Meditation for peace of mind -The Power of Mauna 'Interpreting Peace and Silence'

Normally, when someone asks me to attend a meeting, my first intellectual response is the timing, since I do late nights and early morning meetings are always an issue for me. Similarly, when someone asks me to meditate, I first search for silence. To cook, we got to be in the kitchen. Similarly, to meditate, we got to be in silence.

Silence is a very simple word and a very simple state. We believe, we observe silence many times during a day, even in this noisy age. But my interpretation of silence is a bit different.

Normally, silence is interpreted as absence of noise. When there is no one shouting in the neighborhood, when we are not on the streets, when the television set is switched off and the cell phone isn’t ringing, when a kid is not crying, we term the environment silent and peaceful. Peace has always been associated with silence. They say where there is silence, there is peace. Many philosophers have said about meditation for peace of mind - The Power of Mauna can bring silence and one could be at through long practice of "mauna" the inner silence. But the question is–do we interpret silence correctly?

I remember our school was famous for its pin-drop silence which means that even if you drop a pin in the building, its echo could be heard. That’s because there is no crowd of sounds from multiple sources. Even in normal life, sometimes at home, sometimes at the park early dawn, we come across such silence. But the question is–does silence refer to the absence of noise or high decibel sound?

My take is a NO. Because I believe, silence does not simply mean the lack of noise, high decibel sound or even any kind of sound that we refer to as SOUND. Because I believe, that silence means the absence of waves created by the thoughts of our mind. Mind carries the energy of the soul and with that energy; it creates thoughts which are again made of energy. This energy is further converted into actions which again are energy, but this energy affects mass–the mass of our body as well as foreign masses. All energy has music. Yoga practitioners have experienced the music created by the likes of Om and Soham–which have been termed as Universal words. Om and Soham are the sound of vibrations created by energy. Even scientists have said that this world is nothing but mass and energy. Energy is the creator, sustainer and destructor. All scientists have agreed that energy creates vibrations and resultant sound. So our thoughts created by mind carry vibrations, and hence sound.

Gifted musicians have been able to listen to music of nature 24x7. Many yoga practitioners can listen to the music not only created by nature (wind, water, sky, earth, etc.) but also the music created by our life force called prana in Sanskrit and chi in Chinese. Music is nothing else but rhythmic regulated sound. The case of thought vibrations are a bit more complex yet not very difficult to understand.

For instance, if thoughts flow one after another, our understanding of it is proper. However, if a crowd of thoughts come to us altogether flowing in from different corners, it becomes a web and we get confused. If our mind is hyperactive, then such situations are presented, and our understanding and actions get affected. It is very important, therefore, to have a neat symmetry of mind which can only be if thoughts do not flow too quickly. Thoughts flow quickly because our mind is unstable and keep jumping from one thought to another like a monkey. This instability can actually be termed as a hyper-active state of mind which happens due to high vibration. At the root therefore lies vibration. In order to lessen the vibration, we need a mind control tool, a step-by-step method that can actually transform our mind from hyper-activity to a state of calm and effective rhythm over a period of time. I find it pertinent to mention here that most human beings on earth today are facing this problem and are therefore low on concentration, face sleep disorders, have short memory and go through a lot of stress- all due to the needless crowd of thoughts.

So the big question is–what is that tool which can perform operation mind control for us? Which method can transform our mind state?

Well, tools like meditation, physical yoga, gymming, surfing, sports, music, martial art, mantra chanting and regulated breathing are normally considered to be the tools to de-stress and get calmer. Yoga, as a matter of fact, is being practiced globally today as a tool to transform the self. Mantra chanting is in fact a very common practice in the sub- continent for this purpose. The question is–do they serve the purpose?

The answer is–Yes, but only to some extent since the root always goes unaddressed with such forms of practice. Most importantly, it does not transform us into beings immersed in everlasting peace because of the existence of vibrations. All above actions are based on the mind itself and therefore are nothing but creations of the mind. They are positive thoughts that heal us, do us good, but are thoughts only; hence do not have the ability to control our mind fully.

This is where the ancient technique of Bhuma Yoga comes into play. This meditation technique is a step-by-step method that initially controls the mind and over a small period of time, brings an individual to complete stability of mind vibrations, a unique meditation for peace of mind - The Power of Mauna gives complete silence. This is the reason why Bhuma Yoga practitioners have established mind control resulting in better concentration, refreshment of memory and rest. Through this practice, one is able to transform from a hyper- active mind to a calm mind. The road ahead in Bhuma Yoga is that of pure spirituality, peace, love, faith, bliss and truth. But that is a broad subject, which can be discussed may be some other time.

Om

By Ishan Mukherjee Feature Writer

Vol.1, Issue 2, June/July 2025- Rishikesh Yogalaya