Why Great Minds Embrace Silence | Swami Sarvapriyananda’s Take

Welcome to our YouTube channel where wisdom meets inspiration in this channel we share valuable insights to help you become the best version of yourself our content is designed to uplift your spirit and enrich your life make sure to subscribe to our channel to stay connected with this incredible journey click the Subscribe button below the nature of Ultimate Reality in ad vant metaphysically emologic and from an axiological perspective it is silence I'll explain that more as we go along and the teaching is also in silence um I am reminded of ADI shankara in his Sublime daksham

morti St him to the dakam morti the south facing Shiva there he says the teaching is in Silence the highest teaching of ad is it silence and if that doesn't work then there can be one word for the Ultimate Reality which is om and if that doesn't work then a short sentence that you are tatami and if that doesn't work you can expand a little further Brahman is reality um the world is an appearance of Brahman and you are Brahman Brahma and if that doesn't work then there are all the open punishs and the Gita

and the Brahma sutras and the vast literature of AD vant but all of it pointing towards silence so the subject which we have chosen is silence and though it seems little sacrilegious to speak about silence uh but let's see what we can do um let's enter into it progressively we this is an approach to ad vant non Duality uh in the framework of Silence I was just thinking that ethics is silence one does not think about ethics in that way so a preliminary pass at the subject of Silence let us begin with ethical life somebody

said um there are a hundred ways of falling down but there is only one way of standing up straight so means truth is one lies can be 100 or a thousand so notice then the Silence of the noise of lies and untruth and dishonesty that silence is truth so silencing the multifarious forms of of unethical Behavior unethical talk unethical thinking that silence is ethics and that ethics is is a form of Silence too when we come to action our own the what we do in life um there there is action prompted by desire I do

things because I want something I want more money pleasure I want more appreciation I have ambition desire for power all of these desires can be can be considered noise and the Silence of these desires when our action comes from a one-pointed intention to be compassionate to all beings to be of service to all beings then that action is actually silence the action prompted by Desire by the noise of our our inner being uh so when we work in the world outside to get things which we want um that's all right but that does not lead

to happiness that does not lead to peace that does not lead to silence when we silence the desires and yet continue to act continue to act as the Saints have acted as the Jan mtas those who are free while living as they have acted we convert Karma into Karma Yoga so karma if you consider it to be noise then Karma Yoga is silence notice however action continues our work in the word continues uh but it is silence compared to work prompted by desire then if we go a little further you know in one way there's

a um the world or samsar and there is another term for it in vantara Viara means transaction you know dealing with the world whatever we do in the world and that's reduced to two kinds of transactions one is verbal transaction talking another one is um thinking so thinking is a kind of transaction with the world talking is a kind of transaction with the world and the silence in speech and the silence ultimately in thought both are deeper levels of Silence so wear stopping this transaction now stopping the transaction cannot be done immediately first of all

one must purify the transaction so when our speech is rude and disrespectful and negative um then it is noise and when we convert make an effort to convert our speech into um and respectful speech into truthful speech uh into helpful speech uh then it becomes silence it's closer to silence it's we are purifying our transactions in Sanskrit V is we move from impure transaction to Pure transaction at the level of speech and at the level of mind um whenever we see for example if we see um um you know other people we consider other people

to be this is such a bad person this is such a despicable person um you know we look upon people with dislike and hatred that's noise mental transaction it becomes impure you know it's very interesting that whether that person actually is bad or despicable we don't know really but our heart becomes polluted when we think such thoughts about others so that's noise and when we convert that noise into pure thoughts positive thoughts um Loving Thoughts compassionate thoughts that's actually moving towards a pure viar pure transaction impure transaction pure transaction transaction at the level of speech

transaction at the level of thought speech which is negative rude disrespectful loud um that is noise speech which is peaceful compassionate truthful helpful that is pure transaction and that helps you to go towards silence similarly once speech is purified thinking so negative thinking especially uh thinking badly of other people thinking of others people situations um uh issues with negativity with with anger with hatred with disgust the thing which happens is first of all we make our hearts impure and when we purify our thinking about others we think positive thoughts that is pure thought and that

is a step towards silence in thought so we move from impure speech and thought to Pure speech and thought to silence in speech and Silence of thought that brings us to the next level of Silence which is called yoga in the sense of the patanjali tradition of yoga in that tradition the pan tradition of yoga which is not a but which is an ally of ad um in patali yoga silence is spirituality the definition of yoga yoga yoga is silencing the movements of the Mind so the very definition of yoga in the sense of meditation

is the silencing the movements of the Mind think of the Mind as a lake I know Finland is a land of lakes so think of they beautiful beautiful lakes so think of the Mind as one such vast beautiful Lake now sometimes there are um waves on the surface of the lake and sometimes the water may not be so clear so when the water is is pure and clear and the waves on the surface of the lake are silenced then you can see through to the bottom of the lake similarly when the mind is silenced and

the mind is clear so we move from impure mental transaction to Pure mental transaction so the Lake of the mind is clear and then you silence it stop when we silence it seeing through to the the that which lies beyond the mind the bottom of the Mind in behind the Mind beyond the mind that is our nature as awareness as Consciousness pure Consciousness so silencing the mind is meditation silencing the mind as not as when we are asleep when we asleep also the mind is silenced the but the Mind goes into a seed state that

is not helpful in meditation in meditation just like we are awake now but we are awake now and we are transacting with the senses which seeing hearing smelling tasting touching and then our mind is processing all this information but if we can silence it while remaining awake not falling asleep then that is meditation and then we see that which lies right here our real nature what we are but beyond the mind so silencing the mind is a way of seeing what lies beyond the mind or deeper than the mind now this silencing it has to

be done not all at once but um moving from multiple movements the movements of the Mind citations they are called vti so moving from multiple vtis first to a single vti moving from distraction to concentration to focus and then dropping that withy also so one cannot jump from a very restless state of the mind to samadi one must Focus settle down silence it and then the deeper silence of sadii so we start by first you know still and quiet um environment then we settle the body down in Stillness and it helps to keep the body

straight if you me you find that mental processes are also affected but if you sit straight then you are alert but also quiet then we steal the movements of the body body is always moving we learn to steal the movements of the body and then make the breathing theic that means um gentle not forced but d uh deep then we quieten the senses as the body is still then we either close the eyes or keep it half closed sometimes people close their eyes fall asleep so half closed if you keep it open it'll be distracted

um modern Neuroscience also tells us a great deal of the uh activity of the brain it kicks off when the eyes are open so eyes half closed or fully closed and then we sit quietly if it's a silent environment it's very helpful and the senses become neutral then we follow the breath and then we focus on one V one movement of the Mind here for example a mantra may be helpful some people chant om in vant there's a practice it is called de chanting of the prolong oh so you chant for a long time 15

minutes 20 minutes 30 minutes a low prolonged oh oh oh [Laughter] oh and you go on make taking it lower it will continue in the mind this will quieten the mind and then you drop that M also drop it from the physical sound you're repeating mentally then stop the mental repetition that is one way so we take the support of one sound something holy and profound like om is very helpful or it could be a mantra it could be om namash shivaya or some Mantra which you are using or it could be visualization of a

deity if if you if that is your practice thing to do is to move from uh impure rtis to a pure RTI from multiple VES to one vti and that'll take time the mind will again and again break out into different VES so you pull back you pull back again and again Sami the quietness the silencing of the mind it depends on two things Krishna says in the bhagavat Gita silencing of the mind is done through first the term is abas which means practice and Vaga which means dispassion or Detachment um practice why the essence

of practice even the the Sanskrit word abasa abasa ASA means to settle down to put in one place not to walk around one place that is settle it down as the Mind goes out to walk around you pull it back and put it down here so in one V uh to put it to make it settle down and how how do you do it abhas again and again and again why again and again and again because the mind will go walking out again and again and again so you bring it back one good way of

doing it is what is called space lock time lock object lock space lock means all right I will focus on this the Mind should not think about anything outside this space the space of the heart this could be your place of meditation it's a good place for meditation the heart time lock so from um now for the next 15 minutes it will not think of anything else yes mind you have thought of many things before this and you will again think of many things after this but 15 minutes only that um here only for 15

minutes you will not think of anything else anything else means object lock now lock the Mind into one object it could be om namash Shaya or om so three kinds of locks to focus the Mind from many object to one object how object lock and from all over the world to one space space lock and flickering around through time to time lock that this period of time this space this object only that will lead to slowly one Bri this is called abhas repeated practice the essence of it is repetition again again again but this also

must go with another uh complimentary practice called uh Vaga Detachment it's like SRI ramak Krishna used to give the example of a group of drunkards they wanted to go home after a night of Merry making and they were crossing a river they sat on the boat and they started rowing and in the morning they found they were were exactly where they had started but they had forgotten to untie the bo boat so the Detachment if I have strong attachments projects in the world you know strong my I'm invested we in the world we will be

in the world you have a job you have a personal health you have your own home so these things you have to take care of but the world should not be our um the object of focus that this is everything for us no spirituality is everything for us Enlightenment is everything for us the Atma the real nature of the of the spiritual nature of of everything that is our goal not the appearance so that Detachment is essential so these two together [Music] UMAS these will lead that is the Sanskrit by the combination of practice and

Detachment the mind is silenced many VES to One V One V drop it also and then remains awareness by itself again R will come go through the process many VES to One vti Drop It This Is Silence of the Mind the this is the practice of yogis the devotees the lovers of God they don't like the silence they say what is the use of sitting quietly in silence we will um love God I will sing the name of Krishna I will will worship the Christ in the church I will sing I will pray I will

read um that's also wonderful remember that's also a kind of Silence it's a Silence of the world the world is drowned out in your love of God so that's also a silence a practice of Silence it's a Divine silence you fill that Silence with divinity now we come to non-duality all of these are on the side of duality in nonduality the nature of Ultimate Reality nonu Brahman existence Consciousness place that is silence itself in the manduk the name of the self our real nature is called silence you we probably did not know that your nature

your name my name our name is silence in the manduk sh peace or silence is the very nature of the uh self that is the self and that has to be realized we now know ourself as this guy s Swami s prand that is apparent knowledge real knowledge is my nature is silence in what sense silence um sat chit an being Consciousness Bliss being meaning existence not the existence of certain things it's not a cup or a plate or a table or a man or a woman those are particular objects or entities it's not even

a collection of all entities the Ultimate Reality Brahman is not the collection of everything in this universe it includes everything and yet it's not a collection it's one thing um it is one way where there is no distinction beyond the distinction of the uh agent of action and uh the action and Karma beyond that is where both are one it is Brahman it it is existence itself it's not a thing which exists but it is existence itself it is not it is consciousness in the sense that it's not a particular conscious experience it's not the

experience of seeing something or hearing something thinking something enjoying or um suffering something or of waking dreaming deep sleep rather it is that one UNF flickering awareness in which all these experiences are possible it is that awareness in which the distinctions between knower known object and knowledge this threefold distinction distinction I am the knower that is the known and I'm knowing through this this distinction is silenced so it is one Consciousness which appears as the knower and the known object and the instrument of knowledge the cup and eyes which are the instrument of knowledge and

I the knower I Am the knower with the instrument of knowledge eyes I am knowing the cup this is Samara but that Consciousness which appears as all three a question might arise here what do you mean that Consciousness which appears as all three after all uh I understand in some sense that I am aware but then I have eyes and there and there's a cup outside what do they have to do with Consciousness or awareness it's like this um consider in our dreams when we don't know that we are dreaming you could be sitting and

enjoying a cup of tea with your friend and you see your friend you see the cup of tea you see yourself and you have got eyes and you're seeing but when you wake up when we wake up we realize that world of the dreams the whole thing was the mind the dreamer's Mind appeared as the friend the cup of tea the eyes the person seeing the Seer object of knowledge and the instrument of knowledge all were the dreaming mind one Mind by itself in our dreams this is nothing extraordinary I'm not making an extraordinary claim

here it is just our common experience the Mind by itself appeared as you the knower the cup of tea which you saw in the dream and the eyes with which you saw the cup of tea so the knower instrument of knowledge and object of knowledge all are actually the dreaming mind now that's a dream nality claims that here also it's exactly the same thing it is one Consciousness appearing with a body and a mind as a knower and using instruments of knowledge like the eyes and again appearing as the object of knowledge so silencing the

distinctions of these three is called um pure Consciousness and pure Consciousness is also Bliss um Anand you know the connection between silence and Bliss I was just thinking I was feeling it yesterday when I in Finland uh it is the you know if you look it up it's the happiest country in the world and I noticed it's also a very quiet country it's also a very silent country and that struck me yesterday was sitting in the silence and thinking that ah silence and happiness they go together noise and unhappiness they go together so silence is

also Bliss and when there is a limitation particular objects this is um a cup of tea I am enjoying the cup of tea that's a kind of happiness but that's like noise but when you remove the limitations of the time space and object just unlimited the upanishad defines that unlimited awareness is happiness there's a saying in the chandad Y that which is the vast that which is the unlimited that is happiness there is no real happiness in The Limited we keep seeking happiness in the in the limited but actually our unlimited nature our nature which

is silenced with a capital s from that only happiness comes and we mistake it that it has come from the um the objects The Limited objects so being Consciousness Bliss sat chit Anand they are all silence in the sense of the capital S silence and notice the difference between the yogic silence and the adic or nonu silence the yogic silence is an actual physical silence verbal silence mental silence then you appreciate that which is the witness of the silence in adant in the middle of activity whether there is activity or not and the the silence

which is the real nature the Atman Atman itself is silence so the real nature is always there in the midst of the the noise and activity of your life and in meditation and in sleep in life and in death underlying it all is the spiritual silence this one luminous awareness Limitless awareness so that's the ultimate nature of of silence and that you are tasi become Swami viandas messenger share the video with three of your friends [Music] [Music]