Silence is (Not) Golden

Prafulla Kumar Mohanty 

Those who taught us this maxim, perhaps, imagined life and world as moral order, where human rationality directed all human doables. Silence is for contemplation. The yogis, philosophers and thinkers thought of silence as the endpoint of all irrational volubility that makes man a nervy, distracted person who loses the fulcrum of his authentic self. Silence restores the balance to weigh events, actions, words to get the proper measure of reality. But silence does not mean the universe would be still, motionless and almost soporific. Nature is never silent. The rivers, oceans continue their roar,liquid, limpid flow in varying rhythms. The moon and the stars speak in soundless lean whispers the romance of life. Even dreams speak a language to make man laugh or cry or to get up with a start at the dead of night. Man at times, however rare cries eureka as though he has found out the absolute truth of all mysteries. The sensor of the mind never sleeps. A guilty mind as Lady Macbeth in her somnambulistic awakening speaks of blood in her hands which the multitudinous seas cannot wash off. All creative minds whisper to no one in particular words and ideas while in total abstraction from time and space. The grass blades murmur when the spring breeze soft - fans them to playfulness. The man who feels lonely in a noisy crowd mutters disbelief at the range of vocabulary of the gushing multitudes. Waiting for a phone call too is not a silent surrender to the whims of the expected caller: he groans in disgust, sighs his impatience and often breaks the phone if the wait is longer. Man, nature, society are not meant to be silent. Silence belongs to the realm of death.

 

But what is purported by this ‘wisdom’ is noninterference in complex, complicated things or affairs. If elders are discussing a problem better not to speak something silly. In the present border situation of India at Ladakh if someone says “… I would have chased away the Chinese soldiers in 15 minutes” that would illustrate the maxim’s efficacy. The speaker here is a mindless person. It smacks of puerility. Silence in such situations is golden if you have any psychic problems against the people responsible for the peace and security of the country. When you hear wrong facts from people who matter automatically you keep quite. And if the audience is silent when the speaker thought they would burst out in laughter, he would rewind the tape in his mind and know where he was wrong. He would rectify. A true scholar listens to the wrong suggestions of peers in silence. Often the women in the family listen to the irrational tirades of the parents out of respect. But silence should never mean acquiescence or acceptance of imposed lies and false accusations.  Silence is golden as long as your inner being is not hurt; your rights are not infringed upon, and your character is not compromised. Silence can also be defiance. It is the most subtle kind of protest provided the authority or people against whom protest is made are not dumb nincompoops. Gandhi’s fast against the British administration and his silence as a response to torture were the most potent weapons: and the perpetrators understood Gandhi’s strength. Silence in certain situations is “trumpet tongued” to borrow a phrase from Macbeth’s soliloquy. Silence however, should not be allowed to be misconstrued as admission of guilt. If you listen to false accusations in silence you are more guilty than the accuser, however respectable and powerful he might be. One should remember that the Accuser is not always Caesar’s wife. Mindless silence before Royalty, Nobility or Justice and the Tyrant is suicidal – if one is not guilty of anything. A secret agent may keep silent to protect his country and that is honourable silence. If by opening your lips you jeopardize peace, security well being or integrity of a country or a great man, one should be silent. Sealing your lips to protect someone from the wrong side of justice you may save a reputation. But if your silence makes a guilty man escape your silence is homicidal.

 

Today in India and some other countries we see a new trend of so called civilization: and that is synecdochic of the new values of prudence. If you see a crime committed on the road you  go blind. If you are called to testify you will be silent on truth and vocal on irrelevance. If your friend or a neighbor harbours terrorists you should keep quiet for dear life. A modern, educated person is a self-whole, he is the total life system. Nothing exists beyond his own safety, security and well being. He is not responsible for anything. His charmed circle of life has a radius of half a centimeter, and that too is large enough to maintain.  The justice system in the world is awry because testimony is truth- blind. If you saw a rape you will try to prove you were not in the country; you were abroad holidaying with nymphs from another galaxy. Of course, truth in the modern society is hard to digest.  A whistle blower is done and dusted if he breaks his silence on personal or institutional corruption. Yes in such cases one has to choose between heroism and self centered cowardice. But if you remember your lessons of childhood and say Silence is Golden, you are unworthy of living a life.

 

In love and faith silence is never golden. If you love someone confess everything and if your sweetie is guilty of anything make a sacrifice of her: for your silence ruins someone else and also your love. Couples who are silent in love live not like saints but like animals. Sex too is animalish if there is no poetry and music in your union. Faith too deserves the respect of your being. Hypocrisy of silence is not a culpable crime, it is a moral failing which reduces man to the quintessence of dust. A man should be open, free and use silence either as a weapon to save people or as a shield to protect innocence. Silence is unnatural and evil if it is a fig leaf to cover your unmanliness.