Vipassana: Silence is not golden or Noble!

 There is an old proverb:

 "Speech is silver and silence is golden!"

In vipassana, they teach and reinforce this belief. But is silence really golden these days?  With so much going around in the world, will silence solve the problem for self and others around? 

Vipassana and its teachings 

It talks about concentration on self, body, and its sensations. It is assumed that this focus gives one an insight into the mind. It is supposed to remove negativities and negative feelings from one's minds and increase tolerance. This, according to them, will be a path to happiness and satisfaction. Here they believe that one is enemy of self and all the suffering is self-inflicted due to nurturing of negative feelings. 

Speak and do not shy (Source: Pinterest) 

During the 10 days course, one has to abstain from alcohol and drugs, sexual activities, lying, stealing, and killing any living creatures. This has to continue after the course as well,  except maybe about sex. But moral conduct is expected. Then there is Noble Silence with no communication in any form with each other and also no eye contact. No laptops or mobile phones or writing material allowed. And only meditation the whole day with small breaks for eating or natural calls. 

Vipassana: grossly wrong for community! 

What all this achieves? 

The answer is Nothing. 

The practice is said to give you an insight into your self and your mind. How many achieve this? No data. 

How this insight helps a person in daily life? No proper studies! There are just some case studies and anecdotes online that seem biased and improperly done. 

How does the practice help society? It does not seem to really help because most followers stop communicating sufficiently with others. They become 'islands' or retrieve into their cocoons without discussions on any essential topic. So per se society is not helped. The followers just avoid things that makes them react. They tend to become escapists without giving proper attention to looming problems of their lives. They start talking saintly without actually practicing what they preach. And such mere soft advices in no way changes the bad world around them. They become less forceful and also inconsiderate after the course: detached and non-reactive. In short, just robotic and zombie-like. 

Sansar se bhaage phirte ho

Silence is neither noble nor golden (Source: Pinterest) 

How does the practice help the family members or friends of such vipassana returnees? No one has asked them yet to understand what they feel when their family members come back from the course and behave differently. Are they happy with the changed behaving passiveness and no reaction? Normally thinking, of course not. But no survey done on it. 

So what has this silence achieved for the individual and the people? Nothing. So remember, all silence is not golden or Noble enough. It is better to speak appropriately and help the world rather than be silent and let bad things continue to happen around.