SILENCE AS VIRTUE
by Swami Chidananda

The talented also suffer in life. They have a good time for a while but then sooner or later they get quite attached to the skills that they possess and to the recognition that they receive. Before long they notice that the world has other things also to do than just stand and admire their show. It is not easy to accept this. They want to continue to impress people. They want to go on displaying their gifts and receive awards and accolades. They get miserable when people turn their attention to somebody else.

The ability to remain silent – in contrast to the outgoing urge to perform, impress and derive pleasure – is a great virtue. In this silence we listen and learn. We are able to appreciate others’ abilities. We accept gracefully many ups and downs of life when there is this inner silence that perceives without hasty reaction. We are then ready to give but we do not insist. We do not impose ourselves on anybody but are available to help and serve. People feel peace about us. Our presence itself is a gift to them without a word uttered.

When they asked him to describe most briefly the essential sadhana (spiritual practice), Shri Ramana Maharshi said, “Be Still.” This advice to keep quiet means much more than vocal silence. In its profound sense, it is a call for a spiritual seeker to be free from ego. When the ego is present, long verbal silence has little value; when the ego is absent, talking much also is benediction in every word of it. The crux of the matter is therefore not “to talk or not to talk” but “to be free from the sense of I, me and my”.

By deciding to be free from ego, no one succeeds in doing so. The will to be humble and the resolve to serve people generate the ego if not create more illusions. Teachers like Krishnamurti therefore laid emphasis upon alertness and awareness. Paying attention to the movement of the self, which means being intensely aware of the operation of the ego, could bring a basic change in the way we live. To notice the false becomes the essence of sadhana, and not any attempt to define and assert the truth. Let the clouds go; the sun shines forth unhindered.

There is the play of ego when we dominate over others and there is its play when we cooperate in a situation where others dominate over us. The exploiters and the exploited both contribute to exploitation typically. The former would like to cause fear while the latter are used to reel under fear. Those who cause fear in others are afraid within themselves too, for they believe that they are in danger unless they keep others under their thumbs. Strained psychology is involved in all these cases of human consciousness that fears outwardly or inwardly.

The plane of words has its sophistication, no doubt. The nonverbal domain is more complex. Even after we learn to speak well-chosen words, and embellish the art with gestures gentle and suave, clever self-interest could lurk behind all these and cause insecurity and suffering. Attention penetrates all these layers to expose the machinations of the ego. The self thrives in a state of inattention but cannot stand the heat of attention. The selfish structure withers away when there is the flame of attention burning brightly in our life, moment to moment.
Where do religions stand? Where can we place practices like studying of scriptures or prayers to Gods? Or, for that matter, is the practice of meditation relevant in the context of radical transformation through attention? The answer is not in the form of dos and don’ts. Driven by our conditionings, which are memories, we are into many practices; they are long-standing habits.

By merely deciding to do them or not do them, we hardly change. Decisions and resolutions are superficial. It is only through understanding born of awareness again that practices drop off. Or they may get enriched, which means we may do certain things regularly (yoga for example) without the foul smell of ego, selfishness or seeking personal reward.

True silence fills our life with its fragrance, only when we observe the foolishly insecure ways of thought and there is ending of all insecurity in this observation.