Divine Nature Of Silence

Silence is God’s nature. In His formless state in the beyond, silence is absolute and eternal. Silence represents Oneness. Sound represents duality. Sound needs a source and the receiver. As the urge to know – Koham – was latent in the beyond state, the Word was. As the original urge flowed to the beyond state to manifest, Word was also transmitted and manifested along with the urge. As it manifested, it produced sound. Sound then expanded over all creation and permeated through God’s journey of evolution from Infinite Unconsciousness to Infinite Consciousness. Sound is the nature of maya. We stay with the sound as long as we are overwhelmed by duality. We resolve back to silence once we experience unity.

Word and sound are signs of unfulfilment; a cry of desires and craving. When an individual  is at peace with himself and content within, he finds words irrelevant. Silence signifies completion – perfection. Sound denotes incompletion – imperfection. Our journey began with the sound and will end in silence. Sound is not separate from silence. While silence is the nature of God, sound is quest for Self-knowledge. Silence includes sound. Sound, in its diverse expression and effect, was not intended to create chaos. God takes human form to bridge the gulf between silence and sound, activating the immense possibility of silence to bear upon the movement of sound, and restores lost harmony of thought, words and deeds amongst people.

There is fundamentally no antagonism between silence and the Word. The origin and invariable end of all words is silence. From silence, we come. To silence, we go. The interregnum is Word.

Sound originates from and is dependent on silence though it is allowed autonomy for certain time when it enjoys freedom and a sense of illusory detachment from silence. It traverses through the extremes of opposites such as sorrow and happiness, pain and pleasure until it loses control. Harmony gives way to cacophony and sound degenerates to noise. Ignoring the pure inspiration of his conscience, man uses sound to further impulses of selfish motives, causing commotion and confusion.

Thus, sound loses its moorings. It is not able to withdraw; nor can it absorb itself. Unable to restore harmony in life, it becomes like a faulty siren that goes on and on, causing unbearable irritation.

So, we ignore the silence of God which has been communing with us deep within, everlastingly; and get entangled in the uncontrolled, unguided sound. Being tired of this commotion, man’s heart instinctively aches for peace and craves for silence but cannot shut the sound off.

At such times, Avatar, the God-man, descends to bring back harmony in the world, giving sound a new meaning, life and orientation.

To remain silent is to poignantly bring out the meaninglessness of words. Through the power of silence, you can counterbalance sound forces. Avatar is stationed at the fulcrum of the universe. His actions create ripples across levels in creation. Such silence reverberates through the breadth, length and depth of the universe. Unique silence of an avatar is distinct from that of spiritual seekers, yogis or mahatmas.

(On this day, 87 years ago, Avatar Meher Baba commenced his silence and maintained it for 44 years, until he breathed his last. The distinctive nature of Baba’s silence is not its duration but the fact that Baba chose to adopt silence to carry out his avataric mission.)