MAUNA - Silence. A spiritual tool and cure for the throat By Korina Kontaxaki (translation Marilena Iordanou)

It seems strange, but conscious silence may be the homeopathic solution to expel everything that has been “stuck in the throat” for years. This happens because words are ultimately the weakest and falsest way of expression. The Ego has conquered the word and has distorted it. So if our word is not purified with conscious silence, it cannot be used to free us from whatever burden us. On the contrary, abstaining from talking will not only purify the word, but will "burn" the tapa fire (discipline), everything that has stuck there. Don’t forget that there are two ways to clean what burden us:

1. To set it free or

2. To burn it with discipline.

Perfecting Satya-truthfulness, makes what it say, happen. Somebody, though, to perfect the Satya of the word, we must purify our word with silence and then speak rarely, when one is sure he will speak truthfully.

During our living together, we practice mauna after 6 in the afternoon. We practice mauna even at dinner time. It is a spiritual practice, which not only purges the word it strengthens consciousness.

1.     Mauna is a kind of discipline (tapas). All disciplines when done consciously, train the spirit and work our karma.

2.     Mauna is the direct way not to violate the yamas during our social interaction. When we don’t talk, it is harder to violate ahimsa (no harm), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (no violation of boundaries), Aparigaha (austerity), Brahmacharya (waste of vital energy). * Excessive talking wastes vitality, same as too much eating and having too much sex.

3.     Mauna is the way to "be in the now" and not to "represent something". If you record the reasons why we are talking, you will see that it is rarely for the now and rarely for the "I am" / soul”, and of course over 50% is not needed to be said. We often talk to

1. Judge

2. To justify

3. To impose our opinion

4. To draw attention.

4.     Mauna protects us from uncontrolled energy-wasting communication and creates karma. When we talk only to be social, then we go against our true nature, since in reality we do not want to talk.

5.     With Mauna, we become much more sensitive to the vibration of sounds and sound affects us more easily. We can then repeat a prayer, a Mantra or listen to music and experience fully the vibrations and their effect.

6.     With the Mauna, we absorb meditation or any practice or theory it precedes. If we talk after meditation or satsang (spiritual gathering), then vibrations change and absorption stops. Same happens with relaxation after the asanas. If we do not relax after an asana, but move on to another motion or other asan, absorption doesn’t happen.

7.     With Mauna we experience that there are other ways of communication (such as telepathic communication) which has cease to exist due to excessive talking. We also experience that there is no necessity to immediately share EVERYTHING that goes through our head.

8.     And finally, it is more practical when we are in an Asram to avoid unnecessary talking which eventually create misunderstandings, and misfortunes.

From my experience in various ashrams (communes) as a student but also as a teacher I have experienced that it is impossible for one to evolve in a commune, if we waste ourselves daily on unnecessary encounters, and do not purge our word with mauna.