32.
SILENCE: SELF-IMPOSED OR
IMPOSED BY THE SELF?

THAT which is, is sat ^[?] variously termed positively as
Light, Supreme or Prime Consciousness, Fullness,
Heaven, Silence, Grace, and negatively as Nirvana,
Nisreyah and so on. Its aspects of Chit and Ananda,
knowledge and Bliss, are expressed as the Heart of all that
appears as Existence. In its aspect as Grace its one effort is
to express itself through all that exists. This expression of
joy is the eternal Dance behind all the wakefulness, dreams
and peaceful sleep of life, though these three alone appear
as our experience.

      The effort of humanity from time immemorial has
been to discover this Joy eternal and this has been termed
Tapasya. The result of such an effort is not the attainment
of something new but only fitting the vehicle so as to be
overtaken by the ever-present Grace and be in It, and
then to find that there is nothing but It. Wherever there
is a perfect vehicle the overtaking and the expression of
Grace are immediate and perfect, and such a one is termed
Maharshi, Siddha, Jivan-Mukta and so on.

THE TRANSFORMATION
Nearly fifty six years ago such a perfect vehicle
appeared on earth. After sixteen years of apparently normal
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life the Grace of life awakened in Him, gushed in and out
of Him, caught and drew His normal consciousness deeper
and deeper inward into that in which nothing but Itself is
seen or heard or known, in which there is not the shining
of the sun, the moon, or the stars, but which is all these
and fullness Itself. In the Grace enthralled or Grace-
embraced condition, aware of nothing but ever-awareness,
the vehicle was propelled or impelled to Arunachala, Light-
Constant. Here, absolutely controlled by the Light ever-
aware, He sat and sat and sat. He could not talk, not that
He would not. He could not open His eyes, not that He
would not. He could not move, not that He would not.
What we call `He' was under the control of an inner-
something which was to Him an experience of
unterminating awareness, and Bliss all-embracing. That
state of fullness is the Mouna of perfect Shanti, the Reality
into which the Maharshi awoke and in which there was
no `he' to act.

      While the small bubble of `he' was merged in the
wide expanse and kept enthralled, His being was being
renewed and reconstructed, the old faculties partook of
the nature of the essence into which they were merged.
Until His re-cloaking and re-decoration was complete,
hugged the Son firmly in His sleep, and the Son, enjoying
the inner recess of His Father's Chamber, was of necessity
lost to all knowledge of the outer thatch. When this process
of attuning was complete, the Parent let go the Child to
play with whatever urchins might come to Him in the
street. The Child, in the same way as the Parent and being
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perfectly as towering a personality as the Father, was sure
that He could not be tarnished by the touch of the foul
urchins in the street. Nay, He was sure He could not only
play with them, but was fully conscious that He could
transform them all after His own and His Father's Image.

RETURN OF THE VOICE
When He came out, He found that He had lost His
power of speech in the fullness of His joy and communion
in the silent language of His Parent. He could have quietly
slid back into the enjoyment of His Father's chamber, but
no. He was all-compassion for the urchins, and He began
to lisp and prattle like a new-born babe. Those who were
fortunate enough to be close at hand, when He came out
of His Father's Chamber, can testify to His first efforts to
articulate. His vocal chords could not coherently put words
together for long years after this release. Today His soothing
voice, silvery eyes and golden touch are the solace of
thousands and thousands of pilgrims from the East and
the West. May this Grace be with us forever and bless all
who long for Light.

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