Mauna: Silence Please, It's Mauni Amavasya

By Pranav Khullar

Mauna: Silence Please, It's Mauni Amavasya

Indian tradition emphasises the concept of mauna or silence as an ideal trigger for introspection and reflection.

Derived from the word muni , an ascetic who practises silence, mauna ideally symbolises a state of oneness with the Self.

Mauna has been described by Sankara as one of the three essential attributes of a sanyasi , along with balya or childlike state and panditya or wisdom. According to Ramana Maharshi, mauna is a state beyond speech and thought, it is "living without the ego-sense".

He made silence the medium of spiritual instruction.

The ancients set aside an entire month in winter for spiritual discipline and the exercise would culminate in complete silence on the 15th day of the dark fortnight of magha , known as Mauni Amavasya .

Meditation on this day is believed to be extremely meritorious, particularly if undertaken at the confluence of the three rivers at Prayag or Allahabad. To this day, seekers and sadhaks come from afar to Prayag to practise rigorous month-long austerities and ceremonies, known as kalpa-vas , which ends with the observance of Mauni Amavasya. Widely perceived as an auspicious day, Mauni Amavasya also has a symbiotic relationship with the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad, and this is reinforced in the annual Magha Mela of the kalpa-vasees . Ancient yoga literature describes the three rivers in metaphorical terms, as the sushumna, ida and pingala nadis within the body which have to be brought into equipoise to enter the state of mauna or samadhi.

The quest for Oneness has attracted many a seeker on the path of contemplation through the practice of silence. J Krishnamurti often said: "The mind that enters itself goes on a long pilgrimage from which there is no return." Silence was the defining characteristic of both Mahavira and Buddha's search for meaning - one observed silence for 12 years on his chosen path and the other was exemplified as the silent sage, Sakyamuni, "the silent one of the Sakya tribe". Silence also marked Sri Aurobindo's sadhana for he observed mauna for nearly 17 years, and Mahatma Gandhi was a votary of the vow of silence, observing mauna every Monday. This transforming voice of silence led Ramana Maharshi to hold mauna as the best and highest form of diksha or initiation.

Thayumanavar, the great Tamil saint-poet, followed the discipline of mauna till it became his natural state of being, which led him to describe it as "that state which spontaneously manifests after the annihilation of the ego".

Mauni Amavasya is a day of spiritual sadhana, of getting into the habit of calming the restless mind. Sivaya Subramuniyaswami talks of the seven steps towards golden silence, of how to let go of fears and anxieties and jealousies, of the need to overcome the fear of silence itself which we all have, by beginning with "just sitting and being quiet". Apart from its religious import, Mauni Amavasya is a call of the inner Self, of the need for initiating an inner Ôdialogue' with oneself, of the need to start the spiritual journey.

Swami Chidananda sees the vow of silence as one of the basic spiritual disciplines for the evolution of the Ôdivine life' of man, starting with the mauna of vak or speech, which, through practice of silence, will lead to the real mauna of mind.

In direct contrast to the Cartesian cogito ergo sum: I think, therefore I am, Vedantic seers from Sankara to Ramana have defined the state of freedom from the mind and mauna as the key to that spiritual dimension, which enables one to be a witness to the mind.

Tradition holds Mauni Amavasya to be an ideal time to control the vikshepa or distractions of the mind and focus attention within. The occasion is a call to the spirit of the ancient adage: "Be still and know thyself."