The extraordinary is not reserved for the select few. Extraordinary success, power, fame, and wealth is often associated as an abstract phenomenon that only the privileged few seem to have. The secret to extraordinary, is the human ability to awaken the power within which is possible through nothing…yes, you read it right! Its nothing.

We live in an extremely busy world. The speed at which our life changes is often nerve racking, our minds are always busy, and we’re always doing something.

Take a moment to reflect… when was the last time you did nothing? Nothing as in really nothing….. No texting, facebooking, whatsapping, emailing, browsing, watching TV, reading, eating, etc counts as something. Even pondering about the past or wondering about the future counts as activity. Simply doing nothing….being in a state of complete silence is true bliss.

Some benefits of being in silence:-

1. Lowers blood pressure and allows you to deal with stress

2. Boosts your immunity.… and makes it easier for your body to fight pathogens

3. Spending time in silence boosts your brain chemistry… and allows you to focus better too

4. Silence slows down the ageing process and at the same time have a lot more energy.

5. Silence reduces stress (lowers blood cortisol levels and adrenaline levels) which is the biggest killer in the world…

6. Silence allows for good hormone regulation and interaction of all the hormone related systems in your body.

7. Silence keeps plaques from forming in arteries… and thus helping to prevent cardiovascular disease and strokes.

8. Silence helps your brain to become more interactive leading to higher cognitive abilities.

The will to silence yourself, freeing your mind from the clutter is an extraordinary thing. The human mind, is the most valuable and precious resource, through which we experience every single moment of our life. The mind that we rely upon to be happy, content, emotionally stable as individuals, and at the same time, to be kind and thoughtful and considerate in our relationships with others. We depend on this mind to be focus, think, act, and to perform at our very best in everything that we do… but don’t take any time out to for it.

We spend so much time fretting over our clothes, accessories, grooming and other meaningless chores. The rest our mind needs is solitude or being in silence and doing nothing. Just ten minutes of a day can radically change your life.

Hinduism has a reference to solitude and silence called the Mauna Vrata…

Mauna Vratha basically refers to the vow of keeping silent for a certain period of time. For one to improve their spiritual growth, one’s speech must be pure, and in order to acquire the purity of speech, the practice of Mauna Vratha is essential. This has been emphasized in our Hindu texts.

The Hindu sages strongly believed that through silence one will be able to achieve what they desire. For this very purpose, in Bhadon, the sixth month of Hindu calendar, 16 days of Mauna vratha is considered useful. God Shiva is known to spend great amount of time in solitude.

In Bhagavad Gita, 17/16, it is said:

manah?-prasadah? saumyatvam´

maunam atma-vinigrahah?

bhava-sam´suddhir ity etat

tapo manasam ucyate

Contentment of the mind, amiable temperament, silence, religious meditation and good thoughts reflect austerity of the mind

Silence is considered to be a great quality that many fail to possess. The character of a person has its roots on how controlled their mind is, and a controlled mind is a result of selective speech. When one cuts down unwanted speech and anchors the thoughts towards God, they generate good thoughts and end up having a friendly outlook towards others.

In Chanakya Niti, 11/9, it is said:

Whoever can remain silent everyday for a full year becomes worthy of thousands of years of praise in heaven.

The practice of keeping silent has been practiced for a very long time dating back to the Mahabharata. An interesting episode that depicts the power of silence, is documented as….

Once Mahrishi Vedavyas finished dictating the last sholka to God Ganesha, he said “Vigneshwar! Blessed is your writing. The Supreme Spirit has created the Mahabharata and you have written it. What is more amazing is your silence. During dictation I must have spoken almost twenty hundred thousand words, but all along I did not hear  a single word from you.”

Ganesha carefully responded, “Bdryan! Some lamps have a lot of oil; others have only a little. No lamp has a continuous supply of oil. In the same way, gods, mankind  and demons have a limited life. Only those who have self-control and use their powers with patience and understanding can fully benefit from their life. The first step to self-control is to control one’s speech. Whoever cannot control his speech loses energy unnecessarily. Through control of speech one avoids such a loss. I have always believed in the power of silence.”

We all are aware of the saying ‘Silence is golden’, and it could not be any closer to the truth. You can conserve energy by maintaining silence and it will help you focus more. It will help you gain divinity and moves to closer to the goals you strive to reach.

So, start something new and try Mauna Vratha for yourself. Spare just ten minutes of your day and mentally isolate yourself from the loud and brash world we live in. Experience an awakening and in the company of silence, witness yourself becoming more aware of your surroundings, seeing things more clearly and having a calmer approach to any problem. And in no time you will have a richer quality of life.

And this doesn’t require you to do anything fancy, like trying a yoga asana, or heading to the hills. Just find a quiet place and spend the most valuable 10 minutes of your day, today.

Go ahead, and experience the extraordinary power of nothing, now! We’d love to hear, how your life improved.