Silence is the only way to communicate the experience of Brahman. 7 rushis went to Bhagwan Sri Dakshinamurthy, as they were requested to teach about Self realization or Brahmanubhuti. Dakshinamurthy sat in silence for 72 years. And 7 rushis also sat in silence in front of him for 72 years. He was communicating, what is Brahman realization about. Because, Brahman realization cannot be expressed through’ any words, ideas, or concepts. The words, ideas, or concepts belong to the category of mind and intellect. The experience of Brahman realization is beyond mind and beyond intellect. Mind and intellect, body are vehicles, instruments. Just like, there is tube light, fan, when the electricity goes thro’ them, the tube light is able to give light, and the fan rotates. But, fan and tube light can never understand about electricity. The body, mind, and intellect concept can understand Brahman experience, Brahman realization.
When the mind is silent, free from ignorance, the mind becomes one with the Brahman and that is the Brahman experience. So, because the mind is absent, the experience cannot be communicated. Let us take 2 types of experiences: one is empirical experience and the other is the experience of Self realization or Brahman realization. In empirical experience, which is nothing but worldly experience, there is something to be known. I know the flower, I know the taste of sugar. So, there is an object and the subject. There is a separation between the object and the subject. When three is the separation between the object and subject, you can explain that experience. The explanation may not be correct, it may be inaccurate. But an explanation is possible. For example, you can say ‘I ate jalebi, which is sweet’. Sweet is a word which communicates some idea to somebody. How sweet it is…all those things you cannot communicate. But, if the idea is to communicate, you cannot communicate the idea to somebody, who has no experience of that. Somebody, who doesn’t understand sweet, even if you say sweet, he doesn’t understand. So, to communicate some idea, the person also should have some experience. Otherwise, you cannot communicate. The communication may not be accurate, but communication can happen, thro’ words and ideas, in the empirical experience or experience of the world.
Brahman’s experience or the realization of Brahman is beyond thought, or word, or deed. Physical, mental, and intellectual. So, there is no way you can explain. That is why people who realize Brahman, they communicate thro’ silence. Somebody asked Budha, ‘what did you realize?” He said, ‘ I woke up or was awakened’. He didn’t say he realized something. Because any positive statement will restrict the scope. The positive statement can belong to the category of empirical experience, known. That is why Upanishads teach the Brahman as ‘neti..neti..neti…not this…not this…not this…’ It teaches in a negative way. Even the experience of Brahman realization, Advaitha, is a negative word. Advaitha doesn’t mean oneness. Advaitha means there is no two, it doesn’t say one. The experience of Brahman cannot be communicated through’ a positive word. Because positive word restricts the scope of communication.
For example, I will say, that flower is red in color. It is a very positive statement, it is an accurate statement. Now, it restricts the scope and points to an experience. Suppose I say, that flower is not red, it is a negative statement. Then, it can be pink, it can be yellow, it can green, or it can be any color. It leaves open. So that is why Upanishads teach the experience of Brahman in the negative terms ‘neti..neti…neti…’ because, what is Consciousness, cannot be explained through’ any words. It is the Consciousness, which gives the power to the speech, power to the intellect, power to the mind. Just like electricity powers to the tube light, tube light can never understand electricity, the mind, intellect, and body cannot understand Consciousness. So, the experience of Self realization can only be communicated through’ silence. But, then, it becomes difficult for people to understand. What will people understand? Somewhere, you have to communicate communication. So, that is why rushis used positive words for communication. They said ‘sath…chith…ananda’, ‘truth…Consciousness…and bliss’. They said, ‘sathyam jnanam anantam Brahma’. Truth, knowledge, infinity is Brahma. They said, ‘tatvam asi’, ‘you are that’. These are all abstractions which are helping your mind to ponder over Brahman, but they are not accurate statements. They are not precise, even though they are abstract statements which will help you to understand the nature of Brahman’s experience. Because a human mind needs some support. The support is given in terms of the teachings of Upanishads. These are indicative of Brahman’s experience, but they are not accurate. Because no words can accurately explain the Brahman.
That is why rushis said ‘neti..neti..neti..not this..not this..not this..’ and left open realization of Brahman as a direct experience, because ‘iti..iti..iti..’, if you say ‘this..this.this.’ the mind comes into the picture and tries to find out something, object, conceptualizes. If you say ‘no..no..no’ the mind cannot conceptualize. That is why it is said “ yatho vacho nivarthanthe”, to talk about Brahman, the words will fail, the words cannot explain it. It is anirvachaneem. This is the nature of Brahman’s experience. You cannot speak. You cannot communicate. You can only point. The point is different from the pointer. The pointer is different from the pointed. If I show the moon, my finger is here, but the moon is there. You have to look at the moon. All statements of scripture are pointers. But, people catch hold of the pointer and think that that is the reality. No..the reality or truth, the absolute truth can be explained in no words. Words fail. Silence is indicative. But, there is this silence of the fool, and silence of the Wiseman. A fool also can be silent, a Wiseman also can be silent. So, silence can be misunderstood. That is why, some guidelines are given, some pointers are given to help you.
Pranams.