THE excellence of Silence lies in the fact that it provides the medium for all notes of music, in fact, it is the basis of all Sound. It might be true that we cognise silence only in its negative aspect only as the absence of sound. But like all observations of man whose knowledge is limited, it characterises our basic ignorance. The perfect ones always described silence as the music of the Self as the only possible means of communicating Real Knowledge. Even among the various kinds of mystic teaching that which points out the total absence of conscious choice in man’s actions and thereby vindicates the efficacy of surrender, renunciation. i.e., of not chosing but acting as the Universal Force impels one to act seems to be the highest. “Sit and do nothing” is the dominant tone. of the teaching of the Zen masters and of the Taoists.
Even the sayings of the Mother point out the same truth. As far as I understood them, the saying “Not teaching anything is my teaching’ of Mother seems to hold the crux of the problem. When someone asked Mother to prescribe some type of sadhana for him, She replied, “What’s the use of words? Doing (the needful) is all that’s needed.” When the visitor persisted she replied, “Practice whatever sadhana you can.” For, according to Her, only when sadhana yields itself to practice (i.e., becomes Sadhya) can one practice it. It is not as though sadhana can be accomplished simply by one’s choice and decision. Mother points out that even the first idea of doing Sadhana along the paths of faith, inquiry or action is what is induced by the First Cause. This incentive can not be the result of sadhana or individual effort. The will to endeavour cannot be a matter of choice. Everything tha follow such an impulse seems to be what one does by choice. Mother firmly asserts that all states of experience- from intense devotion to complete doubt are given (or caused) by the will of the Absolute and not attained’ by the individual.
“So you want us to sit quiet without doing anything, and resigning to the will of the Absolute?” someone asked.
“Even that is not in your hands to do!” she retorted.
“Then what should we do?” the perplexed visitor asked her.
“Do whatever you are impelled to; for, is it not He that impels you? Yours is not the responsibility for what you consider to be your action. He who has bestowed such traits on you and who impelled you to do so is alone responsible for those actions. Even if one commits what you call evil, I feel that it is not his fault. I feel that it is the fault of his Maker,” replied Mother.
“Then do you mean that we should give up Sadhana?” the visitor asked.
“I only say that neither choosing and pursuing a line of self discipline nor giving it up rests with you. Everything happens as it was ordained by the Will of the Omnipresent” replied Mother.
But what about the sayings of Mother regarding Bhakti, Jnana, Yoga, Samadhi etc., if, in her teaching, there is no place for human effort and volition? It must be noted that these sayings present the same truth that is stated above but only as viewed by the one of incomplete knowledge, one who is still passing through the stages that were preordained. Such a one feels that he is doing and attaining. Then does it mean that Mother had some kind of spiritual growth from imperfection to perfection? No. She declared “I am not anything now which I was not earlier. If there is any difference it is only in your understanding of me. We must remember that except for a few verses in The Bhagavadgeeta”, tha whole of its teaching is presented as the common individual views it; only a few verses present the truth from Krishna’s point of view, from the point of view of Perfect Wisdom. This does not mean that Lord Krishna is an evolved soul. Similarly even the whole of the Teaching of Ramana Maharshi is presented by him from the point of view of one who passed through the transition. For it is reported in the book “Day By Day With Bhagavan” (Pr. 274-75) that Bhagavan once said “I have never done any sadhana. I did not even know what sadhana was. Only long afterwards I came to know what sadhana was and how many different kinds of it there were… I am now sitting with my eyes open. I was then sitting with my eyes closed. That was all the difference. I was not doing any sadhana evn then. As I sat with my eyes closed, people said I was in samadhi. As I was not talking, they said I was in mauna. The fact is I did nothing. Some Higher Power took hold of me and 1 was entirely in Its hand.” We must remember that it was not left to Peter’s choice whether he would adhere to Christ or desert him on the eve of crucifixion. Nor had Judas any choice in the matter of betrayal.
In short, Mother does not teach us anything. She only helps. us in realizing the Truth in a way which was preordained. The purport of her teaching is silence. The silence of the Perfect One is said to work an inner change in the devotees. Perhaps this is what she implied when she said “What’s use of words? Doing (what is needful) is all that is needed,” when someone asked her for some spiritual instruction.