The gathering assembled before him at 10 A.M. and Baba inquired, “Did you sleep well last night? I ask this because you all have to be awake and attentive tonight for three hours, from 7:30 to 10:30 P.M.”
All replied that they had slept well, and Baba continued at length:
Now, listen. I want all to observe silence on the 18th for twelve hours in such a way that it equals silence for one thousand two hundred days! This silence must be both within and without – internal as well as external. External silence is easy, but the internal is difficult.
Now, what do I mean by internal silence? It means you must silence your mind for twelve hours. When you speak with the tongue, it is speech. When the lips are sealed, it is external silence. Now, the mind, too, has a tongue of its own with which it talks. The continual working of the mind is like the mind continually talking. The very creation of a thought is like speaking internally. Hence the “lips” of the mind must be sealed.
Keeping the mind silent for twelve hours is equal to not thinking at all with the mind for twelve hours. But the mind does not stop thinking for even twelve seconds! If anyone can consciously keep the mind’s thoughts silent for even twelve seconds, he would achieve a very advanced spiritual state.
You feel blank at times for a moment or more, but that does not mean the mind’s working has stopped. To stop the mind from thinking, or to make it think and concentrate on one thought, are both equal. If the mind cannot be stopped from thinking, the best remedy is to try and engage it by concentrating on one particular object.
If you really from the bottom of your heart wish, as I want you to, to gain in August not only the experience but also the knowledge to work for me in the future, then do tomorrow and on the 18th as I tell you.
From seven in the morning to seven in the evening, observe silence externally. Each of you should sit at a distance of six to seven feet from one another, and try not to think of anything except what I will explain to you tonight on the chart.
To drive away thoughts means not to entertain or encourage other irrelevant thoughts.
–www.lordmeher.org, p2875