By Sanjib Mukherjee,
Whenever we feel unfairly attacked or unceremoniously insulted, our innate reaction is to answer or fight back with immediate effect. Our sense of injustice propels us to a vigorous course of action with a relentless pursuit of our perpetrators; but at what cost to our sense of mental and emotional well being?
Even if we manage to overturn a wrong accusation, there always seem to remain a lingering feeling of sadness and frustration for being vindicated in the first place. The alternative course of action is to remain idle and do nothing, but such an option can only prolong ones’ misery and sink us deeper into a sense of victimisation. It’s almost as though whether we react or do nothing, both outcomes move us from our balanced state of mind. So in such a given situation, what is one supposed to do?
As always, Yoga provides a simple answer to all our problems in life. Yoga shows us a way to react with courage, dignity and composure, yet still maintain a strong sense of urgency and conviction in our response. Yoga teaches us to utilise our silence in a powerful manner, which shakes our attackers to the very core of their being. Let me explain further.
Words can never express the full nature of our true feelings or emotional state. Indeed words can only give rise to more words in response, and thus result in a further sense of energy dissipation and separateness from those around us. Have you ever noticed how in modern times, when we indulge in long email exchanges at work, very quickly, the focus and intent of the initial email is lost, and our conversations end up without any clarity of focus or direction? Simple issues become grossly distorted and nothing very seems to get resolved.
The ancient Yogis knew the phenomenon of the mind and how words could only ever confuse a volatile situation. Words are thought in the brain, spoken by the mouth, listened by the ears and then processed in the brains once again. The whole communication with words is entirely focussed around the body and is derived purely from the space of our head. The problem lies in that feelings and emotions don’t materialise in the head, they grow from the heart, and words can never truly represent what the heart is saying. It can come close, but there will always be some distance, and hence why using more words to resolve a dispute usually only intensifies the situation. Words should only be used to make your point but nothing more.
Silence does not use any of our bodily facets; it comes straight from and can only be experienced by the heart. The silence we are speaking about here is not the type that comes from meekness or timidity, on the contrary, this silence comes from forcefulness and complete awareness. Such a silence, withdraws us from the gross body level and takes us inwards into the very essence of our being. We unite with our higher conscious mind at a level where we are all connected at a very subtle level. From this space, it is very easy to convey your true feelings to all those around you.
Your hurt and anger can be felt by others. Your sadness and disappointment is transferred onto those who initiated your pain. At the level of the heart, the truth can never be distorted or compromised. Words, actions and gestures may have hidden meanings or agendas, but the heart can only speak the truth.
By becoming strong within yourself, and growing a strong faith and conviction in the power of your very being, you can move mountains through the power of your consciousness. Your attackers will feel your innate truth burning in the depths of their own consciousness. Until they rectify the wrong they have caused, the truth will eat away at their very existence and whatever anguish they have caused you, will only be multiplied by what they begin to feel themselves. The only solution for your attackers would be take the right actions from now on end, if anything for their own salvation.
The application of silence is a powerful and skilful tool which the yogis teach through various meditative techniques and sutras written in the scriptures. Silence teaches us to unite with our universal selves and unite with everybody on the same subtle level. The same way you cannot hit your own body and start fighting yourself, no other person can also attack you, once you truly connect with them. In doing so, they only harm themselves. Yogic silence teaches us in reality there is no “other” person, just one infinite energy, we call life.
Never confuse this powerful silence or meditative state with passiveness or weakness. Yogic silence is both our shield and sword in fighting for the truth; a yogi never takes a backwards step, yet always maintains an aura of peace, love, strength and compassion. We too can do the same, when we learn to apply these ancient techniques. The philosophy of Yoga is more relevant today than at any other times, learning its hidden secrets is what makes us indestructible in this very lifetime. Silence can only speak one language, the truth; faith in its powers is what can protect us from any situation at any moment in time.
ok now I have a question……If silence is so powerful and like u say in the article it is our sheild and our sword…then why is that most of the yogis are such good speakers and they command their languages so well??
the true purpose of words is to bring silence, those in knowledge must speak up to help others reach their highest potential…..silence and words are both complementary….hence why yogis both speak and meditate very well…
wait it is our choice if we want to use words or silence?…and what do you mean by those in knowlede must speak up to help others to reach their highest potential
Hi Naman, yeh in life we always have a choice as to how we behave…. sometimes we need to speak up, sometimes we need to trust in our silence….everything in life is a fine balance (as in the yin and the yang)…. knowledge is the art of taking the course of action which brings you the best results with minimum effort. Most people wouldn’t consider silence as an option for taking action…this post gives a yogic perspective as to how it can really work..
“Anything you want to ask a teacher, ask yourself and then wait for the answer in silence”!!!!!
Naman, its great that you are asking so many questions and delving deep within yourself. Keep digging into these questions, but don’t be in a hurry to find answers. You may listen to others, but ultimately for any truths to be true, they must be uncovered from within…..you have a very sincere and honest soul, all these questions will help you to manifest your greatness…
Kavita has answered beautifully…..in silence, the answers will come…
ok thanks a lot man
thank you Naman, keep writing your replies to all the posts…I will guarantee all the questions you are asking, everyone else will be thinking too….. you are a true seeker and I love your boldness and passion for spirituality…. keep the flame burning…I learn a lot from your questions too…
I just ask becaus if I look back I am amazed at what I ask….. is that really me?……………I just know one saying it is this that the hardest wars are the ones we fight with ourselves, and I think about it everyday and ask when do they finish….
So what if somebody recognizes you: “Oh, you are a wonderful person.” So what? In that person’s mind that thought came and went. It is also finished. That mind has gone. Maybe they keep an attraction for you for some days, some months, so what? That also goes it also goes. —Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,
The man who is always smiling doesn’t means that he has no problem, but the smile shows that he has the ability to overcome all the problems… Happiness always looks small if you hold it in your hands,but when you learn to share it you will realize how big and precious it is… Always be the reason of someone’s happiness & never be just a part of it… Be a part of someone’s sadness and never be the reason for it…
Hi Sanjib, nice article on silence early morning..that would be great if there were little silence in my clinic this morning! Keep up the good writing:-)
I agree..
silence is golden n can explain more than a verbal answer can!
thank you Sanjib….
its really helpful, thanks sanjib
Wonderful Topic. However I personally think it’s a secret weapon.Nice topicc!!
great topic like to be silent thats how your inner strength grows
very true!
realise the strength of silence….
I was totally mad at someone… For the last 1 year I have maintained silence. I was reaching my saturation when I read your blog. Probably I will maintain further silence and meditate…
Hi Tara… events will always come and go, but we only stay mad if we put too much emphasis on a particular experience…. don’t such unpleasant thoughts so much focus in your life….. always remain free and happy…life is too short to live any other way:)
Truth lies in the silence between words.
It was really helpful….the blog contained answers to many of my questions…
to add to your profound knowledge mr.sanjib, silence is the 1st embodiment of the soul which is immortal eternal by nature. we always after a long heap of days work need silence which many call as lesiure or rather releasing our pent up energy in todays language. the point over here is to know realize that it is just inside which can never be … found in outside aura or ppl or things…..
even there is a voice of silence which can be easily experienced when we go deep in our consciousness which makes our mind relaxed heart cool…. the association with the supreme is an art of being in true silence or with truth…..
being in that true subtle silence itself is to be with the truth so there doesnt come any question of defence or approach as all these words are appsolutely gross whereas silence is never gross, its a subtle phenomenon.
but, silence sometimes is misunderstood as accepting the blame put on us.
Yes…i agree with Indira…at times, it is even misunderstood for submisiveness, weekness or even stupidity….especially in a place like delhi where you are surrounded by agressive people…after maintaining a long silence, one day you have to break it and give the bully a peace of your mind…of course there will be noise…but then you will experience the calm after storm…then the bully and his / her people will realise that you were silent not because you were meek or stupid but because you were mature and large hearted…
Speech is silver; silence is golden. It shows the value of silence…but silver has its own use as well…
Thank you for the very useful article Sanjib…. profound thoughts….would like to hear your response.
“HI Sanjib…wishing you a very beautiful morning…after yesterday’s fear and the news we certainly needed something soothing and relaxing article..when i just read the heading i just smiled…you can understand why..as i am so talkative and cant keep what i feel to myself…and reading about silence or keeping quiet makes me wondering..how it can be
…but yes you explained so nicely that some points i am able to understand and there are certain points that will take time for me to understand better…When in Advanced Meditattion course …it is said to keep silent…so when i came to know this fact i was not ready to attend the course..thinking oh my god …how can i be keep silent for 3-4 days continously
…and that too with family around and so many people around..how we wil manage our tasks..so the very first day it was really difficult..but the spiritual aura there is so strong all around people used to take care of our need without even saying a word…it was very strange and amazing experience and then 2nd day i was still ok that yes sometime without words also we can beautifully express ourselves…we got time to listen to our Guruji ,our teacher…and then see the nature around..talking to winds…how it moves
…observing the trees the leaves the flowers and the birds…and understanding their silent language..and most of all got so much time to analyse our own thoughts and then sometime the reall value of speech..the words…which we generaly utttering whole life..but dont realise its value much..
Sanjib i really like the point that words are thought in mind..then come to mouth ..listeend bye others..and then processed again so sometime the conveyor’s feelings are wrongly understood by the receiver…depending upon the mental level of receiver…like the same words i love you saying to different people can have different impacts…as our saying we know by heart what we feel
…the other person recievers according to the relation or feell of them towards us…so in that case even if dont say these words..we can still feel the love , we can stil feel the hatred even one does not say he or she hates…we can still feel the indifferences
…sometime just expression of eyes we can talk ..when we go to some diferent place not knowing their language as i went to paris..i cud not understand any word…at first but stil the smile said everything …that other person whatever saying from mouth is greeting us with love..accepting us to be part of their place their society…
and helping us to learn their languae…but in some places even we know their language…the expression we get are so indifferent that we think is it ok to say hello even..to the person who is not even ready to exchange smile..so words are beautiful medium for us to communicate and convery our feelings as we are doing now in net friendships no choice..but stil some unheard unsaid words have so much power in them…just an expression of smile..:) from a person can do wonders
…the whole day we can feel it..that yes we are close to our friends they want us to be happy and smiling ..just
symbol can show us without words that our friend is not in so good mood and needs us to care and share and love…so smile is universal language….
Silence sometimes wonderful…and as i always feel and say..the best is Language of love…that is above all kind of separations boundaries walls languages that usually separates from each othere…stopping the flow of love from one heart to another
…so LovE is THE ANSWer to all hatred and love is the best langugae…whether you give it words..or not the feel definitely reaches we can see that when we love our pets and recieve love in turn..when we love our plants they grow fast n keep green when we love nature it gives us happiness n love…for all this do we need words anytime…NO …it is just universaly felt all arnd..
SANJIB…u are talking about silence and on that also i am saying so much…but i realy feel good when first thing in morning we get to read your thought and can convey ours through comments…
THANK YOU SO MUCH …AS ALWAYS YOU DO WONDERS SOMETIME WITH YOUR WORDS SOMETIME WITH YOUR SILENCE AND SMILES…LOVE AND REGARDS AND CARE …REKHA…
Silence = know thyself.
,
hi Chandelle …you started practising silence ..we understood what you said..you liked the concept of being silent sometimes …and started today only…i like your way of comenting …
blue star shining and saying everything without even saying..:)
Hi Sanjib!
Nice article. ‘Silence’ has always been my favourite topic.
I’m sure you already are aware of this quote from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar which I find profoundly enlightening: “The soul is solidified silence.”
Sanjib, i fully agree with you! Even I`m too emotional most of the time I do realize that actions which are the same as the people who have different ideas than ours about the life can`t give us peace nor to bring smile at any face. Only the deep understanding about the problem and our humility can lead us to the right response….
Thank you Sanjib. ive read the article and i completely agree that our sole purpose is to be in allignment with our higher soul and the heart takes you the right path… after meditating regularly it is easier to transmit your energies than to give explainations whch again involve WORDS
Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute!!!!!
I really appreciated ur thoughts on silence.
Beautifully explained….!Simply beyond words…!! thank you…:!
Thank you for this article. It reminds me of a time when I approached my boss about a promotion. The person I was working for at the time went ballistic and literally walked through the office telling people I could not do that job, who did I think I was?, etc. I felt as though everyone was against me. No one in the office would talk to me unless they had to. It was as though I had become toxic. I mentally went down the list of things to say and how to “defend” myself. But something – and I don’t know what it was – told me to be silent. Emotionally, I wanted to scream and cry and generally hurt those who were hurting me. But the call to silence was stronger and I felt that it was coming from my Higher Self. Trust me, I am a vocal person. I wanted to rage at the people who were treating me that way. But the silence was beautiful and empowering. And it taught me forgiveness. Because in not saying anything (aside from hello and answering questions pertaining to my job) I felt stronger. And it showed. As you said, it conveyed my feelings much more eloquently than words. I was able to deflect the negativity of others without anger, without judgment. I understood that in society people want to belong and in order to belong you have to follow the leader. I’ve never been a follower, but I came to understand the weakness of that mentality. Don’t get me wrong, I did not come off as pompous or proud. I was hurt and I’m sure it showed. But to my surprise I also appeared, as someone told me later, serene and strong. Wow. In the beginning of my silence a part of me still wanted to fight and it was quite a challenge not to give in to that impulse. But then I came to understand the strength and power of silence. It’s a beautiful thing. Thank you so much for your article. It reinforced my belief in silence. Sorry for the long post.