By Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj
Silence is not just the absence of noise. It is the sacred state in which we can experience God. Everything in this world emanated from silence. God, in the beginning, was all alone and wished to be many from One. From God came all of Creation. In this human body, we have been given the opportunity to liberate our soul from the wheel of transmigration and find our way back to our Source.
Saints and mystics from all ages have used poetry in the form of scripture. Through a concise, simple, and straightforward set of verses, these saints of the past have been able to convey the essence of spirituality. Kabir Sahib, for example, through many of His four lines of verses, crystallized the very quintessence of this human life, our purpose here on earth, and how we can achieve it.
The beauty that can come from combining a few simple elements to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Resounding symphonies have been composed by combining finite musical notes, art created from mixing primary colours found in nature, or literary masterpieces, in prose or in poetic form created from the alphabet of various languages.
A verse, with all its beauty, is only worth writing if it gives voice to this silence; if it helps us experience the voice of God, for this is the sole purpose for which we have come into this world.
As such, we should prioritize this goal over all else in this material world. Our day-to-day lives are filled with turmoil and complexity. We should free our lives of the distractions that pull us away from the silence and simplify our lives so that we can keep our focus Godward. Rather than become distracted by the beauty of this world, let us instead focus our time on the Source from whence all this beauty emanates – God.
Meditation, the process of concentrating within while sitting in silence. As we stop focusing on the distractions of the outer world, still our body and mind, and focus our attention on the third eye, our soul begins to collect at this gateway to the inner spiritual regions. Through meditation, we not only become conscious of our spiritual nature, but we also tap into the riches that lie within us. Meditation awakens us to the soul’s yearning to go back Home, and this is how to find our true purpose in life. As we work toward our life’s goal, life carries new meaning once we become conscious of our soul and find our true purpose in life.
No matter how beautifully it can be described through prose, the silence that leads us Godward must be experienced to be understood, and we can all have this experience when we quieten the body and still the mind in meditation. Through going within, we can experience for ourselves the love, Light, beauty, and bliss of God and gradually retrace the current of Light and Sound back to our Source.
Spirituality is a practical science of discovering the spirit, of recognizing our true self. Whether we are aware of it or not, there is meaning to our life and all that happens to us. Whatever happens to us has a reason. If by sitting in silence we could tap into our soul, we would see life as more than a string of meaningless events and would find a lesson and a message in all that occurs.
We have been away from God for far too long. It is time to turn back to God. It is time to simplify our lives and focus on the most important goal we must achieve in this lifetime.
