Meditation Through Silence - · PDF fileSwamiji Satyanandji Maharaj had prescribed that MAUN BE THE LONGEST Baithak in Sadhana Satsang for RAM NAAM SADHAK. One wonders what’s in

Meditation Through Silence

Maun Sadhana:

Exploring Silence and Experiencing Soundlessness

Dr. Gautam Chatterjee

Unpublished Manuscript

Dedication

Param Guru RAM

Swami Satyanandji Maharaj

Pujya Premji Maharaj

Eshwar Maharishi Dr. Vishwamitterji Maharaj

All Sadhaks of Param Guru

&

My Parents

Gauri Chatterjee

Jyotirmay Chatterjee

Content

Page

1. Maun – A Perception 1 2. Enigma called Silence 2 3. Echoes of Silence 3 4. Listening to the Silence 4 5. Non Utterance is Symbolic Maun 5 6. Mind – The Restless Ocean of Silence 6 7. Maun Ensures “Empty Mind” State 7 8. Fathoming Silence and Sound Within 8 9. Negotiating Through Silence 9 10. Even Visual Has a Sound 10 11. Darkness & Light: Silence and Sound 11 12. Silencing the Sound of Desire 12 13. Dousing the Flame of Cravings 13

through Silence 14. The Sound of the Doubt 14 15. Restraint Allows Us to Score with Silence 15 16. Duties are Melodious Sound 16 17. Relationship and Maun 17 18. Anger and Violence Unseat Silence 18 19. Rough Sounds of Jealousy and Envy 19 20. Melody of Love is Silence 20 21. Noise of Depression and Deprivation 21 22. Senses are Sound of Detractor 22 23. Hearing by the Innerself 23 24. Smelling Silence of Lotus 24 25. Maun Sadhana – Some Whispers 25

Maun – A Perception

Swamiji Satyanandji Maharaj had prescribed that

MAUN BE THE LONGEST Baithak in Sadhana Satsang for RAM NAAM SADHAK. One wonders what’s in silence or Maun and conclude mostly with peripheral understanding that not talking or non-utterance is Maun. But in reality Maun is like an ocean which can be fathomed with thousands of birth and rebirths. Maun is an enigma like the cosmic mysticism. Maun can’t be defined as we fail to explain the taste of Milk. Silencing is a manifestive process where one moves from utterance to non-utterance; from sound of silence to the frightening silence; from the darkness to light, then enlightenment and finally experiencing lightlessness where light flashes no more and where darkness ceases to exist and nothing shines but resonance of silence. Beyond Maun there is a space where there is no sound or silence; there sound sounds no more and silence reaches a state where the sound of silence echoes no more. O’ my Ram Give me Silence and make me hear the sound of silence.

O’ My Ram show me the light that dawns twilight of Silence and Sound. Hey Ram let me listen to the echoes of silence and silent that sounds yet the soundlessness prevails upon all that sounds.

1

Enigma Called Silence

The wind blows through woods that creates the whistling sound and passes through the green till it reaches the depth of the forest where it crashes to unveil the eternal silence. When the nature is sublimely calm, and no wind blows then one hears even a fall of a straw from the nest or drop of dew on the petal. Within silence of darkness where one earthen diya burns, one hears the flicker that burns with hours of contemplation. In the evening, when suddenly electricity fails then silence of darkness befalls and one realizes the bulb or a tube light which was illuminating was not silent rather too noisy. But this is realized when light goes off and silence, sounds through darkness, yet that remains still noisy until we reach towards deeper night where sound of silence echoes as silent is never complete and even the stillness is not without a sound. This penning does sound as one hears the flow of nib rubbing its face on the paper. Such is the enigma of silence that still holds sound quite aloud no matter audible or inaudible to our human ears or not.

2

Echoes of Silence

Sound echoes but when we say Silence has the same characteristics then one would surely contradict and question our statement! In a valley when we say aloud “RAUUM” it gets echoed after it comes back touching the mountain of silence. But if we think differently then we can conclude variedly and a new concept can dawn. Think I have uttered in high pitch the word “Ram” that went and touched the mountain and came back to me as echo. But from the perspective of the mountain if we think, then we would realize that the sound of the “Ram” came to the mountain and the echo was sent back to me, as I created the first sound. But it is important to understand when echo crashes to the space from the “origin” of the sound creates the echo of silence that again travels back to the mountain where vibration of sound gets assimilated into the fragmentation of silence which returns as echo of silence. It means what I heard was echo - but after a while the mountain where the sound reflected heard the echo of silence as Raum at inaudible level which transcends that space. Maun has to get to this state of silence where resonance may not sound but vibration prevails.

3

Listening to the Silence

Sound is heard but can silence be eared? In Sadhana one has to move beyond the givens of resonance. And the givens are re-sounding sounds of all around reaching the proportion of chaotic noise when clustered together. These noises are sound of the nature, sound of living life forces and our enormous utterances apart from all kind of automotive man-made sound. These are the givens and Sadhak has to take his/her mind away from this “Noise Web” and disentangle them in various compartments to hear the music of silence.

Think you are amidst nature away from habitation.

There you hear sound of nature, be it blowing of wind or gushing flow of a rivulet or the trembling leaves of tree and fluttering sound of birds and their humming of resonance. These sounds are soothing for us and we find the music in the air. But once being there for quite sometime we also hear all those trees, mounds and mountains do talk through silence as well. Here mind hears the sound of silence and if one concentrates further one can even see as if the sound has movement so is the silence that moves sways with certain amount of heaviness and our body feels the vibrations of those moving and at times over powering silence. Listening to this silence becomes easier when we do Sadhana inwardly or being in the state of antarmukhi yatra (a journey of internalization). In sadhana the journey from sound to silence is a holy retreat where the only sacred accomplice is nothing but talking silence that stokes our mind inward.

4

Non-Utterance is Symbolic Maun

During Sadhana Satsang a bell rings and all Sadhaks get into non-utterance mode. None speaks in the Maun session. The outer sound of the bell allows sudden drop of silence till again the bell rings to allow all to speak.

But is the Maun limited to non-utterance only?

Perhaps not! It only gives realization of experiencing outer or verbal silence. But in the Maun when one moves physically that also create sound pattern. The thinking becomes quite aloud inside. People watch each other that also have a visual sound. Swa-Adhyay is preferred during the Maun so that mind should be creatively weaved to a context because when we don’t utter then the mind roars like an ocean and splashes at different shores of our mind and thought contours. Thoughts within thoughts, their analysis and interpretative perspective of realization crowd our mind. The heart or Mann runs like wild horse and fragmentation of mind do happen. All these sounds are also to be tackled even when we practice Maun Sadhana. The physical sphere of sound; the visual sound; the sound of thought; attitude and behavior; the sound of the light around and finally handling the ambiance sound are also part of exploring silence which we will touch upon with psycho-physical perspective now onward.

5

Mind – the Restless Ocean of Silence

Do you mind what you are thinking now? When we consciously think, then we find different thought processes are going on in gushing speed simultaneously. Those are religious thoughts, concepts and contents of the socio-religious society; personal perceptions; analysis and interpretation; personal matters and very personal thoughts; then we find micro to macro social thoughts and issues popping up one after another and even simultaneously; then these are thoughts within contexts and outside. All these multi processing at thought levels represent a wide range of emotive frequencies constantly creating sounds in silence. These are the state of constant restlessness which haunts and drive human beings from one wish to the other that at times become cravings and lusts. These wishes even in their slightest appearance in the mind create sound and when get intensified it are noise that heavily resounds in the mind and resultant perplexity befalls on us. Maun Sadhana is upto knowing the art of reducing the chaotic noise and focusing our thought contemplation to Param Guru. This process needs snubbing the ill directed wishes within that pop up haphazardly and reduce us as a bundle of being with full of animal instincts and desires. Thoughtless mind is a difficult proposition but compartmentalizing thoughts and handling them one by one allows reduction of noise level even within the silence. Disciplined thought and conscious contemplative concentration towards the thoughts of Param Guru help us to delete many restless cravings. Thus Maun intends to purify and empty the mind full of garbage and guilt to allow a “travel light” concept for spiritual Tirtha.

6

Maun Ensures “Empty Mind” State

Mind without a thought is impossible. So even the mind is silent, there has to be sound as long we are in this body, so complete silence of the body and mind is real impossible as life force is of sound and silence. Yet Maun can ensure a close encounter with the relativity of silence which denotes empty mind meaning receptive mind. Empty mind does not mean that mind in thoughtless state but enough empty to receive fresh learning. So through the Maun we can rejuvenate our mind to learn and also to unlearn. Silence at outer level and less noisy mind of silence at the inner level allows us to be in the rightful state to “Receive” the bliss or Prashad of eternal wisdom which is graceful in appearance and melodious silent sound at the thought level. This allows the process of trashing our thought that ignites wish which in turn bring pain, suffering and guilt to regret forever. Thus Maun facilitates Antar-mukhi-yatra which is the process of dumping the garbage thought out of the mind, thus emptying for newer learning of inner sublimity that assures a psychic manifestation within to explore the inner garbha-griha where Param Guru resides who swims in the cosmic ocean of sublimity that denotes the state of soundlessness even with inaudible silence which is assured by the Maun sadhana.

7

Fathoming Silence and Sound Within

The journey of Maun Sadhana is dynamic and ever manifestive. It reveals varied perspective of tooling the inaudible sound of silence within. Our body and mind has enormous sound. While doing medical “Ultra Sound” one realizes that how every part of our body creates sound which remain inaudible for our ears. This is the sound which scales in the silent zone of our perception. As human ear cannot perceive all kinds of sound always, yet what is inaudible for our ears are not really silent. For example, with stethoscope we can hear the heartbeat which otherwise remain inaudible. To pattern a harmonious frequency in our body and mind a Naam Sadhak constantly chants RAM RAM at unuttered level that in due course empattern every corner of our body and mind. This constant remembrance allows the body’s sound frequency to get tuned to the holistic sound of Ram within, which opens up the prudence of eternal wisdom that inches towards eternal silence of self realization. Thus Maun Sadhana makes one realize the sound and analyze the silence in auto mode before it propels towards a journey of enlightenment and empowerment at the formless level meaning beyond our body and mind and yet within the space which is eternal storehouse of dynamic resonance.

8

Negotiating Through Silence

Maun Sadhana is all about overpowering noise and negotiating through silence for the journey within. There are some thumb rules for this Sadhana. There has to be conscious effort of not to utter and also to minimize body movement which at its own creates sound. Taking the mind away from all the audible sound and try to pin the thought around Ram Bhava, then starts the process of assimilating the thought energy as if one is performing Yagnya and offering all thoughts (chintan) to the sacred altar of fire i.e. Param Guru, then identifying threads of emotions which pose the diversion and deviation. Then one has to emotively assert and assimilate the self to dilute the pricking emotions that haunt. If diversion is consciously not working, then one has to employ intense Ram Naam in an unuttered way until one reaches the state of Ram Bhava that swings within with the sound and moves in the process of smoke meaning spiral upward movement. Thus ends tunnel of gloom and then we realize a sense of melody emitting within in its inaudible form and pitch and percolates as vibration which is physically visible with horipilation of body hair. Here the body gets tranquil effect as nothing etches. From there river of silence flows and unveils all unique experiences of sublimity varying from each individual or even surpassing one’s own earlier realizations. Thus we find negotiating a journey within must have a conscious effort, and at the same time Ram Naam be tooled at different unuttered frequencies to move ahead and be with the self.

9

Even Visual Has a Sound

Whatever is seen, imagined or perceived through our inner vision has a sound. Is it sounding strange? But it is true! What we see is form, shape, colour, dimensions and spheres of million of lights and shades. Some vision strike our mind and we give a second glance and that is the spot which create loud sound, in silence. When our vision is reflected and anything interests us is the attraction of sound because all that is seen has its own frequency and that one which strikes has a higher visual resonance. Thus on Maun Sadhana the place or space is important. A space with clear vision with no observative obstructions does help the sadhak. When in silence our vision and ears work harder in lightning speed. Thus it is all the more important that visually or audibly we must not encounter obstructions that divert our internal journey. Meditative eyes of half opened form dilutes our outer visual obstruction and facilitates a smoother inner journey. Even at the mind level at Maun we must avoid “video recall” from some past memory or we should never try to visualize how people are watching us as these destroy the process of silencing the noise of noisy within. The wide unobstructed vision of blue or green horizon help us to have an obstruction-free vision of silence, and allow the practice of Maun Sadhana that assures a movement in a less sounding atmosphere for a blue and tranquil inner journey.

10

Darkness & Light: Silence and Sound Light has a sound and in darkness it sounds aloud in silence. After the prolong night of the winter when the day breaks there is a sound of inaudible kind that springs from the womb of silence of night which awakens all the life forces. Petals of the flower unwind and leaf unfolds as the sound called light prevails upon them. Similarly, if one watches TV at night then after 10.30 one suddenly finds the sound has become louder as at that time around deeper night befalls and silence dawn. Thus we see a direct relation of sound and light as also darkness and silence. But in Maun Sadhana there is a mysticism where light called sound must diminish and silence of night must be explored to reach the state of pious dawn where light is no more a loud noise neither its silence with inaudible resonance. It is light of enlightenment which is sublime. In Maun Sadhana on darkness the light must play upon. But the light in life should be melodious and not to sound aloud. In the perspective of day and night the time line conjunction (Sandhya) must be explored. Tamasik noise of silence during darkness must be avoided. The Rajasik element of light must be reduced and thus all must lead to the state of Sattvik nature which denotes the twilight hour where darkness withers and light is not flashy or blinding bright. So the dawn is the best light temperature where within Maun the enlightenment dawns.

11

Silencing the Sound of Desire Life is driven by desire. The desire is an inferno that finally reduces all as a sucker animal of extreme. In Maun Sadhana one strategies the self to cap the desire as desire has a close proximity with aberrations that spoils the Karma. Desire or wish is a cyclic sound of silence of the mind that splashes a wish and strives for the same fulfillment unless achieved. Once a desire is fulfilled another pops up and that’s an unending process. For this Maharajji has been asking us to douse the wish flames by not adding oil to the wish lamp. Silencing the desire is a matter of perception in the state of Maun Sadhana. Desire is loud conception amidst silence of thought. It makes one restless and allows a negative fall. Thus in the state of Maun one must realize the bad impact of the desire. By the philosophy of “Not this” “Not this” one has to negate the luxury of harvesting desire after desire which finally makes us a prisoner of the body, which is just too mortal and destroyable. To combat the sound called “desire” one has to put a full stop on desire barring the basic needs. In the north it is said Hey Bhagwan Kharcha dey (Oh God give me the expenditure) so that we earn more. It means we are driven to the extreme by the expenditure we incur. But in Maun only basics are desired because mind must move to the internal world of eternity shelving the dominance of materialism. Desire stalls this. Being humble in our need and disciplining the life to the basic requirements allow a conscious movement from “body” to beyond and Maun Sadhana allows us to perceive this and actualize the mind to be of less desirous being so that eternity is begotten within the mental journey. Thus silencing the desire attributes towards higher journey through silence.

12

Dousing the Flame of Cravings through Silence

Desire drives the craving instincts. Craving is a mental state where one lives in the arena of “irresistibleness”. This represents a chaotic sound (thought) within the silence of mind. This sound thought is like white ant which destroys the persona and changes the Karma and drives one to stoop low to appease the cravings of lower order. Craving makes us a victim of lust and lure which in turn brings pain and pathos to ruin our entity. Thus, in Maun Sadhana one is involuntarily trained to counter the “Craving mind”. It alters our focus of attraction from body and brings us on soul plane. The cravings do come also from depravity but one learns through Maun that “deprivation” is just a mind game and solutions embedded within waiting to be explored and unearthed. Over emphasizing self-appeasement and desirous fire of “More need” make us a stooge of our mortal entity and chance of mending Karma pattern is lost in the process. Craving for luxurious food; craving for very high living; craving for sensuous pleasure of variety; craving for power and money are the common traits of mortals. Maun Sadhana clears this froth of craving as happiness is mortal and ananda or bliss is immortal are realized in the hours of silence. Eternal nectar or bliss is so intoxicating that the lure of outer world cannot penetrate. Shunning the cravings of mortal kind is not so tough if we have complete trust in Param Guru and ultimate faith in Guru. Because if one practises Maun Sadhana and turn the mind towards Guru or being Gurumukhi then the mortal “ills” like cravings fade away for sure. Because bliss lies beyond our body and that has been the destiny birth after birth. So, act now to silence the cravings for good.

13

The Sound of the Doubt In mortal life “doubts” beget “doubt” and it takes us to the derogatory South of Karma. Maharajji thus proclaims “if you doubt, you will never grow” because it’s the curse of humanity that pulls you down for sure, again and again. This thought lives in silence zone of mind but creates loudest of sound as doubt is cyclic and manifestive in nature. Doubt is about self and others, doubt in action and words; doubts in perception and realization. Doubt is always in search of enmity. Doubt about the unsure future perplexes our forward movement. Doubt about other’s past etc. etc.do kill our thought process as doubts break all the bridges of relationships. That Param Guru blesses those who never questions HIM but repose faith in Him as a religious follower. This is the essence of Bhakti Yog. Param Guru lives in Maharajji is an absolute truth. But we at times doubt his words and interpret him in our own mortal way and thus we create a space for multiplying doubts. Once we are drenched in doubt we become the worst victim and suffer from the Syndrome of “point of no return”. If we kill the ego of the “self” of “I” and realize that Param Guru is the “doer” then doubts fade. In Maun Sadhana, the doubt is to be erased. Just one must search the meanings of what Swamiji Maharaj has preached and Guruji is indicating. In Maun Sadhana, Guru speaks from within to guide you. You must value it to realize the reality and absolute truth. During Maun Param Guru speaks from the deepest within and tells you what to do next as eternal guide. So why doubt your entity when Guru is holding your hand and taking you to Param Guru? So, delve down in this thought process during Maun to make the world a less complex one for you and others too.

14

Restrain Allows Us to Score With Silence

Few words to remember during the Maun - “It’s enough”! “I don’t need any more”. “What I will carry with me at final departure”? “If I desire more then it will finally bring pain with guilt dividends”. “I am satisfied with what I am given”; “HE knows best what I deserve and celestial logics are different from mortal logics”. If we internalize these words then the thought called “sound” will not detract our life from spiritual contemplation. The thought fabric must not be like a wavy ocean rather this should be like a deep flowing serene river merging into the ocean. Assimilating everything and realizing the spiritual essence should be foremost in our mind since our heart desires desperately to meet Maharajji. To checkmate this urge our very thought must be disciplined with restraint lest our Sadhana is disturbed because of our over- enthusiasm of meeting him. Such should be the level of restraint. In Maun Sadhana we must realize that “Restraint” as prescribed by Swamiji Maharaj should be our Gita. Contentment and solace within about the mundane calling facilitates growth at the level of Restraint within. The drive of desire and craving do cause a lot of problem but with restraint one easily counters it. Because the inner journey becomes feasible when we carry less guilt, less mortal attachment and subdued mortal learning and turn our mind to Param Guru for spiritual excellence . In Maun Sadhana we must reduce the mental conflicts and retain its spiritual essence that make us realize the higher truth away from the mundane Rajasik and Tamasik Tattwa of life. And this journey begins only with restraint that assures us begetting Guru Tattwa during our lifetime.

15

Duties are Melodious Sound

Swamiji Maharaj proclaimed that for Ram Naam Sadhak, duties are core of life. He never meant spiritualism requires renunciation. Instead he urged the Sadhaks to remain duty-bound towards their family, relations and parivars of Ram Naam Sadhaks. He only prescribed to remember constantly Ram Naam while doing any kind of duties. Again for Ram Naam Sadhak it is important to reduce attachments and expect results from duties. Expectations lead to disappointment and conflict of mind triggers from it resulting in noise of the mind and that destroys Sadhana. Thus in Maun Sadhana one must limit the worldly affairs to his/her basic duties and more energy be devoted to the Sadhana. A duty if one discharges to one’s given ability gives a sense of satisfaction and also a sense of achievement. At this the thought process becomes a melody of mind. From this state turning the mind flow towards inner journey becomes easier. Thus melody called duty if nurtured then Sadhana gets power to propel. And in Maun Sadhana, when we are satisfied even in relative sense, our inner contemplation becomes easy. During Maun however, we should not allow any kind of attachment to tickle in and create chaos in mind. This means a satisfied self facilitates the growth of inner tranquility that ensures a vigorous Sadhana tooling the concept of Silence. Thus, we should say to ourselves “let us do our best within our capacities towards our duty” so that while in antarmukhi state we should not be troubled by pulls and pushes of mortal endeavour.

16

Relationship and Maun Life is mystified with relationship as some of them are related through birth and some are beyond. Every relation creates a compartment of thought and knitted with duties and rights. These thoughts are like the sound in the silent zones of mind. Keeping the relation in good humour is the balancing act in which all indulges. And most of us live for it and consume our whole energy to handle these varied relations. In the Maun Sadhana these relations are valued in positive note and to be contemplated for their well being through prayers. But the complexity of relationship should be kept at bay while doing Maun Sadhana. Thus it is pertinent to realize that any given relationship has many subtle nuances and shades. Again if these are not handled from a psychical distance these complexities become a baggage at the thought level that hinders the process of our inner traverse. All relations, no matter how close you think, should be respected and loved. But the self persona must not get attached too deep as at the end of the day you are unable to salvage yourself from the entanglement of relationship for your own spiritual contemplations. Thus in Maun Sadhana, we should have the flair for love for all the relations but this is not the time to celebrate or brood over them because those thoughts become noise at the mind plane. While silencing the inner mind all kind of emotive frequencies must be either in harmonious tone or be limited to its entity and be kept aside while delving deep within. One should keep in mind that reflections of relationship should not cast its shadow over the self-introspection as love, hate and demand arising out of any given relation stall our progress. During Maun Sadhana mind must be clear and only focused towards Param Guru within and nothing else.

17

Anger and Violence Unseat Silence Anger within and without violent emotive stream of thought create very loud sound that reaches chaotic level within minutes as we reflect anything with dejection. The body and mind become charged with noise so it reflect outwardly as well. These noise frequencies spoil the tranquility of dynamic kind. Behavior, words and expressions become aggressive and inner-self get fragmented. Silencing this anger come from meditative mindset. In this process we must not be victims of contrasts and disharmony because anger comes to the fore when we cross our swords with a touch of intolerance and lack of restraint. Again, anger peeps when we want to overshow our prominence, power and strength and thoughts become superior and subordinate to none. Anger postures violence when our inner un-tranquil state of mind boils out of deprivation, frustration and even non-recognition. To combat this situation we should be cool receptor of things around and we should not react in a hurry. Tolerance and patience ensures growth of silence that can banish the loud noise of anger and violence because anger spoils Karma resulting in rise of guilt which spoil our future as well. In Maun Sadhana this art of “internalizing and analysing” comes at play involuntarily. When we desist from utterance then we invite no tension from social inequality as it is said “dumb” has no enemy. Silence begets patience and increases the power of tolerance. Maun Sadhana allows us a realization that the world is not equal and inequalities are the natural rule of the world. Thus taking mind away from disharmony of the world towards inner harmonious self help us in handling anger and mending our “response system” which works towards silencing the noisy temperaments.

18

Rough Sounds of Jealousy and Envy

This world is unequal. Thus gap at socio-economic psychological intellectual and spiritual level is very much there as universal truth. Pain, suffering, marginalization or dominance give rise to rivalry and take the shape of envy and jealousy. These behaviour patterns are normal and most people suffer from this from top of the society to the lowest of the low. These bring us to the chaotic sound level and our inner tranquility gets destroyed. We get bogged down to the whirlpool of earthly life undermining the final spiritual goal destined by Param Guru. Maun Sadhana helps us to alter the perspective which always keeps us unsettled. Through silence we realize that mortal and materialistic life is transitional and all given situations are just temporary phase of life for the journey of the soul which passes through several births of silence and sound. Situation of yesterday is not there today so the situation of today will not be there the day after as Kabir said “Aisa din aur nahi rahega”. Now we realize that disparities create rough sound and make us envious. So through tooling silence we reach the final frontiers of innerself where only one emotion called “love” prevails and that assures inner tranquility and outer silence combined with Maun Sadhana help us to mend our perception while journeying towards our goal of being Gurumukhi and Antarmukhi.

19

Melody of Love is Silence

Eternity floats on the water of Bhakti-Bhava. Eternal love is the sacred lotus which promises to demystify cosmic wisdom of immortal love. In Maun Sadhana when one journeys within one finds the element of love. Love for Guru and trustful love for Guru vachan fashions the eternity of Param Guru who is the epitome of love. Within the fabric of deep silence of the mind the sound of love exists. This element of love does pass through earthly passion, yet it scales beyond the mortal concept. Prem Bhava that emits from within while negotiating the inner journey helps us mending our mortal behavioural pattern. Thus in Maun Sadhana one keeps on discovering various hues of love. These “discovered” elements assure discipline the self. It can easily cap negations of the mind and empattern overhauling of our behavioural pattern. Love of silence reflects on our mortal attitude and makes us realize that love is basically and finally “Selfless”. When we realize that love is divine and eternal and not entirely worldly passion then we can discipline our daily life and banish the evils of envy, jealousy and enmity. In Maun Sadhana the final goal is love and selfless love for Param Guru. Thus love at the realizing level ensures delinking self from aberrations and allow piousness to prevail. This element of love in silence sounds great as we are elevated at the karmic level.

20

Noise of Depression and Deprivation

Our mortal life is full of chaos. It basically propels from failure and de-recognition to the state of depression where our behavior pattern starts malfunctioning. Depression bears the Karmic suffering as frustration and anger take the front seat. At the other level deprivation is too noisy and disturbs our Karma. Maun Sadhana can heal these ailing factors. While exploring silence within one encounters scores of sound of mortal kind. The shift from mortal inequality to the eternity is possible when we realize Guru is God sent blessing and bliss for us. And it’s Guru Vachan that can help us for safe negotiation in life. When we place Guru as a perfect icon before our third eye then we find mortal noise of deprivation and depression fading away. Thereafter come the realization that it is Param Guru who stands behind the Guru as eternal aura which is ever manifesting within. This state of Maun Sadhana allows us to realize our destiny and we don’t fall for small cravings. When we realize that Param Guru is our Niyati or Destiny and who is not part of Karma the destiny of final kind, then worldly pain and pathos get reduced. Thus sound of frustration deprivation and depression are just symptoms of earthly life which is the result of our own created Karma of over indulgence in materialism. Now through Maun Sadhana we limit our endeavour to our duties only with no expectations, which in course allows us to travel to the higher plane of silence where Param Guru resides. This assures eternal tranquility and blissful healing of the self.

21

Senses are Sound of Detractor

What we hear, what we see, what we feel are through our mortal sensory organs. These are prism of experiencing life. Apart from hearing, the vision, body sensation and experiencing cohesion do have their individual audible and mostly inaudible sound. Even the taste of the tongue and smell do have element of sound. These sensory functions create noise and that detract the mind and attachment anchors one to mortal mundaneness as pleasure seeking intensifies with time haunted with the desire of “More and More”. This noise level detracts the spiritual contemplation. In Maun Sadhana, we tend to move out of overshadowing mortal craving to something beyond our body. In this process the sensory craving stalls the process of introspection. Because at thought level these create emotive imbalances which defocus the mind as there are loud noises at the silent level. Thus while internalizing one has to shun the sounds that create problems. In Maun Sadhana one borrows hordes of silence from within and play upon the mind to silence the sound of cravings. Extinguishing the fire of sensory organs is possible only with intensive Ram Naam Jaap and by fixing the mind on Param Guru with remembrance of Guru Vachan.

22

Hearing by the Innerself Maun Sadhana is all about hearing the eternal mind. This is possible when one turns the mind away from external sound and noise of thought process. Culturing the listening technique comes from a receptive empty mind which is very eager to learn and more than ready to unlearn. Inner self when revealed gives one huge scope of exploring the self. But one should be aware that at times pretension of unreal for a long time becomes a belief which is an illusion of mortal kind. To keep these illusions away from the mind one must culture the innerself. The USP of innerself is innocence. This inner innocence assures the dawning of dynamic within once we accept it on face value. This state of innocence is accessible by our mortal innocence which must not have loud load of guilt or any other form of unholy attitude. Thus it means to unlock the inner self one has to improve the Karmic pattern. Swamiji Maharaj has thus given highest importance to the character of the Sadhak because if one is not pure in thought and action then the inner purity will elude. In Maun Sadhana when body and mind is engulfed with Ishta Chintan then one becomes ready vessel which in course would collect the inner wisdom by hearing the voice of Param Guru within. It is the destiny of the Sadhak and so all kind of noises are to be eliminated from the mind before one starts hearing the eternal self from within.

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Smelling Silence of Lotus

Smell has its own sound and silence. Do you buy this idea? Think further! Aroma of sumptuous food awakens our appetite and mind hears its sound amidst silence of thought. Aroma of flower brings about melody of thought and inhaling it one “feels good”. Aroma of incense stick, guggul etc. rent the air as spiritualism comes to the fore. Thus smell can create a lot of sound and melody. Even at times it echoes as sound of silence. During Maun Sadhana smell has a great role to play. Soothing and pious aroma invokes an inner tranquility. During Maun Sadhana one should not try to smell anything that enrages sense organ or brings about a craving be of the material things or food. Smell sounds very loud and it detracts our mind from our mission because aroma and its presence are larger than the life if we try to analyze. Yet we all know the journey of the mortal body passes through varied kind of smell which is unavoidable be it good or bad. Thus during Maun Sadhana one must try to create a “lesser noisy” aroma within the smelling vicinity. Maun introspection ensures lesser attachment of all kind and aroma stands prominent. All the creation of Panchabhuta has its own smell and if we journey through natural aroma of dew, grass, tree and rain etc. it help us to reduce the noise element of what we generally smell. Our innerself is like the lotus, which is sublime but has no aroma of flower kind yet, it possesses most beautiful inner smell though aroma-less but immensely tranquil augmenting our antarmukhi yatra or inner sublime journey.

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Maun Sadhana – Some Whispers Even today Swamiji Maharaj whispers RAM RAM, guides us and helps a newer perspective to dawn upon us even within the established notions of Maun or silence. Maun whispers and tells us to silence the outer and inner sound. Silence has its own frequencies of inaudible sound rising to the level of noise. Maun Sadhana allows us to be Gurumukhi and inch towards Param Guru. In serene silence one journeys inside to find out the illuminated centre of silence. Maun Sadhana engineers the process of Chetana or inner awareness and purifies Chintan (thought process) which holds on to cosmic awareness that tickles from within drop by drop. Through this write up we have travelled few centimeters on our journey to such the goal of Maun Sadhana. The basic logic must have been to redefine sound beyond the concept of “audible” sound. It has delved deep into the concept of silence which is characteristically very noisy. Maun Sadhana is all about jumping over the noise level and be in silence. During this process of Chintan we have realized that we have been ignoring many elements of Maun which we should have known provided we did Maun Sadhana for ourselves and not for others around us.

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The concept of silence whispers that Maun Dharana (perception) rules Maun Sadhana. Inner self is distanced from the self due to all kind of mortal sound and silence. It is away from the physical acoustic theory where sound and silence cannot be scaled. Spiritual contemplative acoustic works on immortal plane allowing a close encounter of final kind where sound diminishes and sound no more sounds when eternal brightness engulf the soul with universal silence. The passage through Maun Sadhana ensures this enlightenment where Maya never pulls us down and existence is the tranquil light conceived as Ramaloka or Vaikuntha where Shri Ram resides beyond the timelessness and spacelessness of eternity. With Ram Naam, let us begin our Maun Sadhana once again, anew and afresh. Let Ram Naam manifests in silence of eternal enlightenment.

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