SATGURU SIVA YOGASWAMI (1872-1964), SRI LANKA'S MOST RENOWNED CONTEMPORARY SPIRITUAL MASTER
Silence is the highest eloquence. Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950), South Indian mystic
Silence is the first door to spiritual eminence. Adi Sankara (788-820), in his Vivekachudamani, 368
There is something beyond our mind which abides in silence within our mind. It is the supreme mystery beyond thought. Let one's mind and one's subtle body rest upon that and not rest on anything else. Maitri Upanishad
In silence, we can know ourselves. In silence, we observe better. A reacting mind is noisy. In silence, we come upon right action. A noisy mind leads to distorted action. In silence, we understand others. Otherwise we are in our own world. When we are silent, we hear God. Anonymous
Out of purity and silence come words of power. Swami Chinmayananda (1916-1993), founder of Chinmaya Mission
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt. Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Only in the depth of pure silence can we hear God's voice. Silence is like an upright empty glass that is capable of being filled with, and retaining, the water of knowledge. Mata Amritanandamayi Ma, India's Kerala-based "hugging saint "
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Tibetan spiritual-political leader in exile
If silence is silver, then to speak of God is golden. His Divine Holiness Pramukhswami Maharaj, spiritual head of Bochasanwasi Shree Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha
I am silence among all secrets. Bhagavad Gita 10.38
The food of the soul is silence. If we don't practice silence, we are starving ourselves. Dada J.P. Vaswani, spiritual head of Sadhu Vaswani mission
To speak or not to speak when that is the question, silence should take the place of speech. Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Silence is the language God speaks, and everything else is a bad translation. Thomas Keating, contemplative Christian monk and interfaith pioneer
Things that are real are given and received in silence. God has been everlastingly working in silence, unobserved, unheard, except by those who experience His Infinite Silence. Meher Baba (1894-1969)
Empty yourself of everything. Let the mind rest at peace. The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return. They grow and flourish and then return to the source. Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature. Lao Tzu (ca 600 bce), founder of Taoism
True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body nourishment and refreshment. William Penn (1644-1718), American peacemaker
He cannot be seen by the eye, and words cannot reveal Him. He cannot be reached by the senses, or by austerity or sacred actions. By the grace of wisdom and purity of mind, He can be seen, indivisible, in the silence of contemplation. This invisible Atman can be seen by the mind wherein the five senses are resting. Atharva Veda
Many people are afraid of silence. They have to be doing something all the time. Many people also are afraid of being alone. But actually no one ever is alone. He's always with his great divine Self. Every person has a great, divine Self within him an absolutely perfect, shining, sublime being of light. The voice of this being is a loud silence. The voice of your soul is a loud silence. Many people have said that the voice of God is a deep, profound silence. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001), founder of Hinduism Today
DID YOU KNOW?
Some estimates hold that the 2001 Maha Kumbha Mela in Prayag drew over thirty million pilgrims on January 24 alone. Guinness World Records claims that with 20 million people on January 30, 1995, the Ardha Kumbha Mela at Prayag holds the record for the "Largest Religious Crowd." Aside from other recent Kumbha Melas, such as Prayag's 15 million on February 6, 1989, and Haridwar's 10 million on April 14, 1998, the next runner-up is the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca with 2 million Muslim pilgrims. Christian evangelist Billy Graham drew his largest crowd in Seoul, Korea, in 1973 with 1.25 million, possibly the largest Christian gathering ever. Six million Christians pilgrimage to Lourdes, France, and 2.4 million people pilgrimage to Jerusalem, not daily, but annually. A hundred thousand people gathered in the Vatican for Easter in 1996, and 40,000 for Christmas in 2000.
TIRUKURAL
POSSESSION OF COMPASSION
Tirukural 242: Find and follow the good path, ruled by compassion. Of the many ways, that one leads to liberation.
Tirukural 244: Kindly ones who knowingly protect all life need never dread hurt from the actions of their own life.
Tirukural 248: Those without wealth may one day prosper, but those without kindness are uterly and incurably poor.
Tirukural 250: Before proceeding against men weaker than yourself, ponder when you stood before those more powerful.