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The Power of Silence of the Mind · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We are habituated, particularly in the modern world, to the mind
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  constantly interacting with its environment, with sensations,
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  with media and with ideas. We are also addicted to the
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  activity, the energy of the mind's engagement.
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  And when the mind is not engaged somehow, we either sleep or seek
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  distraction. Modern technology provides us
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  the distraction and many people nowadays are addicted to their
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  devices, television, cinema, radio or Internet and social
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  media. We are also enticed to attend to
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  the sights and sounds and pressures of the modern economic
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  world around us, with blaring sounds everywhere, flashing
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  lights, enticements to shop and buy.
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  If we try to sit quietly, engage in reflection or meditation, we
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  find our minds are jumping in all directions, attending to the
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  sensations, sounds, impulses from the senses, and then
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  running after random ideas that move through the mind unbidden.
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  Thus, to conceive of the silence and immobility of the mind and
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  intellect, and to find that status to be a desirable 1, we
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  have to overcome many years of conditioning and the actual
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  habits of the mind that result from that conditioning.
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  The first time we experience anything close to silence of the
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  mind, we generally respond with fear that we are losing our
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  ability to think. Yet the future of the evolution
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  of consciousness lies in transcending the operations of
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  the mind as the primary vehicle of understanding an action, just
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  as the mind transcended the operations of the vital as the
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  leader of our nature, transforming the world as it
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  did. So.
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  Once we determine that silencing the mind is a positive move, it
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  becomes necessary to determine how to do this.
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  While this can happen serendipitously almost any time
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  through the action of the grace or through particular
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  circumstances or environments, for the most part such events
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  are transitory and thus not the stable status that is required
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  for the transformational changes to take place fully.
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  A good first step is to undertake observation of the
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  mind stuff. In his lectures on Raja Yoga,
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  Swami Vivekananda describes the chitta, the mind stuff, and
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  indicates that it should achieve a status of calm, like a body of
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  water, without any ripples in it.
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  This corresponds to Sri Aurobindo's statement below
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  about the mind being entirely still.
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  When we first begin to pay attention to the state of the
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  mind stuff, we find that there are various statuses and
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  reactions that take place essentially automatically,
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  subconsciously and subliminally. We can observe when the mind is
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  clear, when it is concentrated and focused, when distracted,
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  when reacting to sense impressions and when craving
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  input due to addiction to being occupied, and when sleepy,
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  cloudy or dull. As we gain experience in
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  observing the state of our mind stuff, we can then begin to take
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  steps, undertake practices to prepare for bringing the needed
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  attentive state of silence to the mind.
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  There are numerous methods available and each individual
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  needs to find the method or methods that work best in his
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  situation at any point in time. Some people use a mantra to
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  drive out extraneous thoughts, for instance, and fill the mind
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  with the mantra while maintaining a receptive attitude
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  to hold the meaning of the mantra in the being.
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  Eventually, the effect of the repetition of the mantra and its
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  potential calming influence can bring the mind to a state of
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  quiescence, at which point the mantra itself can be released.
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  Others observe thoughts as they try to enter the mind and simply
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  reject them, or at least do not allow the attention to follow
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  them. Eventually this can lead to a
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  state where the awareness is free of thought.
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  Still others follow the methods of Raji Yoga as set forth by
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  Patanjali and as described with detailed commentary by Swami
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  Vivekananda. There are also those who follow
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  the path of devotion and through 1 pointed devotion they are able
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  to calm the mind and bring it to a state of quiescence.
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  Some use practices such as focus on a single point of
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  illumination until the consciousness passes to another
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  status, a practice called Trotac.
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  In the end, we recognize the uses and value of mental
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  development, particularly for the transformation of the
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  external life, But it needs to be balanced and integrated with
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  the development of the next phase of the evolution of
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  consciousness, and not given free rein to do whatever the
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  mind wants, but to be under the guidance and direction of a
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  higher wisdom and higher force of conscious awareness,
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  Sriorobindo writes Quote. For the knowledge of the self it
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  is necessary to have the power of a complete intellectual
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  passivity, the power of dismissing all thought, the
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  power of the mind to think not at all which the Gita in one
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  passage enjoins. This is a hard saying for the
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  Occidental mind, to which thought is the highest thing,
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  and which will be apartment, to mistake the power of the mind
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  not to think its complete silence for the incapacity of
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  thought. But this power of silence is a
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  capacity and not an incapacity, a power and not a weakness.
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  It is a profound and pregnant stillness.
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  Only when the mind is thus entirely still, like clear,
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  motionless and level water, in a perfect purity and peace of the
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  whole being, and the soul transcends thought, can the Self
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  which exceeds and originates all activities and becomings, the
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  silence from which all words are born, the Absolute of which all
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  relativities are partial reflections, manifest itself in
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  the pure essence of our being. End Quote.
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  Reference. Srioro Bindu and the Mother
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  powers within. Chapter 15.
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  Quiet, calm, peace, silence. Pages 1/21 to 1/22.