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True Strength Resides in Quietude · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We tend to equate strength with outward expressions, whether it
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  be through physical power, emotional pressure, bullying or
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  the use of mental will force to achieve 1's intended results.
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  We talk about strongman dictators who in particular use
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  threats, bullying, and police power to pressure people and
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  countries to comply with their demands.
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  The fact, however, that they have to use such outward
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  manifestations of strength to convince others to carry out
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  their wishes makes it clear that they're actually hiding their
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  weaknesses, insecurities and fears.
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  They know deep down that their direction and guidance cannot be
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  justified in an open and balanced way, and thus they
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  resort to physical violence and threats to get what they want.
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  True strength need not beat its chest in order to manifest.
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  If we try, when provoked, to rein in our anger and respond
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  peacefully both externally and internally, we will see that
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  this is much more difficult and requires more strength than
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  simply venting and letting our vital and emotional response
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  simply have its way. For the spiritual seeker,
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  understanding the difference between true strength and true
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  weakness becomes essential. As new powers develop and begin
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  to enter and express themselves in the being through the
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  practice of the spiritual discipline, a foundation of
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  peace and quiet strength becomes essential.
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  Otherwise the powers either get spilt or they distort and
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  potentially harm the physical, vital or mental levels of the
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  being if they overload the circuit, so to speak.
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  A basis of wideness and increasing ability to accept and
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  tolerate more powerful forces impacting 1 is the requirement
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  for accumulating spiritual force through sadhna.
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  This same basis manifests as the ability to remain calm under any
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  form of external pressure and negative circumstance.
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  The mother notes quote, quietude is a very positive state.
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  There is a positive peace which is not the opposite of conflict,
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  an active peace, contagious, powerful, which controls and
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  calms, which puts everything in order, organizes.
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  It is of this I am speaking. When I tell someone be calm, I
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  don't mean to say go and sleep. Be inert and passive and don't
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  do anything. Far from it.
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  True quietude is a very great force, a very great strength.
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  In fact. One can say, looking at the
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  problem from the other side, that all those who are really
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  strong, powerful, are always very calm.
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  It is only the weak who are agitated.
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  As soon as one becomes truly strong, one is peaceful, calm,
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  quiet and one has the power of endurance to face the adverse
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  waves which come rushing from outside in the hope of
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  disturbing one. This true quietude is always a
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  sign of force. Calmness belongs to the strong
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  and this is true even in the physical field.
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  I don't know if you have observed animals like lions,
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  tigers, elephants, but it is a fact that when they are not in
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  action, they are always so perfectly still.
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  A lion sitting and looking at you always seems to be telling
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  you, oh, how fidgety you are. It looks at you with such a
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  peaceful air of wisdom, and all its power, energy, physical
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  strength are there, gathered, collected, concentrated and
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  without a shadow of agitation, ready for action when the order
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  is given. I have seen people, many people,
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  who could not sit still for half an hour without fidgeting.
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  They had to move a foot or a leg or an arm or their head.
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  They had to stir restlessly all the time, for they did not have
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  the power or the strength to remain quiet.
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  This capacity to remain still when one wants to, to gather all
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  one's energies and spend them as one wishes, completely if one
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  wants, or to apportion them as one wants in action, with a
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  perfect calm, even in action, that is always the sign of
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  strength. It may be physical strength or
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  vital strength or mental strength, but if you are in the
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  least agitated, you may be sure there is a weakness somewhere.
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  And if your restlessness is integral, it is also an integral
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  weakness. End Quote.
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  Reference Srioro Bindo and the Mother Powers within, Chapter
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  15. Quiet, calm, peace, silence.
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  Pages 1:20 to 1:21.