The Sound of Silence (Original Version from 1964)

मौन-ध्वनि mauna-dhvani (The Sound of Silence)





Can there really be Silence(मौन)(mauna)?


Even if we keep quiet and decide not to speak as in a vow of silence (मौन-व्रत)(mauna-vrta) can we really be truly silent?


Silence in the real sense is almost impossible though many say in transcendental meditation its possible but  as a person who does not practice meditation I would not know this for sure though many who meditate claim to feel the union with the Universal Studios..ooops Universal Consciousness...but isn't an experience of a mystical kind too not actually silent? Cos its felt isn't it?


We then have to go back to the definition of the word Silence.


Does Silence mean only absence of sound?

Or is Silence the absence of thought,word,deed and experience?


Let's see, in deep sleep is there really silence?

Well, if you snore (घर्घररव)(gharghararava) then you are not being silent either!


Ok..deep sleep is almost silence to most of us but is it?


What about the sound of the breath(श्वास-ध्वनि)(shvAsa-dhvAni) and

 the sound of the heart beat (हृदयस्पन्दन-ध्वानि) (hRdayaspandana-dhvAni) which functions in the background to keep us alive in deep sleep or even in deep meditation?


So is silence ever possible?


May be Simon and Garfunkle got it right...Silence is a Sound.(मौन ध्वनि इति)(mauna dhvAni iti)