Silence and solitude

[1]

Amrit Sadhana [1]

In the life of contemporary urban human beings you will find two fundamental and valuable ingredients missing: silence and solitude.

In the world infested with sound pollution there isn’t a profound moment of pristine silence. If the constant traffic noise or sounds from TV sets are not blaring, it is the machines that whiz all night. It may be an air conditioner or a refrigerator or a ceiling fan or some electronic device which is plugged in.
If by chance there is no outside noise, our thoughts are incessantly running like crazy. We have no idea how much disturbance these useless thoughts cause internally. Come to think of it, we haven’t experienced peace and silence since the advent of technology.
Once a teacher from Rishi Valley school complained to J. Krishnamurti who used to visit the school every year about noisy children and that how hard it had become to control them. J. Krishnamurti fixed him with a penetrating gaze and replied calmly, “Your mind is noisier than the noisiest of child, sir.”
Another equally essential thing missing in the modern life is solitude. In the times of social networking and 24x7 connectivity we have become peeping Toms, constantly in touch with the other through the social media, email, or text messages. We always carry this crowded world in our minds.
This continuous connectedness with others stops us from connecting with our own self. This is why people cannot relax. Relaxation needs complete isolation. It is a date with oneself.
I am reminded of Nietzsche’s beautiful words in Thus Spake Zarathustra: “O solitude! Solitude, my home! I have lived too long wildly in wild strange lands to come home to you without tears.”
Osho comments on this: “We are always wandering outside, going somewhere. And every movement is going away from yourself. You may be going in search of a home, but in fact you are going away from home — your home is within you. And that home can be found only when you stop searching, when you stop wandering, when you are no longer interested in the distant but utterly relaxed in your very source of being.”
It is a pity we are trained from our childhood how to be “with others”, but we are never taught how to be “with ourselves”. Nobody realises how essential and restful it is to be at home with oneself. Being alone is mistaken for being lonely. But being alone is diving into our depth, where there is a silent pool of peace and creativity. It is rejuvenating because all the finer qualities of life are hidden there and preserved like precious gems.

Amrit Sadhana is in the management team of Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune