Edited by Usha Where Silence Speaks Translated by Pranati Pratap Cover photographs: Hemant Zaveri Gautam Bajaj Cover design: Sujata Bajaj Published by First Edition, March 2013 Vinoba Karuna Futane 2000 Copies Paramdham Prakashan Pavnar - 442111 (Dist. Wardha, Maharashtra) Gram-Seva Mandal, India 7Gopuri, Wardha (India) - 442111 Printed by Ranjeet Desai Paramdham Muranalaya Price Rs. 100/- Pavnar - 442111 (Dist. Wardha, Maharashtra) Abroad $ 10 PARAMDHAM PRAKASHAN, PAVNAR India Homage (Preface to the first Hindi Edition) “Upon analysis of what I do all day, the answer that I receive from my inner voice, is dhyana.” — Vinoba Vinoba’s entire life, work and philosophy reflected dhyana. He always remained at the core of his own Self, but instead of becoming isolated he remained in constant contact with the society. He kept trying to find answers to the problems of society. In spite of incessant effort, he did not budge from his own plane, foundation and principles. Publisher’s Note The inner sanctuary was his permanent and daily residence. The divine stillness was his constant state. Moved by compassion and love, he would come out of This is the English translation of Vinoba’s that sanctuary and would mingle with us. No sooner was thoughts regarding dhyana (meditation) and the purpose served than he would return to his own place. yoga. He never lost the connection he had with the original Not only in Vinoba’s literature, but among Primal Source. This gave him an innate ability to touch the invaluable spiritual literature of the world, and address the small and big, personal and social this volume has a significant place. It is a questions from a unique plane. must-read for those who want to dive deeper Purification of the chitta is the golden gateway to that into the realm of spirituality. It will help and inner sanctuary. Vinoba wanted to hold our hand and enlighten the spiritual seekers as well as those lead us there so that access to that Primal Source would interested in dhyana. Even curious readers will be facilitated. For this he kept on reiterating the receive valuable insights from it. This book, importance of chitta-shuddhi (purification of the mind). By previously published in many Indian languages, taking chitta-shuddhi as the main pillar he would delineate has touched and transformed many lives. different facets of dhyana. This is a humble effort to string - 5 - - 6 - together the pearls of the different aspects of dhyana which are spread all over his vast literature. Vinoba’s language has the skill and power of condensing the ocean of wisdom into a drop. In his own words, some ripples of that ocean have been put into words here. To be honest, without the experience of Preface having been in that inner cave, or sanctuary, one cannot (Preface to the English Edition) have the power to fathom its depth. The effort will prove to be worthwhile if the ripples attract us towards the In 1984 Vinobaji’s thoughts on meditation were solemn depths of dhyana. compiled and published in a special issue of ‘Maitri’, the The effort of offering the oblation of sea water to the monthly magazine from Brahmavidya Mandir. Later its sea itself has a purifying effect. The one who takes even revised and enlarged edition was published in book form a sip of this with faith would be touched by that purity. entitled ‘Mahaguha men Pravesh’ which literally means Prostrating with gratitude to this unusual and novel yogi ‘entering the mega cave within’. Since then friends had who always resided in that inner sanctuary, we request his been asking for its English version. It took long time to blessings to help us in our journey inwards. proceed in that direction. Dr. Amarjeet Singh, a great scientist and an ardent devotee of Vinobaji took personal — Usha interest in the matter and inspired Dr. Shyamnarain Mishra of Pilani to get it translated. Dr. Mishra readily translated the work. Dr. Amarjeet Singh went through the translation and revised it. Our friend Ms. Pranati Pratap, who is practising and teaching yoga in U.S.A. for the past 25 years, also gladly undertook the work of translation. Dr. Parag Cholkar and Sarvanarayandas went through the translation and offered valuable suggestions. At last, with the help of all these friends, Pranati finalised the work and the book came to the final shape. The first Hindi version was published in 1984, i. e., 28 years ago. In the meantime the book was translated and published in five other Indian languages viz. Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Kannad and Tamil. We regret its late publication in English, but are happy that at last the work has been accomplished. Question arose as to what should the title be? Finally ‘Where Silence Speaks’ was chosen. Unless we are able to - 7 - - 8 - observe silence within and without we cannot enter into the realm of meditation. Silence is the inner voice where the Supreme whispers. It is the spring of vigour which bubbles the Song Divine, where wisdom shines without words. So let all those who are interested in entering the Translator’s Offering inner sanctum practise silence on a daily basis. If done sincerely, it will certainly reveal the mystery of the inner Why did I take up this task? My contact with the world. great soul, philosopher and saint, Vinoba Bhave, is of a fairly short span. Short as it might be, it is intense and — Usha sharp. After reading his literature for the first time, I felt that all the quests and questions in life can be and should be either solved or transcended through the concrete, integral thought process and life pattern that Vinoba sets forth. Vinoba’s thought process can be inscribed in one’s being on different planes of existence through a spiritual, yet practical lifestyle which is integral to society. This is a mode of life which has a spiritual approach, yet a lay- person’s life (with all its aspects) as its path and vehicle— a life that has bhakti, jnana and karma as its three firm, equally important pillars. The prime cause of disturbance and distraction in the mind is our own perception of the world. When a question of transcending a problem arises in human life, to a large extent the problems are on the plane of mind. And it is here that in Vinoba’s discourses and experiences one finds a manual to solve these problems. Meditation, which is the seventh limb of Patanjali’s Yoga-shastra, has always remained elusive to most common practitioners, and any effort in that direction is usually frustrating. This book gives both a diagnosis and prescription for the wandering, mundane mind. Vinoba emphasises here two things, which are essential in various references and life situations. First is - 9 - - 10 - chitta-shuddhi which is the purification of mind and everything else from the purification of one’s food intake to the purification of one’s livelihood. Second is the need of detaching ourselves from our minds. He points out that this detachment is necessary not only from a spiritual point of view, but even more importantly, it is crucial for service and to be able to thrive and benefit in the age of science. In all his writings, Vinoba maintains that life with all its aspects is one evenly woven fabric. To be able to understand and feel this unity, one’s mind and intelligence needs to be unfragmented. This deep conviction and faith in the underlying unity will remove all the causes and excuses for the wandering of the mind, and the mind on its own will become quiet. He goes on to show how the mind, once it is untangled and unknotted, will allow a person to easily dive within himself and taste the nectar of the soul, which is sat-chit-ananda. The effort of translating Vinoba’s thoughts on dhyana and yoga into English has been undertaken with utmost humility and without any claims to scholarship. My only earnest wish and hope is that this book will end up in a person’s hands who, to begin with, will be guided in the path of dhyana, and then through the conviction of his own experiences, spread Vinoba’s practice and philosophy for the benefit of a broader English-speaking audience. My sincere gratitude and thanks to all my teachers for their guidance and friends for their help. I am deeply obliged to Shri Sarvanarayandas for his insightful and valuable comments and editing. Special thanks to Rosanne McGraw for her help in finding the right words to express the complex concepts in this book. — Pranati - 11 - 4. Miracles and Mystic Visions 4.1 Miracles - - - - - - - - - - - - - 59 4.2 Divine Revelation: not Realization of the Supreme Self, only an assurance - - - - - - - - 62 5. Samadhi CONTENTS 5.1 Effortless achievement of samadhi - - 68 5.2. Sleep: state of deep absorption - - - 70 Different Facets of Dhyana (Meditation) 5.3 Dhyana-samadhi and Jnana-samadhi - - 75 1. The Nature of Dhyana 5.4 Collective sadhana, collective samadhi - 78 1.1 The mind is fickle - - - - - - - - - - 1 6. Supramental Psyche 1.2 Purification of the mind: 6.1 Detachment from mind, beyond mind essential for dhyana - - - - - - - 5 and vacant mind - - - - - - - - 86 1.3 How to purify the mind - - - - - - 7 6.2 Supramental plane: 1.4 Making concentration possible - - - 10 the need of the Age of science - - - 99 1.5 Untainted Mind - - - - - - - - - - 13 A. Sri Aurobindo’s Concept 1.6 Dhyana and spirituality - - - - - - - 15 B. The demand of the Age of Science 2. The Purpose of Dhyana 7. Abhidhyana 2.1 Practice of Dhyana: 7.1 Meditation on the Omnipresent God -110 to explore the Inner Mystery - - 18 7.2 Outcome and the process - - - - - - 116 2.2 Dhyana is symbolism - - - - - - - 25 8.