Rama: "If you and I are both non-existent, then who are you and who are you teaching?"

Vasistha remained absolutely silent.

Rama taunted, "Why are you silent?"

Vasistha: "Rama, I did not keep quiet because I could not answer your question, but silence was the only answer."

(Source: Yoga Vasistha, Swami Venkatesananda)

The question you posted last time about Travel Agency, well I kept quiet.

@ Kiddo....there are two kind of silence. 1) verbal silence 2) Mental silence. I am guessing you did the 1st one. In the above example, it's more about mental silence. For sage like Vasistha, to be in such a state of mental silence is a spontaneous natural process. The silence which Vasistha is talking is a "natural process." What do you mean by natural process? Natural process is an effortless process where one rest in its own nature. As wise sages have declared that, when all known things come to an end what remains is pure silence. This silence shouldn't be confused with mere "maun." Maun is just a verbal silence with so many disturbances still occurring in mental level.

meditative state can bring both verbal and mental silence.

@ bittertruth...that's very true. Verbal silence automatically follows mental silence, but not the other way around.

QUESTION:

Why did Vasistha wait till Rama asked the 2nd question to tell him that silence was the only answer?

ANSWER 1:

In hindi movie they have to build some suspense for no specific reason so they can play that suspense music.

ANSWER 2:

Vasistha should have kept silent till Rama asked the same question ten times so that he would understand the answer himself. Then V. could have said "read my lips"

My point is..what the heck does that even mean?
So, this kid asked me how the speed of light can be constant and I remained silence. My professor asked what kind of advantage does the first mover have in the Prisoner's Dilemma case, I remained silent. I told them both that silence was the only answer.

This is the problem of Hinduism. it is so vague and conflicting that Muslims and Christians convert hindus like if they were stealing candy from a little kid. our religion is nothing but stories and stories after stories often added, tweaked and started in the first place so it could be easily interpreted to fit the need of the story tellers . and in Hinduism since most things are written in sanskrits and only brahmins could read those sanskrits no other people could understand what it actually means. and brahmin has full control over how he wants to interpret the meaning. other casts were not even allowed to read or learn sanskrit.
bottom line is Ram had to fight and kill Rawan to get his wife back similarly Ujl had to get a hold of travel agent and buy ticket to fly to Nepal no matter how much non existence, mental silence, meditation, vedic knowledge we talk about.

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."

Albert Einstein

@pshrestha78...... What is it that you found Hinduism so vague and conflicting? What is this area of conflict?

oummmmm oummmmmmm ? please answer me...

in case if you're wondering i asked you a question with silence between first oummm and the second oummm...if you want me to ask again, here it is oumm..(silence)........... oummmmm...i'm sure you're going to reply me in silence as well i guess, or not reply me at all cuz no vedic reality no question or answer exist?

@pshrestha78, what exactly is your question? Be specific.

never mind Ujl, i have lots of questions and i have lots of respect for you too. i read your posts with great interest.. i do have questions but i have no time.. thanks for sharing great stuff at sajha..

My question is, what really does that mean?

@Kiddo.....Can you be more specific?

Why didn't Rama understand Vasistha's silence answer?

Power_Ranger,
To give you an uppertunity of asking this question.

So, I asked the question. Where is my answer? Are you going to answer me with a silence?

In reality answer is really not important thing. Answer brings you in surface whereas questions if directed correctly take you to deeper and deeper realms of existence. The mind which seek answers are petty minds, which wants to be pacified in little stupid things and remain there making alot of noise. Answers are nothing but clinging to some petty conclusions and ideas which in turn makes life itself superficial needing even more answers for constant stimulation.

Real questions are those which does not have the answer. The mind which can stay in the state of the questions with out seeking any answer (conclusions or results) is the meditative mind. If it is in the interface of known and unknown with questions directed to unknown then it is scientific mind and if it is from unknown to unknown then it religious mind.