March 30, 2006
Grades of Silent Will
The silent man achieves more
than the inveterate talker. Silence conserves energy and therefore
accomplishes. A will of ours is not entirely our own. It is in the atmosphere.
It is a thought afloat in the air entering into our minds calling for
expression. We speak it out. It carries the power of speaking. When we refuse
to speak it out, that thought is energised by the extra energy that would find
expression in speech. It refuses to accept our own refusal and presses for
expression. It gets expressed through another conducive to that thought. In a
bargain, the rival expressing your idea is a total victory. Hence its power is
limitless as well as uncontested. Still, this is the least one can get out of
this method. The other grades are,
1) Not speaking it out;
2) Not thinking it as an
idea;
3) Giving it up in disbelief
or frustration.
4) Refusing to speak or
think because of a clarity of knowledge that Silence is powerful.
5) It leaves us when we
withdraw our consciousness from it.
At the last point, the will
that was ours through the medium of Silence turns into Divine Will. He who
understands this power must be willing to practise it. The best way to practise it is to practise silent will everywhere
until it becomes second nature to us. It is difficult but it is the best by
being comprehensive. The next best is to concentrate Silent will ONLY in our
project on hand. The moment it becomes possible, our volubility in other areas
increases immensely. One can be aware of it and deny that scope for the
expenditure of energy. Should you succeed in it, the inner weight of
consciousness increases. If the speech is curtailed, thought dwells on it more.
This too needs to be curtailed. In cases where the inner seriousness is not
commensurate, this extra effort leads to tension which means one has to widen
inwardly his acceptance of this principle. For those who succeed at this level,
the next level of NOT thinking of it is in order. It is far more arduous and is
meant for those who are naturally drawn to seriousness and serenity.
To them, such an effort
widens the personality giving the feeling of a new birth. For those who are raw
in their inner life, but as a discipline master the first stage, there will be
a burst of thinking resembling inner turmoil. It may, in its nascent violence,
deprive him of his initial success of not speaking it out. The stage of NOT
thinking, if successful, will give an almost instantaneous result. Ordinarily
man gets frustrated and gives up an idea. In the wider scheme of things, such
giving up becomes a Silent will, perhaps a negative silent will. In the
experiences of Many, the results at once seek them. It gave place to a proverb,
“The desireless achieve.” The right thing is a positive practice of this
phenomenon. It is done by comprehending the value, power, significance and the
philosophic sense of why Silent Will is powerful. To practise what one thus
knows is desirable. Such persons achieve at a higher level. One who failed to
get selected as a bank clerk three times was later recruited as a bank agent.
Beyond this lies the crown.
It is to withdraw our consciousness from such a desire. That is clearly a
practice meant for an accomplished yogi. He has no worldly aim. Should such a
power be resorted to in life, he will accomplish at the highest possible level.
One who fails to get a bank’s clerk post will become a Minister of Banking
presiding over the entire department. People who accomplish in life accomplish
by virtue of their own capacity and strength. Here, the power of Silence is
used by those who have not developed such capacity of strength in life. This
power is used instead, as it is inclusive of those aspects of social strength
and psychological capacity.
Silent Will can be used
forward in the future, backwards in the past, upwards for vertical growth,
downwards to create strength in the depth, sideways on issues related
functionally or socially. God is sometimes called Silence. Sri Aurobindo speaks
of Silence behind Silence and HE says Silence sustains activity. A little of essential yogic development
reveals springs of weighty Power welling up from inside. In the yogic
experience of creative reality, it is Silence that forms as the bedrock to
support all our movements, sound and noise. India is a land of Rishis. Her soil
is soaked in spirituality. Spirit is Silence. He who fosters Silent will
subconsciously tries to be a spiritual Indian gradually moving to the
foundation of Silence. Westerners, seekers and others have often sensed, on
entering Indian soil, even the Indian air space, this deep Silence. One becomes
a true Indian if he founds himself on this basis. Sri Aurobindo on joining the
Darjeeling English School found a darkness entering him at the age of 7. At the
age of 21 when he returned to India, on setting foot on the Indian soil at
Apollo Bunder He sensed a massive SILENCE entering Him which remained with Him
to the end. Today India is poor, Indians freely resort to lying, ask for help
with no sense of self-respect, none of which one can witness in the West. To
preserve the ancient wealth of Spirit till its time comes, Nature has resorted
to this inverse device even as the man who buries his treasure in the forest
plants a thorny bush on it to distract people from the truth. All that India is
at that level of depth is Light, Peace, Silence, Truth, Love and Beauty. The
Mother says that today She sees all of this in the bodies of the Indians.
Silent Will will make these aspects surface soon.
Some questions have been raised:
1) How can I do this while
in a committee meeting?
2) What is the role of
Silent will between husband and wife?
3) Where does this come in
teaching a child?
These are pertinent
practical questions on which some pages of explanation can be written. The sum
is,
·
Silent Will will raise our role in the meeting to a far higher level
which is more true at home.
·
Teaching will become learning because of Silent Will.
At a meeting, when you
hesitate to raise a topic, Silent Will will raise it through another person,
usually the opponent and settle it to our satisfaction. In fifty years, one
gets to this position of authority. Silent Will is equal to fifty years of
experience.
If you grade the harmony
between the spouses from 1 to 10 and you are at 3, Silent Will will raise you
to 4 so that issues will be resolved without communication. The teacher teaches
this year and the child learns it fully after a few years. Silent Will will
open the flood gates of freedom to the child and he will learn by his own curiosity
the lessons of future years. You teach, the child remembers what you teach.
When the child thinks of a question, he understands the answer. Silent Will
raises learning from remembering facts to understanding them, a process which
needs several years. Practise Silent Will, and you will see hundreds of
questions raise themselves and resolve themselves. Answer the unresolved questions
in one year, you would have matured a dozen years.