Living in Silence

Albert Einstein once humorously said, “The most powerful force in this universe is compound interest.” According to him, the interest compounding formula would have been more powerful than E=mc2 in Germany. The same Einstein in his later years is said to have uttered that he would have saved much of his time if he had come across Ancient Indian Scriptures in his early years. Einstein certainly belongs to the most intelligent humans ever lived on earth. But I should say that the most powerful force in this universe is not any mathematical theory or rule of Science; the credit goes to Silence, as far as I know it. I think that Einstein too might have realized this truth before he passed away. 

I know that with genuine silence aside anyone becomes more powerful. The five senses with which we mostly experience the outer world have their subtle versions, which help us to know our inner world. We cannot use both at the same time but can only change between them, like driving a car backward or foreword. Silence takes anyone inward beyond Food, Prana, Mind and Knowledge sheaths to the ultimate – Ananda (Bliss). Indian saints who knew that the ever-living self is more important than the short living body, which carries it, lived mostly entertaining or caring their subtle bodies. 

It is in silence that we connect with our all-knowing super-consciousness and it is this super-consciousness that knows exactly what is most appropriate for us at a given time. This super-consciousness is the centre of all knowledge. In silence we may get access to this cosmic library of all knowledge. Knowledge appears like a feeling. I have heard the story of a girl who lived in a remote village. Every day her father went to work, driving his car and usually returned only late in night. This girl used to wait on the veranda looking for the sound of the car or any sign of her father’s car arriving. As soon as the car comes in, she would spring to her feet and squeal with joy. She is hardly able to contain herself until she had her arms wrapped around her father’s sturdy neck and passing a kiss on his cheek.

One day, her brother also joined her to wait for their father. That day, they could not see any sign of the car at the usual time. Time passed on; the girl jumped up shouting, “He is coming.” It was true; within a few seconds they could see the headlights far away. Unable to explain the situation for himself, her brother asked her, how she could say that so accurately, when there was no sign of a car anywhere. She replied, “Over the years I have learned to feel the vibrations of the car from the ground.” Vibrations that represent multitudes of things are always around us, just like thousands of radio signals are surrounding us. We pick up only that signal to which our radio/mobile is tuned. Tuning to divine faculties, if any of you feel to be more important, my suggestion is that you go into silence - a world in which there is nothing. Try silence, it is the best energy saving application too.

Joseph Mattappally