RAJENDRA
PRASAD ACHARYA
Contemplative
silence is a higher realm of being transcending the compass of the mental and
physical activity of our normal worldly life. It is a state, not of blank
passivity, of sterile quiescence and indolent apathy, but a profoundly
pregnant, vital and creative state of being. It is that paradoxical state of
being, when the deeper mental and spiritual self of man though in a state of
deep stillness is nevertheless intensely living and dynamic with a vibrant and
pulsating life, while the action of the physical body may or may not be in a
state of cessation.
Contemplative
silence is that state of being, when man abstracting
his attention from the surface physical, vital and mental self drifts into the
deeper realm of his psychic or spiritual being. Prayer and meditation, the
philosophic and ethical thought of great thinkers, philosophers and
theologians, intuitive vision of great poets and artists, the sublimely
illumined spiritual visions of great sages, saints and mystics owe their origin
to this deeply creative spiritual and psychic realm of
being.
That
this contemplative silence has a crucial relevance and significance for our
contemporary life has received strong affirmation and acknowledgement from Dr
Arnold Toynbee, one of the profoundly original
thinkers and the greatest philosopher-historian of our twentieth century. In
his illuminating study “
“The
endless cycle of idea and action
Endless
invention, endless experiment
Brings
knowledge of motion but not of stillness
Knowledge of speech but not of silence.”
It
is profoundly painful to realise that the
materialistic ethos of modern civilization with its cult of secular activism
and pragmatist utilitarian attitude to life finds little or no place for this
ideal of contemplative silence. While in the ancient and traditional philosophy
of life the supreme place was assigned to meditative silence or contemplation,
the orientation of the modern philosophy of life is towards action–ceaseless
and relentless action.
This
progress-obssessed and technology-dominated civilized
life of modern man is full of activity–either physical or mental and
intellectual. We act, act and act–restlessly and relentlessly like a machine –
a lifeless, mindless and will-less automaton. In most of the highly advanced
countries life is dreary and monotonous–a weary round of incessant exertions –
physical or mental. Amidst the ferment and tension of his restless daily
activities, man loses the sense of spontaneity of living – the deeper joy,
peace, serenity and bliss –because there is no brief spell of contemplative
silence to accompany and enrich his life of action. “Variety is the very spice
of life that gives life all its flavour,” so wrote
the English poet William Cowper.
“What
is this life
If
full of care
We
have no time to stand and stare.”
So sang the celebrated
American poet W. H. Davies, striking an identical note.
Contemplative
silence is an integrating and harmonising force in
human life. It is a state of being when one reflects on the deeper value and
significance of human life and destiny and intuitively realises
the gracious harmony, beauty and the majesty of the Divine Creation, planned,
cherished and upheld by a Supreme Cosmic Intelligence and Being. In such
moments, when he is richly endowed with flashes of intuitive insight and
illumination can he discover the ultimate meaning of creation and the eternal
verities of life. Then the life of man and the entire cosmos cease to appear as
if in blind and meaningless flux and seem to reveal a sublime beauty and grace.
It is only under the inspiration of such contemplative silence that one can say
with Keats that:
“Beauty
is truth, truth beauty
That
is all ye know on earth
And
all ye need to know.”
It
was also for this profound realisation of the
ultimate importance of contemplative silence that Wordsworth, the great
Romantic poet and visionary glorified it as
“that serene and blessed mood
in which the burthen of the mystery,
in which the heavy and weary weight,
of all this unintelligible world is
lightened.”
and
“in which……….
the breath of this corporeal frame
And
even the motion of our human blood
Almost
suspended, we are laid asleep
In
body and become a living soul
While
with an eye made quiet by the power
of harmony and the deep power of joy
We
see into the life of things.”
During
such moments of reflective silence we are inspired by a sense of “reverence for
life” and a fervent and living faith in the gracious and benign purpose of the
Divine creation. It is because of the conspicuous absence in modern life of
contemplative silence, that our life is dominated by ceaseless activity – but
actions without being guided by a sense of purpose, of ethical sanity and
rational propriety. Hence our actions are pretty like that of a lifeless
automaton or like the frail steering vessel drifting aimlessly and perilously
in the great ocean of life, tossed by the turbulent waves, but without a rudder
or anchor to guide or regulate its course.
Amidst
the sickhurry, tension and distraction of his daily
life, modern man has very little time for such contemplative silence and is
also temperamentally disinclined to cherish such moments of contemplative
silence whenever he has time to indulge in it. He is morbidly afraid of being
lonely, to be alone with himself and recoils in antipathy and revulsion from
it. He never indulges in a moment of reflective silence to evaluate and scrutinise his ideas, thoughts, his feelings and actions,
to discover the deeper purpose and value of life and how far his thoughts and
actions contribute to it or conspire against it. Thus his life is a chaotic
mass of events – a confused ensemble of blinded passions, lawless emotions,
barren beliefs and meaningless actions. There is very little harmony and
consonance between his idea and actions, thought and conduct, principle and
practice. He has lost the art of integrated and harmonious living.
In
the restless ferment of our daily life, having no interlude of contemplative
silence we have ignored and belittled the enlightened Delphic and Socratic
injunction “Know thyself,” with its corollaries–self-discovery and
self-scrutiny leading to self-discipline, self-restraint and conquest of self
through the cultivation of ethical and rational will and conscience. Such noble
values which can alone lead man’s ascent to greater heights of moral and
spiritual evolution can flourish in a climate of contemplative silence. It is
this contemplative silence which alone can confer on human life a true serenity
of spirit, a hallowed and blissful tranquillity of
mind and without it modern man, in spite of worldly pleasures, is afflicted by
a soul-paralysing despair, and inexpressible anguish
of spirit.
Absolute
serenity of spirit,” rightly observed Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, “is the highest goal of human endeavour” and contemplative silence alone can confer it.
Prayer, devotional worship and integral self-surrender to the Divine Spirit
which have the miraculous power of morally and spiritually transforming the
human spirit and bringing man profound and enduring peace can alone be
performed in moments of meditative silence.
Hence
in order to cure the fatal and crucial malady of modern civilization with its
grave symptoms of soul-sickening despair, sense of perplexity and bewilderment,
it is the imperative duty of every conscientious man to balance his life of
action with brief moments of reflective and meditative silence. Then only his
life would be one of harmony and integral perfection a purposive and meaningful
whole.
The
Supreme touchstone of the glory of human civilization is not material
prosperity or progress but the attainment of moral nobility and spiritual sublimity
in an integrated and harmonious human personality. This moral and spiritual
maturity and fulfilment of human nature can alone be
attained when human life ceases to be dominated by the gospel of secular
action, the ethic of material self-aggrandizement and physical and sensual
gratification and finds place in its scale of values for the ideal of
contemplative stillness or the “wise passiveness” to quote the pregnant phrase
of Wordsworth. Thus human civilization which displays at present a brittle and
meretricious glamour and splendour of material
advancement and well-being would attain the pinnacle of true and lasting
progress and perfection through man’s ascent to the higher realms of moral and
spiritual being and human life would find lasting peace and serenity.