How a devotee of Krishna observes maun vrat i.e. vow of silence

Silence has always been glorified.  So, it is expected that a devotee of Krishna should also observe the vow of silence i.e. maun vrat.

Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami, a renowned saint and author of Chaitanya Charitamrita, says that a devotee should have 26 qualities, “silence” is one of those noble qualities.

Many people keep maun brat i.e silence on a specific day. On that day they do not speak anything.  To communicate with others, they use hand gestures or pen and paper.

Once two persons observing maun vrat were sitting under a tree. On that day there was a cricket match. So, one person got up and went away. He came after some time. The other person who had remained sitting under the tree wrote on the sand with a stone, “What is the score?” The other person who had come just now took the stone and wrote the score of the match.

If this is how people observe maun vrat then what is the use of such a vow.

Maun vrat can help one to control the tongue but what about the mind? Does it help to control the endless chatter which goes on in the mind?

Our mind does not remain calm and quiet even for a single moment. Mentally we keep on talking to ourselves, we keep on contemplating on things like money, job, family, friends, politics, opposite sex, cricket match, soccer match and so on.

There are some meditation schools who teach to mediate on something null & void. According to them this will help to silence our mind. They say to think “nothing.” But “nothing” is also “something.” We can never empty our mind of the thoughts. This is impossible.

Real maun vrat or vow of silence

Scriptures say that real silence means “to not think of anything material” but to “think on only spiritual subject matters.” Out of 26, one of the qualities of a devotee as given in scriptures is that “a devotee is always surrendered to Krishna.”

Surrender to Krishna means to always think of Krishna and be always absorbed in Krishna.

So, real silence is to stop contemplating & speaking on unnecessary subject matters which disturb our mind. Instead of this we should contemplate on & speaking on topics which are related to Krishna.

Sravanam and kirtanam as the two processes of devotional service. Sravanam means to hear about Krishna and kirtanam means to always speak about Krishna. These two processes will take us closer to Krishna, the Supreme God.  

So, instead of wasting our precious time and energy thinking and speaking about unworthy subject matters let us use our tongue to chant the names of Krishna and sing the glories of Krishna. This is real silence.

And when we will engage in constantly chanting and hearing about Krishna then our mind will get flooded with Krishna Conscious thoughts. If it happens then we will lose taste for material sense gratification. We will not be interested in watching cricket matches or political news or movies.

There will be no need to observe artificial maun vrat and communicate with others with pen and paper. A devotee of Krishna observes maun vrat i.e. vow of silence by constantly chanting the names of Krishna.

Three Reflections

• Silence is one of the 26 qualities of a devotee.
• Maun vrat can help one to control the tongue but not the mind.
• Real silence or maun vrat is to constantly chant the names of Krishna.

Ask Yourself

• Do I mostly speak on non-Krishna Conscious subject matters?

Action Item

• Read Krishna book and start sharing Krishna’s pastimes with your friends and family members.

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