True Silence

By Nagamma

For a note on Nagamma and her letters see our issue of January 1964.

At three o'clock this afternoon I joined the company of devotees around Bhagavan. Reverting to what he had been saying earlier about Sri Sankara's Dakshinamurthi Ashtakam,* Bhagavan said: "Sankara took it into his head to praise Dakshinamurthi, but how can one praise Mowna?** So he described srishti (creation), sthithi (preservation) and laya (dissolution) and offered salutations to Dakshinamurthi, who is the embodiment of all three. In what other way could Silence be praised?"
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* Eight Verses to Dakshinamurthi. Dakshina. murthi is Siva incarnate as a youth teaching in silence. The Maharshi has been identified with Dakshinamurthi.
** Silence.

Taking up the thread of the conversation, one devotee said: "Dandapani Swami told us that one Sivarathri day*, many years back, all the devotees gathered around Bhagavan and sat down, saying: 'Today Bhagavan must explain to us the meaning of the Dakshinamurthi Ashtakam. However, Bhagavan sat silent for a long while, smiling but not speaking. They then went away, feeling that Bhagavan, by his continued silence, had given them to understand that silence alone is the true meaning of the verses. Is that so?"
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* The Night of Siva.

Bhagavan confirmed that it was so. I then added: "So that means that Bhagavan gave a silent commentary?" And Bhagavan confirmed this also.

Someone else said "Then true Silence means abiding in the Self, doesn't it?"

Bhagavan: "Yes, of course. Without the Self how could it be Silence?"

Devotee: "That is just what I am asking. Would it be silence just to refrain from speaking without abiding in the Self?"

Bhagavan: "How could it be? Some people talk of keeping silence when all the while they keep on writing messages on bits of paper or on a slate. Isn't that activity of the mind just the same?"

Another devotee intervened: "Then is there is no benefit at all from simply refraining from speech?"

Bhagavan: "A person may refrain from speech in order to avoid the obstructions of the outer world, but he should not suppose that that is an end in itself. True Silence is really endless speech. There is no such thing as attaining it, because it is always there. All you have to do is to remove the worldly concerns that cover it over; there is no question of attaining it."

In the meantime news came that some broadcasting society was thinking of recording Bhagavan's voice. Laughing, Bhagavan said "Oho is that so? But my voice is Silence, isn't it? How can they record Silence? That which is, is Silence. Who could record it?"

The devotees sat quiet, exchanging glances, and the hall became absolutely silent.* Bhagavan, the embodiment of Dakshinamurthi, sat in the mowna-mudra, the posture of Silence, facing southwards.** That living image, his body, was radiant with the light of Atma. What a good day it was today!
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* Silence in the presence of Bhagavan had no feeling of constraint about it. It was a living, vibrant silence. It was in silence that the power of his Presence and the emanation of his Grace was most keenly felt. The same is to be felt now also. (Editor)
** One meaning of the name 'Dakshinamurthi' is 'The Southward-Facing'. The Guru is the spiritual north pole and therefore traditionally faces south.