Importance of Silence

Published on 2nd July, 2017, in Mid-day. While in American families, one is encouraged to verbalise, 'I love you', in most Indian families you don't need such overt expressions to feel loved and included. Through silence, many things can be communicated: love, hatred, acceptance, rejection, suffering, understanding. The unmanifest (nirakar) is seen as more potent than the manifest (sakar); provided you develop the sensitivity to see it. We know Indian society is Westernised because we now valorise speech over silence. Silence is now a bad word - equated with complicity, cowardice, inaction, even fear and submission. We have forgotten the muni, the sage who values silence ..