Why a commentary?Silence ? is it absence of speech?

[Guest guest]

Shri neelakantanji writes ...

 

Now, I am going to take a leaf from your book and practice mouna :-).

 

i would like to share this article which appeared in an Indian

newspaper Times of India on april 4, 2004.

 

THE SPEAKING TREE

Silence please, it's mauni amavasya

PRANAV KHULLAR

 

[ FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2003 10:01:06 PM ]

 

Indian tradition emphasises the concept of mauna or silence as an

ideal trigger for introspection and reflection.

 

 

Derived from the word muni, an ascetic who practises silence, mauna

ideally symbo-lises a state of oneness with the Self.

 

Mauna has been described by Sankara as one of the three essential

attributes of a sanyasi, along with balya or childlike state and

panditya or wisdom. According to Ramana Maharshi, mauna is a state

beyond speech and thought, it is "living without the

ego-sense".

 

He made silence the medium of spiritual instruction.

 

The ancients set aside an entire month in winter for spiritual

discipline and the exercise would culminate in complete silence on

the 15th day of the dark fortnight of magha, known as

Mauni Amavasya.

 

Meditation on this day is believed to be extremely meritorious,

particularly if undertaken at the confluence of the three rivers at

Prayag or Allahabad. To this day, seekers and sadhaks come from afar

to Prayag to practise rigorous month-long austerities and ceremonies,

known as kalpa-vas, which ends with the observance of Mauni Amavasya.

Widely perceived as an auspicious day, Mauni Amavasya also has a

symbiotic relationship with the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad,

and this is reinforced in the annual Magha Mela of

the kalpa-vasees. Ancient yoga literature describes the three rivers

in metaphorical terms, as the sushumna, ida and pingala nadis within

the body which have to be brought into equipoise to enter the state

of mauna or samadhi.

 

 

The quest for Oneness has attracted many a seeker on the path of

contemplation through the practice of silence. J

Krishnamurti often said: "The mind that enters itself goes on a

long

pilgrimage from which there is no return." Silence was the

defining characteristic of both Mahavira and Buddha's search for

meaning — one observed silence for 12 years on his chosen path

and

the other was exemplified as the silent sage, Sakyamuni,

"the

silent one of the Sakya tribe". Silence also marked Sri

Aurobindo's

sadhana for he observed mauna for nearly 17

years, and Mahatma Gandhi was a votary of the vow of

silence, observing mauna every Monday. This transforming voice of

silence led Ramana Maharshi to hold mauna as the best and highest

form of diksha or initiation.

 

Thayumanavar, the great Tamil saint-poet, followed the discipline of

mauna till it became his natural state of being, which led him to

describe it as "that state which spontaneously manifests after

the

annihilation of the ego".

 

Mauni Amavasya is a day of spiritual sadhana, of getting

into the habit of calming the restless mind. Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

talks of the seven steps towards golden silence, of how to let go of

fears and anxieties and jealousies, of the need to overcome the fear

of silence itself which we all have, by beginning with "just

sitting

and being quiet". Apart from its religious import, Mauni Amavasya

is

a call of the inner Self, of the need for initiating an

inner `dialogue' with oneself, of the need to start the

spiritual

journey.

 

Swami Chidananda sees the vow of silence as one of the basic

spiritual disciplines for the evolution of the `divine life'

of man,

starting with the mauna of vak or speech, which, through

practice of silence, will lead to the real mauna of mind.

 

In direct contrast to the Cartesian cogito ergo sum: I

think, therefore I am, Vedantic seers from Sankara to Ramana have

defined the state of freedom from the mind and mauna as the key to

that spiritual dimension, which enables one to be a

witness to the mind.

 

Tradition holds Mauni Amavasya to be an ideal time to control the

vikshepa or distractions of the mind and focus attention within.

The occasion is a call to the spirit of the ancient adage: "Be

still

and know thyself."

 

http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/comp/articleshow?

artid=36092511 - 51k - Cached

 

 

 

**********************************************************************

MY friends. let me ask you this ...

 

1)does silence mean closing the mouth shut and not uttering a single

word?

 

I have heard many buddhist monks sitting in silence for years on end

(in zazen) and still very far from reaching 'nirvana'

 

So, why God has given the power of speech? to dissipate in useless

talk or to are we to engaze in singing the glories of GOD ?

 

Thus, many spiritual aspirants abstain from speech for long periods

of time so they do not waste or dissipate their energies and focus on

contemplating on GOD...

 

there is verse which i quote here ...

 

"satyaM brUyAt.h.

priyaM brUyAnna brUyAt.h satyam-apriyam.h | priyaM cha

nAnR^itaM brUyAdeshha dharmaH sanAtanaH ||"

 

One should speak the truth, which is agreeable, not the

truth which is disagreeable. One should not speak an untruth

which is agreeable. This is the eternal dharma.

 

**********************************************************************

i think it is the 'antharika' mauna that balaji is talking about ...

subdueing the wild thoughts of the mind .... sumlimiting the EGo...

 

for when we sees visions of God in meditation, is the soul really

silent? - it will be singing with joy; we will be hearing krishna's

flute ; we will be hearing lord siva dancing to the sound of his

Dhamru; we will be hearing Saswati devi playing her veena

melodiously; there will be bees humming in your ears etc etc...

 

LOVE and blessings

[Guest guest]

Thank you, Adi Shaktiji, for the wonderful article and thoughts

on 'mouna'. Please accept my sincere apologies for the careless use

of this word.

 

Harih Om.

Neelakantan

[Guest guest]

Please , do not apologize ..

 

i used to think for the longest time that 'mauna' means absence of

speech but my gurudeva explained to me that that is external mauna

and internal mauna is quietening the mind and extinguising the 'I'

THOUGHT ! and i was simply sharing my thoughts...

 

btw , i love reading all your posts ....

 

Hari AUM!

 

 

 

 

advaitin, "Neelakantan" <pneelaka@s...> wrote:

> Thank you, Adi Shaktiji, for the wonderful article and thoughts

> on 'mouna'. Please accept my sincere apologies for the careless use

> of this word.

>

> Harih Om.

> Neelakantan

[Guest guest]

Namaste everyone,

 

dadiji wrote:

> i think it is the 'antharika' mauna that balaji is talking

about ...

> subdueing the wild thoughts of the mind .... sumlimiting the

EGo...

>

> for when we sees visions of God in meditation, is the soul really

> silent? - it will be singing with joy; we will be hearing

krishna's

> flute ; we will be hearing lord siva dancing to the sound of his

> Dhamru; we will be hearing Saswati devi playing her veena

> melodiously; there will be bees humming in your ears etc etc...

 

I think there is one who followed the point more closely here!

Dadiji, you are great! No doubt bhakti saints understand these things

much faster than others. But still, mouna in the normal sense is

atleast a good beginning. A person has to start somewhere. Arya mouna

does not comes so easily. So external mouna is a good place to start.

 

When I said 'Arya mouna' I meant more than just silence. 'Arya mouna'

is noble silence. Not just silence. The word Arya means noble.

(Unfortunately, historians would not agree with me on this note. They

feel the Arya has got to do with some race of people who invaded

India long time back and barborously plundered the place and settled

here. What a notion! I wouldn't comment on that however. Its futile.)

 

The practice of Arya mouna is to keep the mind subdued, where one

does not entertain even thoughts or music or anything at all. The

mind is not suppressed, but is kept at ease. The world is accepted as

it is, and the ego is mellowed down.

 

The thoughts are not suppressed with anger or aversion or

frustration. The moment the awareness of the thought comes, the

thought is gone, and then all that remains is the solitary

rememberance of the breath, the heart beating, the walking, the

sensations in the body. Just pure solitariness.

 

In the beginning, even the breath is not known, the mind is so used

to wavering. There is almost no control over it. It may take some

days of practice in some comfortable posture in which one could sit

for a long while without moving his body.

 

In the beginning, one cannot sit for even 15 mins. Then as H H

Sringeri Sarada peetham pointed out, one feels like sleeping. But a

drDa nishcaya is what is required for this. But one may start with

sitting for one hour, without changing one's posture. If one fails in

this 'akhanda adhishthana' one should not get frustrated, he should

make one more nishchaya, but again trying his best this time again.

It takes many trials.

 

One may ask about the use of a mantra here. But it will give ekagra,

we want nirvikara, or tranquility of the mind. So mouna performed

without any mantra is preferred.

 

Mantra japa, however has its own use and place in the spiritual

development. It must not be however thought that mantras are harmful.

Their use is for a different purpose of making the mind ekagra, not

tranquil. However, according to the yogasutras, the tranquil mind is

to be preferred. Here I am not sure about the reasons.

 

Such is the practice of Arya mouna. I hope everyone gets it. There is

no harm trying it. Those who don't like it, may not. But please don't

fight with me over it.

 

The Buddhists in many places in the world, have unfortunately,

forgotten the Buddha's teaching of 'ariyo mouna' and practice

just 'mounikanna', where only external mouna is there. However, I

have heard of some other buddhists practising 'ariyo mouna' as well.

(Incidentally, the Pali word ariyo means the same as the Sanskrit

word Arya.)

 

But that is of no concern. How does another person's being on the

right path affect us. Arya mouna is surely a first step to spiritual

growth. For realization, however, we need prajna.

 

Satyameva Jayate Naanrtam

[Guest guest]

wow! bala-ji!

 

Thank you balaji for explaining the concept of 'arya' mouna so

beautifully.

 

 

i am reminded of a verse from sufi poet Rumi

 

 

Let Silence Take You to the Core of Life -- Do the Meditation

 

 

In truth everything and everyone is a shadow of the Beloved,

and our seeking is His seeking and our words are His words.

We search for Him here and there, while looking right at Him.

Sitting by His side, we ask: "Oh Beloved, where is the Beloved?"

Enough with such questions.

Let silence take you to the core of Life.

All your talk is worthless when compared

with one whisper of the Beloved.

 

-- Rumi, "God's Whisper, Creation's Thunder," Brian Hines,

Threshold Books

 

**********************************************************************

our nairji in a recent post talked about the Lover and the Beloved.

in sufi literature, beloved refers to the 'paramatma' -the super soul

and lover to to the individual soul .

 

Love and blessings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-- In advaitin, "Balaji Ramasubramanian"

<balajiramasubramanian> wrote:

> Namaste everyone,

>

> dadiji wrote:

>

> > i think it is the 'antharika' mauna that balaji is talking

> about ...

> > subdueing the wild thoughts of the mind .... sumlimiting the

> EGo...

> >

> > for when we sees visions of God in meditation, is the soul really

> > silent? - it will be singing with joy; we will be hearing

> krishna's

> > flute ; we will be hearing lord siva dancing to the sound of his

> > Dhamru; we will be hearing Saswati devi playing her veena

> > melodiously; there will be bees humming in your ears etc etc...

>

> I think there is one who followed the point more closely here!

> Dadiji, you are great! No doubt bhakti saints understand these

things

> much faster than others. But still, mouna in the normal sense is

> atleast a good beginning. A person has to start somewhere. Arya

mouna

> does not comes so easily. So external mouna is a good place to

start.

>

> When I said 'Arya mouna' I meant more than just silence. 'Arya

mouna'

> is noble silence. Not just silence. The word Arya means noble.

> (Unfortunately, historians would not agree with me on this note.

They

> feel the Arya has got to do with some race of people who invaded

> India long time back and barborously plundered the place and

settled

> here. What a notion! I wouldn't comment on that however. Its

futile.)

>

> The practice of Arya mouna is to keep the mind subdued, where one

> does not entertain even thoughts or music or anything at all. The

> mind is not suppressed, but is kept at ease. The world is accepted

as

> it is, and the ego is mellowed down.

>

> The thoughts are not suppressed with anger or aversion or

> frustration. The moment the awareness of the thought comes, the

> thought is gone, and then all that remains is the solitary

> rememberance of the breath, the heart beating, the walking, the

> sensations in the body. Just pure solitariness.

>

> In the beginning, even the breath is not known, the mind is so used

> to wavering. There is almost no control over it. It may take some

> days of practice in some comfortable posture in which one could sit

> for a long while without moving his body.

>

> In the beginning, one cannot sit for even 15 mins. Then as H H

> Sringeri Sarada peetham pointed out, one feels like sleeping. But a

> drDa nishcaya is what is required for this. But one may start with

> sitting for one hour, without changing one's posture. If one fails

in

> this 'akhanda adhishthana' one should not get frustrated, he should

> make one more nishchaya, but again trying his best this time again.

> It takes many trials.

>

> One may ask about the use of a mantra here. But it will give

ekagra,

> we want nirvikara, or tranquility of the mind. So mouna performed

> without any mantra is preferred.

>

> Mantra japa, however has its own use and place in the spiritual

> development. It must not be however thought that mantras are

harmful.

> Their use is for a different purpose of making the mind ekagra, not

> tranquil. However, according to the yogasutras, the tranquil mind

is

> to be preferred. Here I am not sure about the reasons.

>

> Such is the practice of Arya mouna. I hope everyone gets it. There

is

> no harm trying it. Those who don't like it, may not. But please

don't

> fight with me over it.

>

> The Buddhists in many places in the world, have unfortunately,

> forgotten the Buddha's teaching of 'ariyo mouna' and practice

> just 'mounikanna', where only external mouna is there. However, I

> have heard of some other buddhists practising 'ariyo mouna' as

well.

> (Incidentally, the Pali word ariyo means the same as the Sanskrit

> word Arya.)

>

> But that is of no concern. How does another person's being on the

> right path affect us. Arya mouna is surely a first step to

spiritual

> growth. For realization, however, we need prajna.

>

> Satyameva Jayate Naanrtam