it should be; for this silence or at any rate the capacity for it has to grow until one can have it at will or even established in an automatic permanence. For this silence of the ordinary mind-mechanism is necessary in order that the higher mentality may manifest, descend, occupy by degrees the place of the present imperfect mentality and transform the activities of the latter into its own fuller movements. The difficulty of its coming when you are at work is only at the beginning—afterwards when it is more settled one finds that one can carry on all the activities of life either in the pervading silence itself or at least with that as the support and background. The silence remains behind and there is the necessary action on the surface or the silence is our wide self and somewhere in it an active Power does the works of Nature without disturbing the silence. It is therefore quite right to suspend the work while the visitation of the experience is there—the development of this inner silent consciousness is sufficiently important to justify a brief interruption or pause.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/three-experiences-of-the-inner-being#p4

What one feels first [in the silence] is the pure existence of the self, without any idea, characteristic or movement—existence pure and simple, Sat Brahman—or else one feels that and a vast peace and wideness. Afterwards other things are felt such as Ananda, but always with this as the basis.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/experiences-of-the-self-the-one-and-the-infinite#p7

There is no distinction between the Self and the spirit. The psychic is the soul that develops in the evolution—the spirit is the Self that is not affected by the evolution, it is above it—only it is covered or concealed by the activity of mind, vital and body. The removal of this covering is the release of the spirit—and it is removed when there is a full and wide spiritual silence.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/the-psychic-being#p18 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28~~</~~the-psychic-being#p18]~~ref>

It is in the silence of a peaceful mind that one can best commune with Nature. (The Mother, 13 November 1969)

<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/13-november-1969#p1</ref>

It is in the silence of a peaceful mind that one can best commune with Nature. (The Mother, 13 November 1969)[http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/13-november-1969#p1 http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/13-november-1969#p1]

When one begins to feel the inner being and live in it (the result of the experience of peace and silence) the ordinary time sense disappears or becomes purely external.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/science-and-yoga#p56 ~~http:~~</~~/incarnateword.in/cwsa/28/science-and-yoga#p56]~~ref>

If you, in your consciousness, reach a state of silence, you perceive your state of silence everywhere, but others don't necessarily perceive it. You perceive it because you are in that state.

(The Mother, 24 August 1955)[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/24-august-1955#p42 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07~~</~~24-august-1955#p42]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">There is another phenomenon which is considered spiritual, but which is spiritual only indirectly: it is when you find yourself near someone who has controlled his thought and achieved mental silence. You suddenly feel this silence coming down into yourself and something which was impossible for you half an hour earlier suddenly becomes a reality. This is a rather unusual phenomenon. </div>

There are two movements that are necessary—one is the ascent through the increasing of peace and silence to its source above the mind,—that is indicated by the tendency of the consciousness to rise out of the body to the top of the head and above where it is easy to realise the Self in all its stillness and liberation and wideness and to open to the other powers of the Higher Consciousness. The other is the descent of the peace, silence, the spiritual freedom and wideness and the powers of the higher consciousness as they develop into the lower down to the most physical and even the subconscient. To both of these movements there can be a block—a block above due to the mind and lower nature being unhabituated (it is that really and not incapacity) and a block below due to the physical consciousness and its natural slowness to change. Everybody has these blocks but by persistent will, aspiration or abhyāsa they can be overcome.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/ascent-and-descent#p16 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30~~</~~ascent-and-descent#p16]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">I have said that the most decisive way for the Peace or the Silence to come is by a descent from above. In fact, in reality though not always in appearance, that is how they always come;—not in appearance always, because the sadhak is not always conscious of the process; he feels the peace settling in him or at least manifesting, but he has not been conscious how and whence it came. Yet it is the truth that all that belongs to the higher consciousness comes from above, not only the spiritual peace and silence, but the Light, the Power, the Knowledge, the higher seeing and thought, the Ananda come from above.</div>

[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-psychic-and-spiritual-realisations#p18 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30~~</~~the-psychic-and-spiritual-realisations#p18]~~ref>

You must dismiss the fear of the concentration. The emptiness you feel coming on you is the silence of the great peace in which you become aware of your self, not as the small ego shut up in the body, but as the spiritual self wide as the universe. Consciousness is not dissolved; it is the limits of the consciousness that are dissolved. In that silence thoughts may cease for a time, there may be nothing but a great limitless freedom and wideness, but into that silence, that empty wideness descends the vast peace from above, light, bliss, knowledge, the higher Consciousness in which you feel the oneness of the Divine. It is the beginning of the transformation and there is nothing in it to fear.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-universal-or-cosmic-consciousness#p37

Those who are at the bottom of the scale, who have never trained their minds, find it necessary to speak in order to think. It happens even that it is the sound of their voice which enables them to associate ideas; if they do not express them, they do not think. At a higher level there are those who still have to move words about in their heads in order to think, even though they do not utter them aloud. Those who truly begin to think are those who are able to think without words, that is to say, to be in contact with the idea and express it through a wide variety of words and phrases. There are higher degrees—many higher degrees—but those who think without words truly begin to reach an intellectual state and for them it is much easier to make the mind quiet, that is to say, to stop the movement of associating the words that constantly move about like passers-by in a public square, and to contemplate an idea in silence.http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/conjugate-verses#p89In the entirely silent mind there is usually the static sense of the Divine without any active movement. But there can come into it all higher thought and aspiration and movements. There is then no absolute silence but one feels a fundamental silence behind which is not disturbed by any movement.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/silence#p6 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29~~</~~silence#p6]~~ref>

It is not necessary [in a calm mind] that there should be no thought. When there is no thought, it is silence. But the mind is said to be calm when thoughts, feelings, etc. may pass through it, but it is not disturbed. It feels that the thoughts are not its own; it observes them perhaps; but it is not perturbed by anything.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/quiet-and-calm#p58

<div style="color:#0066cc;">http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/15-october-1959#p2</div>

If the peace and silence continue to come down, they usually become so intense as to seize the physical mind also after a time.~~[http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/concentration-and-meditation#p79~~ <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/concentration-and-meditation#p79] If the calm and silence are perfectly established in the physical, then if inertia comes it is itself something quiet and unaggressive, not bringing such disturbances. But to get rid of inertia altogether a strong dynamic calm is needed.</~~span~~ref>~~[http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/difficulties-of-the-physical-nature#p28 http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/difficulties-of-the-physical-nature#p28]~~

If the calm and silence are perfectly established in the physical, then if inertia comes it is itself something quiet and unaggressive, not bringing such disturbances. But to get rid of inertia altogether a strong dynamic calm is needed.

<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/difficulties-of-the-physical-nature#p28</ref>

If the physical being has felt and assimilated the silence and peace, then inertia ought not to rise up.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/difficulties-of-the-physical-nature#p29

Certainly, peace, purity and silence can be felt in all material things—for the Divine Self is there in all.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/peace#p27 http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/peace#p27]</ref>

== Subconscient ==

<div style="color:#000000;">Generally, when you have what you call dreamless sleep, it is one of two things; either you do not remember what you dreamt or you fell into absolute unconsciousness which is almost death—a taste of death. But there is the possibility of a sleep in which you enter into an absolute silence, immobility and peace in all parts of your being and your consciousness merges into Sachchidananda. You can hardly call it sleep, for it is extremely conscious. In that condition you may remain for a few minutes, but these few minutes give you more rest and refreshment than hours of ordinary sleep. You cannot have it by chance; it requires a long training. </div>

(The Mother, 21 April 1929)[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/21-april-1929#p11 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03~~</~~21-april-1929#p11]~~ref>

The sleep you describe in which there is a luminous silence or else the sleep in which there is Ananda in the cells, these are obviously the best states. The other hours, those of which you are unconscious, may be spells of a deep slumber in which you have gone out of the physical into the mental, vital or other planes. You say you were unconscious, but it may simply be that you do not remember what happened; for in coming back there is a sort of turning over of the consciousness, a transition or reversal, in which everything experienced in sleep except perhaps the last happening of all or else one that was very impressive, recedes from the physical awareness and all becomes as if a blank. There is another blank state, a state of inertia, not truly blank, but heavy and unremembering; but that is when one goes deeply and crassly into the subconscient; this subterranean plunge is very undesirable, obscuring, lowering, often fatiguing rather than restful, the reverse of the luminous silence.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/sleep#p50

It is only in silence that anything great can be done.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/13/india#p59 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/13~~</~~india#p59]~~ref>

For the action is based on the silence and by the silence it is free.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/christianity-and-theosophy#p16

In the silence of the heart, you will receive the command.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p7 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14~~</~~silence#p7]~~ref>

To know how to observe in silence is the source of skillfulness.http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/progress-and-perfection-in-work#p63

In concentration and silence we must gather strength for the right action.</span<ref>[http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p16 ~~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.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/silence#p24

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 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03~~</~~26-may-1929#p28]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">(The Mother, 19 January 1955)</div>

[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/19-january-1955#p26 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/19-january-1955#p26]~~ For me, for what I am trying to do, action in silence is always much more important.... The force which is at work is not limited by words, and this gives it an infinitely greater strength, and it expresses itself in each consciousness in accordance with its own particular mode, which makes it infinitely more effective. A certain vibration is given out in silence, with a special purpose, to obtain a definite result, but according to the mental receptivity of each person it is expressed in each individual consciousness exactly in the form which can be the most effective, the most active, the most immediately useful for each individual; while if it is formulated in words, this formula has to be received by each person in its fixity—the fixity of the words given to it—and it loses much of its strength and fullness of action because, first, the words are not always understood as they are said and then they are not always adapted to the understanding of each one.</~~span~~ref>~~[http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/5-june-1957#p11 http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/5-june-1957#p11]~~

For me, for what I am trying to do, action in silence is always much more important.... The ~~dynamic action when~~ force which is at work is not limited by words, and this gives it ~~comes acts without disturbing the silence~~ an infinitely greater strength, and ~~peace~~it expresses itself in each consciousness in accordance with its own particular mode, which makes it infinitely more effective. ~~There~~ A certain vibration is given out in silence, with a special purpose, to obtain a definite result, but according to the ~~vast peace and silence and~~ mental receptivity of each person it is expressed in each individual consciousness exactly in ~~that~~ the ~~Force or~~ form which can be the most effective, the most active, the ~~Will works~~ most immediately useful for each individual; while if it is formulated in words, this formula has to ~~do what is necessary—~~be received by each person in ~~that also is~~ its fixity—the fixity of the words given to it—and it loses much of its strength and fullness of action because, first, the words are not always understood as they are said and then they are not always adapted to the understanding of ~~Agni or the psychic~~each one.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/~~cwsa~~cwm/2909/~~the-divine-force~~5-injune-~~work~~1957#~~p20 http:~~p11</~~/incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/the-divine-force-in-work#p20]~~ref>

~~We have said that there is only one safety, never to act except in harmony with~~ The dynamic action when it comes acts without disturbing the ~~divine Will~~silence and peace. There is ~~one question: how to know~~ the vast peace and silence and in that ~~it is~~ the ~~divine~~ Force or the Will ~~which makes you act? I replied~~ works to ~~the person who put to me this question (although this person did not agree with me) that it~~ do what is ~~not difficult to distinguish the voice of the Divine~~necessary—<span style="background-color:transparent;color: ~~one cannot make a mistake. You need not be very far on the path to be able to recognise it~~#000000; ~~you must listen to the still, small peaceful voice which speaks~~ ">in that also is the ~~silence~~ action of ~~your heart~~Agni or the psychic. ~~(The Mother, 8 February 1951)~~[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/~~cwm~~cwsa/0429/8the-~~february~~divine-force-~~1951#p17 http://incarnateword.~~in~~/cwm/04/8-february~~-~~1951~~work#~~p17]~~p20</ref>

We have said that there is only one safety, never to act except in harmony with the divine Will. There is one question: how to know that it is the divine Will which makes you act? I replied to the person who put to me this question (although this person did not agree with me) that it is not difficult to distinguish the voice of the Divine: one cannot make a mistake. You need not be very far on the path to be able to recognise it; you must listen to the still, small peaceful voice which speaks in the silence of your heart. (The Mother, 8 February 1951)

<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/8-february-1951#p17</ref>

The Gita promises us freedom for the spirit even in the midst of works and the full energies of Nature, if we accept subjection of our whole being to that which is higher than the separating and limiting ego. It proposes an integral dynamic activity founded on a still passivity; a largest possible action irrevocably based on an immobile calm is its secret,—free expression out of a supreme inward silence.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/self-surrender-in-works-the-way-of-the-gita#p11

(The Mother, 17 September 1958)http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/17-september-1958#p8

All speech and action comes prepared out of the eternal Silence.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-277-278#p1 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10~~</~~aphorism-277-278#p1]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">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. </div>

[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/21/reality-omnipresent#p14 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/21~~</~~reality-omnipresent#p14]~~ref>

== Working in Silence ==

Work is always best done in silence except so far as it is necessary to speak for the work itself. Conversation is best kept for leisure hours. So nobody should object to your silence during work.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/interactions-with-others-and-the-practice-of-yoga#p53 http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/interactions-with-others-and-the-practice-of-yoga#p53]</ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">One can do everything while keeping the mind quiet, and what one does is better done. </div>

(The Mother, 7 December 1966)[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/7-december-1966#p7 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16~~</~~7-december-1966#p7]~~ref>

What has to happen is that this inner consciousness should be always there not troubled by any disturbance with the constant silence, inner happiness, calm quietude, etc., while the outer consciousness does what is necessary in the way of work etc. or, what is better, has that done through it—it is the latter experience that you have some days as someone pushing the work with so much continuous force without your feeling tired.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-inward-movement#p74

<div style="color:#000000;">What you mean but don't say... it's those who go beyond thought, silence their thoughts, those who have an absolutely silent and immobile mind, who open to inner regions and write almost automatically what comes to them from above. That's what you meant but didn't say. But that's quite a different thing, and it happens once in a thousand years. It's not a frequent phenomenon. First of all one must be a yogi to be able to do all that. But an inspired poet, as we call him... that's something absolutely different. All men of some genius, that is, those who have an opening upon a world slightly higher than the ordinary mind, are called "inspired". One who makes some discoveries is also inspired. Each time one is in contact with something a little higher than the ordinary human field, one is inspired. So when one is not altogether limited by the ordinary consciousness one receives inspirations from above; the source of his production is higher than the ordinary mental consciousness.</div>

(The Mother, 24 August 1955)[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07/24-august-1955#p37 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/07~~</~~24-august-1955#p37]~~ref>

''(Another child) Mother, when you speak we try to understand with the mind, but when you communicate something in silence, on what part of the being should we concentrate?''It is always better, for meditation—you see, we use the word "meditation", but it does not necessarily mean "moving ideas around in the head", quite the contrary—it is always better to try to concentrate in a centre, the centre of aspiration, one might say, the place where the flame of aspiration burns, to gather in all the energies there, at the solar plexus centre and, if possible, to obtain an attentive silence as though one wanted to listen to something extremely subtle, something that demands a complete attention, a complete concentration and total silence. And then not to move at all. Not to think, not to stir, and make that movement of opening so as to receive all that can be received, but taking good care not to try to know what is happening while it is happening, for if one wants to understand or even to observe actively, it keeps up a sort of cerebral activity which is unfavourable to the fullness of the receptivity—to be silent, as totally silent as possible, in an attentive concentration, and then be still.

(The Mother, 5 June 1957)http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/5-june-1957#p19It is a discipline to be followed. For a long time one may try and not succeed, but as soon as one succeeds in making a "mirror", still and attentive, one always obtains a result, not necessarily with a precise form of thought but always with the sensations of a light coming from above. And then, if one can receive this light coming from above without entering immediately into a whirl of activity, receive it in calm and silence and let it penetrate deep into the being, then after a while it expresses itself either as a luminous thought or as a very precise indication here (Mother indicates the heart), in this other centre.

(The Mother, 23 July 1958)[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/23-july-1958#p10 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09~~</~~23-july-1958#p10]~~ref>

Every kind of realisation—infinite self, cosmic consciousness, the Mother's Presence, Light, Force, Ananda, Knowledge, Sachchidananda realisation, the different layers of consciousness up to the Supermind—all these can come in the silence which remains but ceases to be blank.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/emptiness-voidness-blankness-and-silence#p37

This kind of revelation can only occur in a silent mind—at least in a mind that is at rest, completely quiet and still, otherwise they do not come. Or if they come, you do not notice them, because of all the noise you are making. And of course, they help this quiet, this silence, this receptivity to become better and better established. This feeling of something so still—but not closed, still but open, still but receptive—is something which becomes established through repeated experiences. There is a great difference between a silence that is dead, dull, unresponsive and the receptive silence of a quietened mind. That makes a great difference. But that is the result of these experiences. All the progress we make always results, quite naturally, from truths coming from above.http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-77-78#p20

It is an admirable state; it is perfect peace of mind. There is no longer any need to accumulate acquired knowledge, received ideas which have to be memorised; it is no longer necessary to clutter one's brain with thousands and thousands of things in order to have at one's command, when the time comes, the knowledge that is needed to perform an action, to impart a teaching, to solve a problem. The mind is silent, the brain is still, everything is clear, quiet, calm; and at the right moment, by divine Grace a drop of light falls into the consciousness and what needs to be known is known. Why should one care to remember—why try to retain that knowledge? On the day or at the moment that it is needed one will have it again. At each second one is a blank page on which what must be known will be inscribed—in the peace, the repose, the silence of a perfect receptivity.http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-4#p4Silence and a modest, humble, attentive receptivity; no concern for appearances or even any anxiety to be—one is quite modestly, quite humbly, quite simply the instrument which of itself is nothing and knows nothing, but is ready to receive everything and transmit everything.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-4#p6 http://incarnateword.in/cwm/10/aphorism-4#p6]</ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">At first it might seem the straight and right way to silence the mind altogether, to silence the intellect, the mental and personal will, the desire mind and the mind of emotion and sensation, and to allow in that perfect silence the Self, the Spirit, the Divine to disclose himself and leave him to illuminate the being by the supramental light and power and Ananda. And this is indeed a great and powerful discipline. It is the calm and still mind much more readily and with a much greater purity than the mind in agitation and action that opens to the Infinite, reflects the Spirit, becomes full of the Self and awaits like a consecrated and purified temple the unveiling of the Lord of all our being and nature. It is true also that the freedom of this silence gives a possibility of a larger play of the intuitive being and admits with less obstruction and turmoil of mental groping and seizing the great intuitions, inspirations, revelations which emerge from within or descend from above. It is therefore an immense gain if we can acquire the capacity of always being able at will to command an absolute tranquillity and silence of the mind free from any necessity of mental thought or movement and disturbance and, based in that silence, allow thought and will and feeling to happen in us only when the Shakti wills it and when it is needful for the divine purpose.</div>

[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-intuitive-mind#p5 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24~~</~~the-intuitive-mind#p5]~~ref>

Descents of peace are good, but an increasingly stable quietude and silence of the mind is something more valuable. When that is there then other things can come—usually one at a time, light or strength and force or knowledge or ananda. [<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-inward-movement#p75 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30~~</~~the-inward-movement#p75]~~ref>

Supreme Lord, teach us to be silent so that in silence we may receive Thy force and understand Thy will.http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/prayers#p105

Certain silences are revelations and are more expressive than words.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p18 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14~~</~~silence#p18]~~ref>

With words one can at times understand, but only in silence one knows.http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p26

It is necessary in order to develop a deeper consciousness and outlook on things that understands in silence the movements of Nature in oneself and others and is not moved or disturbed or superficially interested and drawn into an external movement.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/speech-and-yoga#p45

But the timeless self knowledge of this Eternal is beyond mind; it is a supramental knowledge superconscient to us and only to be acquired by the stilling or transcending of the temporal activity of our conscious mind, by an entry into Silence or a passage through Silence into the consciousness of eternity.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/21/memory-self-consciousness-and-the-ignorance#p5 ~~http:~~</~~/incarnateword.in/cwsa/21/memory-self-consciousness-and-the-ignorance#p5]~~ref>

"In Silence is wisdom"—it is in the inner silence of the mind that true knowledge can come; for the ordinary activity of the mind only creates surface ideas and representations which are not true knowledge. Speech is usually only the expression of the superficial nature—therefore to throw oneself out too much in such speech wastes the energy and prevents the inward listening which brings the word of true knowledge.</span<ref>[http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/silence#p9 ~~http:~~</~~/incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/silence#p9]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">For a knowledge from above begins to descend, frequently, constantly, then uninterruptedly, and to manifest in the mind's quietude or silence; intuitions and inspirations, revelations born of a greater sight, a higher truth and wisdom, enter into the being, a luminous intuitive discrimination works which dispels all darkness of understanding or dazzling confusions, puts all in order; a new consciousness begins to form.</div>

<div style="color:#000000;">All the other senses undergo a similar transformation. All that the ear listens to, reveals the totality of its sound body and sound significance and all the tones of its vibration and reveals also to the single and complete hearing the quality, the rhythmic energy, the soul of the sound and its expression of the one universal spirit. There is the same internality, the going of the sense into the depths of the sound and the finding there of that which informs it and extends it into unity with the harmony of all sound and no less with the harmony of all silence, so that the ear is always listening to the infinite in its heard expression and the voice of its silence.</div>

[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24/the-supramental-sense#p12 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/24~~</~~the-supramental-sense#p12]~~ref>

= Disturbance of Silence =

This is true, altogether true, it is at the moment when all is silenced in order that man may become conscious of his origin that he, in his folly, in order to distract himself conceives or carries out the worst stupidities.

(The Mother, 12 March 1951)[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/12-march-1951#p48 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04~~</~~12-march-1951#p48]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">In making a noise? Because they like to deaden themselves. In silence they have to face their own difficulties, they are in front of themselves, and usually they don't like that. In the noise they forget everything, they become stupefied. So they are happy. </div>

When I wanted to send the groups ashore, those who were to land knew it automatically without my having to say a word, and they came up in turn. Everything went on in silence, there was no need to speak to make oneself understood; but the silence itself on board the ship did not give that impression of artificiality it does here. Here, when one wants silence, one must stop talking; silence is the opposite of sound. There the silence was vibrant, living, active and comprehensive, comprehensible. (The Mother, 19 February 1958)[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09/19-february-1958#p32 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/09~~</~~19-february-1958#p32]~~ref>

= Practices of Silence =

They [small Buddhist sects} sit down for a few hours in the day and even at night and quiet their mind. This is for them the key to all realisation—a quiet mind that knows how to keep quiet for hours together without roving. You must not believe however that it is a very easy thing to do, but they have no other object. '''They do not concentrate upon any thought, they do not try to understand better, to know more, nothing of the kind; for them the only way is to have a quiet mind and sometimes they pass through years and years of effort before they arrive at this result—to silence the mind, to keep it absolutely silent and still'''<nowiki>; for, as it is said here in the Dhammapada, if the mind is unbalanced, then this constant movement of ideas following one another, sometimes without any order, ideas contradicting and opposing each other, ideas that speculate on things, all that jostles about in the head, makes holes in the roof, as it were. So through these holes all undesirable movements enter into the consciousness, as water enters into a house with a leaky roof.</nowiki>[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/conjugate-verses#p87 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm~~</~~03/conjugate-verses#p87]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">This work of mental purification should be done very regularly in order to secure a complete control over one’s actions.</div>

There is an active method by which one looks to see where the thoughts come from and finds they come not from oneself, but from outside the head as it were; if one can detect them coming, then, before they enter, they have to be thrown away altogether. This is perhaps the most difficult way and not all can do it, but if it can be done it is the shortest and most powerful road to silence.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/concentration-and-meditation#p24 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29~~</~~concentration-and-meditation#p24]~~ref>

It is quite certain that to create absolute silence is of all things the most difficult, for many things of which one was not aware, become enormous! There were all kinds of suggestion, movements, thoughts, formations which went on as though automatically in the outer consciousness, almost outside the consciousness, on the frontiers of consciousness; and as soon as one wants to be absolutely silent, one becomes aware of all these things which go on moving, moving, moving and make a lot of noise and prevent you from being silent. That is why it is better to remain very quiet, very calm and at the same time '''very attentive to something which is above you and to which you aspire,''' and if there is this kind of noise passing like that around you (Mother moves her hands around her head), not to pay attention, not to look, not to heed it. If there are thoughts which go round and round and round like this (gestures), which come and go, do not look, do not pay attention, but concentrate upwards in a great aspiration which one may even formulate—because often it helps the concentration—towards the light, the peace, the quietude, towards a kind of inner impassiveness, so that the concentration may be strong enough for you not to attend to all that continues to whirl about all around. But if suddenly you say, "Ah, there's some noise! Oh, here is a thought!", then it is finished. You will never succeed in being quiet. Have you never seen those people who try to stop a quarrel by shouting still louder than the ones who are quarrelling? Well, it is something like that. (''Mother laughs''.)http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/8-september-1954#p32

'''Not to be disturbed by either joy or grief, pleasure or displeasure by what people say or do or by any outward things is called in Yoga a state of samatā, equality to all things.''' It is of immense importance in sadhana to be able to reach this state. It helps the mental quietude and silence as well as the vital to come. It means indeed that the vital itself and the vital mind are already falling silent and becoming quiet. The thinking mind is sure to follow.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/interactions-with-others-and-the-practice-of-yoga#p100

First condition, know how to keep silent. And not only keep your tongue quiet, but silence your mind, keep the head silent. If you wish to have a true, sincere experience upon which you can build, you must know how to be silent, otherwise you have nothing but what you fabricate yourself, which is equivalent to zero. All that one can say is, "Heavens, what a fashioner my mind is!" (The Mother, 19 March 1951)[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/19-march-1951#p34 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04~~</~~19-march-1951#p34]~~ref>

To remain in silence as much as possible is good for a time. But entire retirement is seldom found to be helpful—the lower movements may remain quiescent owing to want of stimulus from outside, but do not disappear. For that you must be able to '''get an inner quietude and a mastery over the outer movements '''which will resist any atmosphere.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/speech-and-yoga#p74

Silence: the ideal condition for progress.http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p1It is only in silence that a true progress can be made; it is only in silence that one can rectify a wrong movement; it is only in silence that one can be of help to somebody else.[<http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p3 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14~~</~~silence#p3]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">There is a greater power in silence than in words, however forceful. The greatest transformations have been achieved in the silence of concentration.</div>

(The Mother, 2 November 1970)[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/17/2-november-1970#p1 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/17~~</~~2-november-1970#p1]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">In order to allow at all to the higher Light an adequate entry and force of working, it is necessary to acquire a power for quietude of the nature, to compose, tranquillise, impress a controlled passivity or even an entire silence on mind and heart, life and body</div>

You see, for those who are '''sincere,''' sincere and very—how to put it?—v'''ery straight in their aspiration''', there is a marvellous help, there is an absolutely living, active consciousness which is ready to... to respond to any attentive silence. You could do six years' work in six months, but there should... there should not be any pretension, there should not be anything which tries to imitate, there should be no wanting to put on airs. There should... you should be truly, absolutely honest, pure, sincere, conscious that... you exist only by what comes from above. Then... then... then you could advance with giant strides.

(The Mother, 11 November 1967)[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/11-november-1967#p159 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12~~</~~11-november-1967#p159]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">Now, there is a greater depth of pain which leaves you in an absolute silence and opens the inner doors to greater depths which can put you in immediate touch with the Divine. But this indeed is not expressed in words. It changes your consciousness; but usually a long time elapses before one can say anything about it. </div>

(The Mother, 20 October, 1954)http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/20-october-1954#p71

The peace and '''silence''' must settle deep in, so deep that whatever comes from outside can only pass over the surface without troubling the settled calm within—it is good also that the meditation comes of itself. It means that the Yoga-Force is beginning to take up the sadhana.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/peace#p7 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29~~</~~peace#p7]~~ref>

== Connecting to Divine ==

In peace and inner silence you will more and more become conscious of the constant Presence.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/peace#p18 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14~~</~~peace#p18]~~ref>

None can say to the Divine, "I have known Thee", and yet all carry Him in themselves, and in the silence of their soul can hear the echo of the Divine's voice.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/relationship-with-the-divine#p6 ~~http:~~</~~/incarnateword.in/cwm/14/relationship-with-the-divine#p6]~~ref>

Above all words, above all thoughts in the luminous silence of an aspiring faith '''give yourself totally, unreservedly, absolutely to the Supreme Lord''' of all existences and He will do of you what He wants you to be.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/self-giving#p39 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm~~</~~14/self-giving#p39]~~ref>

'''Silence all outside noise, aspire for the Divine's help'''<nowiki>; open integrally to it then it comes and surrender to its action, and it will effectively bring about your transformation.</nowiki>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/15/transformation#p29

To '''make yourself blank in meditation''' creates an inner silence; it does not mean that you have become nothing or have become a dead and inert mass. Making yourself an empty vessel, you invite that which shall fill it. It means that you release the stress of your inner consciousness towards realisation.  (The Mother, 23 June, 1929)

[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/23-june-1929#p21 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03~~</~~23-june-1929#p21]~~ref>

'''An aspiration for all that is essentially true, real, perfect'''. And this aspiration must be free from words, simply a silent attitude, but extremely intense and unvacillating. Not a word must be allowed the right to enter there and disturb it. It must be like a column of vibrations of aspiration, which nothing can touch—and in total silence—and therein, if something comes down, what descends (and will be clothed in words in your mind and in sounds in your mouth) will be the Word. But nothing less than this will do.

<div style="color:#000000;">(The Mother, 17 September 1959)</div>

[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/17-september-1959#p2 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16~~</~~17-september-1959#p2]~~ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">If you can relax and feel at ease, it will be very good; if you can enter into the silence, that will be perfect. Every day we shall begin with the prayer: "Grant that I may become conscious of Your presence"; and together we shall aspire for a moment in the silence and ardour of our aspiration. </div>

'''Thus a division is created between the mind that thinks and wills and the mind that observes and the Purusha becomes the witness only;''' he sees, he understands the process and laws of his thought, but detaches himself from it. Then as the master of the sanction he withdraws his past sanction from the tangle of the mental undercurrent and the reasoning intellect and causes both to cease from their importunities. He becomes liberated from subjection to the thinking mind and capable of the utter silence.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/23/the-release-from-the-heart-and-the-mind#p9

It is quite possible for thoughts to pass without disturbing the silence—but for that you must be perfectly detached from the thoughts and indifferent to them.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/silence#p4 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29~~</~~silence#p4]~~ref>

The first step is a quiet mind—silence is a farther step, but quietude must be there, and by a quiet mind I mean a mental consciousness within which sees thoughts arrive to it and move about, but does not itself feel that it is thinking or identify itself with the thoughts or call them its own. Thoughts, mental movements may pass through it as wayfarers appear and pass from elsewhere through a silent country—the quiet mind observes them or does not care to observe them but in either case does not become active or lose its quietude. Silence is more than quietude; it can be gained by banishing thought altogether from the inner mind keeping it voiceless or quite outside; but more easily it is established by a descent from above—one feels it coming down, entering and occupying, or surrounding the personal consciousness which then tends to merge itself in the vast impersonal silence.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/quiet-and-calm#p36

<div style="color:#000000;">Listen in a total silence of your whole being—mental, vital and physical.</div>

(The Mother, 6 July 1933)[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/17/6-july-1933#p6 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/17/6-july-1933#p6]~~ ~~We sat together in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the company of our soul, and we witnessed the gates of Eternity opening wide before us.~~</~~span~~ref>~~[http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p20 http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p20]~~

We sat together in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the company of our soul, and we witnessed the gates of Eternity opening wide before us.

<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/silence#p20</ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">For it is one of the powers of this inner consciousness to bring about what it sees to be the right thing by simply communicating in entire silence to the consciousness of another. That is the true way of acting—through the power of the inner consciousness, its knowledge, vision and will.</div>

~~[http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-inward-movement#p44~~ <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/the-inward-movement#p44] There are some who have the flow of speech by nature and those who are very vital cannot do without it. But the latter case (not being able to do without it) is obviously a disability from the spiritual point of view. There are also certain stages in the sadhana when one has to go inward and silence is at that time very necessary while '''unnecessary speech becomes a dispersion of the energies''' or externalises the consciousness. It is especially this chat for chat's sake tendency that has to be overcome.</~~span~~ref>~~[http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/speech-and-yoga#p8 http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/speech-and-yoga#p8]~~

There are some who have the flow of speech by nature and those who are very vital cannot do without it. But the latter case (not being able to do without it) is obviously a disability from the spiritual point of view. There are also certain stages in the sadhana when one has to go inward and silence is at that time very necessary while '''unnecessary speech becomes a dispersion of the energies''' or externalises the consciousness. It is especially this chat for chat's sake tendency that has to be overcome.

<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/speech-and-yoga#p8</ref>

<div style="color:#000000;">If you want to be an instrument of the Truth, you must always speak the truth and not falsehood. But this does not mean that you must tell everything to everybody. To conceal the truth by silence or refusal to speak is permissible, because the truth may be misunderstood or misused by those who are not prepared for it or who are opposed to it—it may even be made a starting point for distortion or sheer falsehood. But to speak falsehood is another matter. Even in jest it should be avoided, because it tends to lower the consciousness.</div>

[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31/speech-and-yoga#p58 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/31~~</~~speech-and-yoga#p58]~~ref>

That is not the way. Absolute silence and looseness of talk are two extremes; neither is good. I have seen many people practising maunavrata, but afterwards they are just as talkative as before.

<div style="color:#000000;">Most of the children will understand, and some are capable of feeling.</div>

[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/mothers-action-in-a-class-of-children-aged-seven-to-nine#p8 ~~http:~~</~~/incarnateword.in/cwm/12/mothers-action-in-a-class-of-children-aged-seven-to-nine#p8]~~ref>

A minimum of '''silence''' is necessary. I know that the most undisciplined children are usually the most intelligent. But to be tamed they must feel the pressure of an intelligence that is more powerful than their own. And for that, one must be able not to come down to their level, and above all know how to remain unaffected by what they do. In fact, it is a yogic problem.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/mothers-action-in-a-class-of-children-aged-ten-to-eleven#p4 ~~http:~~</~~/incarnateword.in/cwm/12/mothers-action-in-a-class-of-children-aged-ten-to-eleven#p4]~~ref>

It is true that the guru himself is subject to the same rule of silence with regard to what concerns him personally. In Nature everything is in movement; thus, whatever does not move forward is bound to fall back. The guru must progress even as his disciples do, although his progress may not be on the same plane. And for him too, to speak about his experiences is not favourable: the greater part of the dynamic force for progress contained in the experience evaporates if it is put into words. But on the other hand, by explaining his experiences to his disciples, he greatly helps their understanding and consequently their progress. It is for him in his wisdom to know to what extent he can and ought to sacrifice the one to the other. It goes without saying that no boasting or vainglory should enter into his account, for the slightest vanity would make him no longer a guru but an imposter.http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/the-four-austerities-and-the-four-liberations#p60

There is nothing wrong in having intervals of passive peace without anything happening—they come naturally in the sadhana as a basis for fresh action when the nature is ready for it. It is only the vital attitude that turns it into a disharmony, because somewhere in its being there is not the assent to or participation in the peace and passivity. '''To be able often to rest, repose in all the being outspread in the silent Brahman is an indispensable thing for the Yogi'''. But the vital wants always fuss, action, to feel that it is somebody doing something, getting on, having progress, on the move. The counterpart to this rajasic fuss is inertia. If the whole being can widen itself out, rest satisfied in the silence, then progressively inertia fades out and gives place to śama.http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/30/variations-in-the-intensity-of-experience#p32

The fact is that like all the other parts of the human being, the mind too needs rest and it will not have this rest unless we know how to provide it. The art of resting one's mind is something to be acquired. Changing one's mental activity is certainly one way of resting; but the greatest possible rest is silence. And as far as the mental faculties are concerned a few minutes passed in the calm of silence are a more effective rest than hours of sleep.[<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12/mental-education#p21 ~~http://incarnateword.in/cwm/12~~</~~mental-education#p21]~~ref>

Naveen

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