Mind Control Exercise- Maun Vrat

About Maun Vrata: To be able to talk is one of nature’s most precious gifts to human race. People have a tendency to seek affection. So, we try to connect to each other by talking about our lives, others’ lives, sports, politics, arts and what not. But sometimes we get so busy talking to others in order to connect with them that we don’t get sufficient time to connect to ourselves. Maun Vrat is a vow to keep quiet. Obviously, it’s very difficult to control your urge to talk. However, if one becomes able to do so by controlling one’s mind, it may open doors to unimagined ways of spiritual learning. Maun Vrat has been highly recommended in Ancient Indian literature. Motivation for the experiment: I came through an article on the power of silence while browsing on internet. I was awestruck by the benefits that the article claimed silence could have. However, I remained skeptical about the validity of the advantages the article claimed merely keeping silence would have. Therefore, I decided to perform the experiment on myself and check the validity of the article on the basis of first hands experience. It also challenges you to control your mind and urge to speak what is going on in your mind. Challenges with Experimentation: I tried Maun Vrat of 6 hours daily for three days continuously. Initially I found it difficult to suppress my urge to speak up but I tried hard to keep going on with the Maun Vrat. Thoughts kept rushing to my tongue and I had to swallow them with great difficulty. A couple of hours later, all those thoughts were still arising in my mind but their intensity to come out as words had reduced. A couple of hours more, and there were hardly any thoughts arising in my head. This was the state I wanted to achieve through the exercise. Thus, silence of tongue can result in peace of mind.