“The words that do not rattle the minds of people and which is truth; truth which is benevolent and which is pleasant, those type of words are to be spoken. That is called the penance of speech”
Keeping silence is very useful. It purifies our speech. Deep silence is the mother of creativity. No creativity can come out of one who is too busy, worried, over-ambitious or lethargic. There is no need to maintain silence in our daily routine but there is also no need to speak too much. If you maintain some silence, you will think before you speak. If you keep talking, you yourself will not understand what you are saying.
Have you ever observed the impact of your speech on others? Often we do not bother to notice this, we go on blabbering. We just want to say all that we want to say and become free. No, you must see what impact your speech has on others. There is a beautiful couplet in the Bhagavad Gita which says, “The words that do not rattle the minds of people and which is truth; truth which is benevolent and which is pleasant, those type of words are to be spoken. That is called the penance of speech.”
Tapas (penance) for the speech is to speak only those words that do not rattle the minds of others. Krishna was the most skillful because his silence was so deep. Sometimes we think we are right and, perhaps, we are right. You may be speaking the truth, it may be benevolent, it may be good for the other person as well but if it is not pleasant and it is rattling the other person’s mind then it is not complete. This is not an easy thing to do. It requires skill — not to rattle anyone’s mind or give them pain. So speak words that are pleasant, true and benevolent but ensure that you don’t speak pleasing lies. Don’t crush the minds and hearts of others with your unpleasant words. Now how do we do this? You may say, “I don’t intend to hurt anybody but hurtful words just fly out of my mouth. What do I do?”
Silence and meditation awaken our potential and abilities. That is why everyone should remain silent and meditate for a while. Yog and Vedanta have been referred to as the highest forms of knowledge and that is what they are. The inner space or your inner form can be experienced through them. Your brain benefits so much from this. Depending on the situation, we must accept whatever is happening around us. If we are sitting in meditation and a phone is ringing somewhere, we must accept it instead of getting irritated. Take it as background music. As Shri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, as long as something or the other is occupying our mind, we cannot go into meditation. So surrender your sankalpa (intention) during meditation. Afterwards, when you are working on something, put everything into it. We do the opposite; during meditation we keep thinking about all we have to do and while working we think that God will look after everything. Put everything into any work you do.
Take a sankalpa (intention) about what you want in the future. Then form a plan accordingly. Worry drains you of energy and strength. You don’t gain anything. You acquire inner strength through silence. In spite of all that, if it comes, if it happens then you can’t do anything about it, then just ask for forgiveness. When you are getting into silence ask for forgiveness — “By my thought, word or deed if I have done anything or caused any hurt to someone, may I be forgiven.” That completely uplifts us from being bogged down.
Some questions can be answered only in silence. It is the goal of all answers. If an answer does not silence the mind it is “no” answer. Thoughts are not the goal in themselves. Their goal is silence. Deep silence is the mother or source of creativity. When the body, mind and spirit are in tune with each other, then creativity happens. When you are tired, exhausted, stressed, over-ambitious or lethargic, when you are not in touch with yourself, your creativity and talents are stifled. When feverishness clogs your head, your mind is not clear; poetry cannot dawn, no creative thought will come. Meditation and yoga can clear your mind and kindle skills and creativity in you. It puts you in touch with the space of silence within you and becomes an unending well-spring of creativity. It relieves you of stress and strain, strengthens your nervous system and mind, releases toxins, makes you more capable and enhances you in every way. The easy way to silence the thoughts is to arouse feelings. For through feelings only peace, joy and love dawn. And they are all your very nature.
To the question, “Who am I?” the only relevant answer is silence. You need to discard all answers in words, including “I am Nothing” or “I am the Cosmic Self” or “I am the Self” — and just stick to the question “Who am I?” All other answers are just thoughts. Thoughts can never be complete. Only silence is complete. And spirituality is a harmonious blend of outer silence and inner celebration; and inner silence and outer celebration. When you ask the question, “Who am I?” you get no answer, there is silence. That is the real answer. This solidified silence is wisdom, is knowledge. You are solidified silence, awareness. A thousand hours of speech cannot equal one glance: a hundred glances cannot equal a minute of silence. Prayer within breath is silence. Love within Infinity is silence. Wisdom without word is silence. Compassion without aim is silence. Action without doing is silence. Smiling with all the Existence is silence. And God is nothing but solidified silence.
