I went to Rishikesh in Northern India, seeking spiritual silence, wanting to find within me a centre that was promised if I only journeyed inwards. I went to experience the place that people speak of when they talk of wholeness. Yet what I discovered there was something that went against the grain of what belies that holy place.
It wasn’t from within that I found the silence. It was not the spiritual teachings or what to me felt like nonsensical repetition of mantra and posture. It was not yielding at the foot of some guru who had answers I was not privy to. It was not in purification of my physical being that it came rushing for me.
I found what I came seeking when I opened my eyes and gazed upon the wide moon setting over the Ganges, streaking its silver light over the rippling water. It arrived as the sun set behind the mountains making life glow pink for the briefest of moments. It rushed upon me as I jumped into the cold waters of the deep river feeling it’s coolness wash over me. It came when I was the only one with my eyes open.
We seek inside ourselves that which we can experience in troves when we simply open our eyes.
As twilight makes the mountains appear painted under a purpling sky we find it there. Or the glimmer of daylight rising behind the blackened peaks teasing the morning out of the darkness.
It is in the moment your daughter curls her fingers around your hair and thus falls into a soft slumber now that physical thread connects you safely together.
It is in the silvery blue of the ocean as the moon casts its light from the sky all the way to your toes that lap in the shallows of the shore.
We find it in the wonder of a child who rolls in the autumn leaves unashamedly laughing with joy.
It is there when the sun is finally high enough in the sky after a long wintering that it bathes your skin in warmness.
We find it around the campfire with friends, sharing a moment in time.
It is in the way the bluebells carpet the forest floor, laying out their world before us for but a season.
When the rain pounds upon a tin roof and you sit watching it spill into the earth around you, it is right there.
We can find the spiritual silence the moment we open our eyes, and truly see the world around us.
I wonder if sometimes all our internal seeking simply serves to bury us. When what we seek is reflected to us when we just look up and look out. The sky, the moon, the mountains, the deep blue sea has the power to dig us out again.
Have you experienced this too? Where do you find your spiritual silence? I’d love to know the places it falls upon you.
Wow I love this!! I know the exact feeling you are talking about, my biggest one is probably where there are no distractions and one of my kids in just snuggled up beside me. Everything is silent and there is nothing more important than that moment. It is hard to live in that feeling in our day to day but there are so many moments, as you mentioned that we can find it...if we allow. Beautiful post!!