Surge: 72
SELF-INQUIRY, SILENCE AND POWER
The power of silence excels over that born of thought. All thought is limited but the ground of silence is limitless. All thought has the narrowness of conditionings but silence is free from the foul play of conditionings. When thought empowers us, there is something artificial about it; silence is natural and its fragrance therefore is wholesome. Thought is partial and silence impartial. The ego is made of thoughts (memories) and silence alone is free of ego. We need to understand silence and a silent mind alone can do it.
Self-inquiry de-conditions us. It shows the falsehood of all thoughts – those projecting us as inferior and those presenting us as superior. Though this may defy the understanding of beginners, our true nature is simply not within the reach of any verbal description. The right answer to the fundamental question, “Who am I?” is silence. This is similar to the mystery of this universe. The basic building block of it all – the atom – is not describable in definite terms. The subatomic particle, the electron, is an enigma by itself. They can neither say it is a particle nor confirm it is a wave. More new theories, like the string theory, keep coming up, to explain what it is ultimately. This ‘I’ is like that. Any answer to the question of our identity has temporary validity; it is dismissed later, or now itself, from another angle of view.
Self-inquiry is practical: It applies to daily life, to every minute of our existence. In every transaction, even as we assume a position in relation to somebody, the question, “Who am I?” has a bearing on the position held. If you think you are the benefactor and somebody a beneficiary, the question WAI (Who am I?) can dilute the notions, if not eliminate them. Can a pen claim it wrote the poem, ignoring the poet? Can a decorative statue, seemingly holding the ceiling on its hands, claim to support the roof? Are not the pillars really the essential support? Do we benefit anybody at all really? Are not various circumstances and diverse factors practically forcing us to play the role of being of help to others? When we see the larger picture, our idea that we helped somebody gets weak and slowly disappears into thin air.
WAI-FI in place of Wi-Fi: Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) is popular these days. Motels, restaurants, coffee houses, malls and libraries and so on boast of providing Wi-Fi, where you have internet access on your laptops just like that. You connect to their internet host through the wireless modem built into your laptop. Could we have WAI-FI zones as well? These are areas – parks, river banks, lakesides and so on – where an atmosphere conducive to meditation and self-inquiry is available. Wai-Fi means Who-am-i Fidelity, which means Self-Inquiry Friendly. Let people sit and introspect here. Let them re-examine ‘what they think of themselves’. Let them bring under close scrutiny all their notions of being good, bad, wise, unwise and otherwise. Let them put aside the habitual arguments of thought and, with fresh eyes, observe everything inside and outside. Let them see, without anything colouring their perception, their own thoughts and emotions; let them see trees, birds and other people, with absolutely no prejudice.
Silence is the way to silence. When we do not react but look at something quietly, there is silence in our seeing. Such seeing can help us discover dimensions hitherto unseen. Upon seeing these new dimensions, our old likes and dislikes disappear. The absence of attachment and aversions (raga–dvesha) is silence, the gift that silent watching brings to us. The absence of any bias such as gender bias, regional bias etc gives to us the healthy space to think and act with grace and power. There is the coming together of intelligence and compassion here. The quiet, pure heart sees much more than otherwise; therefore it is intelligent. The pure heart has sympathy for one and all; therefore it is compassionate. The pure heart is the basis of the truth: Awareness Heals.
May we devote this year 2010 for a better understanding of life through a deeper understanding of who we are.
Swami Chidananda
Varanasi
Friday, January 22, 2010