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Experience Your Own Silence

Beloved Master,

When I sit in Your presence during Your discourses, when I hear You talking about silence and attaining, I feel blessed. Sometimes, silence even happens. But here is my problem: the moment You leave, my inner chattering starts again. When I meditate in Your presence, my mind is silenced so easily, but when I meditate on my own, I don’t feel the same silence at all. Is this what usually happens in a Master/disciple relationship?

Understand: it is completely natural to fall into silence in the presence of the master. It is because the master is silence himself. He is the ultimate silence. He radiates it.

Being with the master will bring immense silence. It is bound to happen. What exactly does being in the presence of the master mean? It is being with someone that you trust. There is a deep love; a love from a completely different plane. It means being with someone who will take you into the unknown. You will simply forget yourself in his presence.

So naturally, you will fall into silence. There is nothing that can be done about it! Whether you want it or not, the master’s silence will continue to embrace you! His silence is contagious; nothing can be done!

All of this is beautiful. But because it is disappearing without the master, be clear, it is not your own. Silence has to happen to you in your aloneness; only then can you call it your own. Otherwise it is just the master’s reflection projected onto you. It is like you are overwhelmed and in this overwhelmed state, the master’s silence is coming into you. Yes, when in the master’s presence you are having a glimpse of silence; that is okay. But you must experience your own silence to really call it silence.

One thing must be clearly understood: the silence that you are experiencing near the master is just a reminder that you too can experience the same type of silence.

You see: this is not just a glimpse for you to enjoy and move on. It is not there for you to just enjoy and say, ‘How beautiful!’ No! It is there for you to gain the understanding that the same thing can happen in you all the time.

As of now, you are existing in your body; you are existing in your mind. But your center is completely different from the two. Your center has a completely different quality. It is its very nature to be silent. It is its very nature to be immersed in stillness.

The problem is that now we have become confused. Because of being caught up with the mind, we are not able to tell the difference between ‘me’ and ‘I’. This ‘me’ is the real you. It is your birthright. But it is this ‘I’ that causes all the problems!

How to come out of this?

Meditation is all that is needed. Awareness is the only key. Again and again, I give you the same technique: just watch yourself. Don’t drag behind a thought; don’t try to stop a thought from coming. Let everything happen as it is supposed to; you just watch. Whether a thought is negative or positive shouldn’t be your business at all. Just remain cool and untouched. You will be surprised about what will come.

When you become just a witness, the number of thoughts slowly begin to decrease. The gap between thoughts becomes greater and greater. These gaps hold so much silence within them. But when your thoughts slowly begin to decrease, what will you do? You will think, ‘Good job!’ Don’t do this, because it is just one more thought.

The longer you go on witnessing, the bigger these gaps become. And finally, the thoughts will cease. You will be in silence all the time. Now, it has become your silence. Now your silence and the master’s silence have become one. Now you don’t depend on the master to give you silence. The silence will be with you always.

Read More : The Only Way Out is IN by Paramahamsa Nithyananda.