Gather the mind with one sound of Om. Lead the mind by the mind and bring it to the silence in the heart space within. Into that silence let the mind slip. The job is done.
When in the inner halls of silence, what is still possible by me to contemplate upon?
The itch to do something that never goes even after the mind is quiet. Many names of the truth can be contemplated about.
If we contemplate on a computer or a car, we may not become the same thing. We can get close to own it.
However, the rare privilege of becoming what we think about is only with the self. If I contemplate on the self, I become that. Brahmavid Brahmaiva Bhavati, the one who knows the Brahmaan, becomes the Brahmaan, say the Upanishads.
The Amrita Bindu Upanishad mentioned the process of chanting the sound of Om to reach the soundless state of silence within.
When the mind merges with the silence, then the presence of the thoughts of the world—the names, forms and qualities—cease to hold their sway on us.
That silence has no parts to it. The body has parts: hands, legs, neck, head and waist. The blood that courses through has no parts to it.
In the same way, sounds have parts. They can be classified as good and bad, right and wrong, bright and dull. The divisions that sounds create are innumerable.
The silence in which they spring forth from, sustain and fade into is divisionless.
There are no imaginary mental formations caused by various sounds, words and sentences with different meanings. The silence has got no taint or smear upon it.
When I realise that silence is myself and not anything else that I see, hear, taste, smell, touch or think about, in a rice I earn that supreme state of existence called the Brahmaan. This process is foolproof and certain says the rishi who declared this Upanishad.
The Upanishad points out to a goal which is attainable. That goal is a steady and permanent peace of mind and the means is to realise the self.
In the quiet state of mind when all sound ripples cease, the mind can contemplate on the uniformity of this self which is present equally in all and in everything.
Just because an elephant has a big body, it does not mean that the self in the animal is big and just because thebody of an ant is tiny, it does not mean that the self in the insect is tiny! There are no false imaginations, hopes, anxieties and worries in this self. That state of silence is my true reality.
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