Rama: "If you and I are both non-existent, then who are you and who are you teaching?"

Vasistha remained absolutely silent.

Rama taunted, "Why are you silent?"

Vasistha: "Rama, I did not keep quiet because I could not answer your question, but silence was the only answer."

(Source: Yoga Vasistha, Swami Venkatesananda)

"मुर्खस्य मौनित्यम बलम" त हैन ?
तर्क को कुनै सिमा र आकार हुदैन ; बिभाद को अन्त्य हुन् यी दुइ घडी का समय, दुई अर्थासास्त्री का सिद्दान्त अनि दुइ कुकुरका भुकाइ एक नभए झैँ हो !

@Power_Ranger......I am glad you have the spirit of inquiry. One must possess this quality to understand life. Now, you asked why Rama didn't understand Vasistha's silence answer. Will a 4th grader understand E = MC^2? Absolutely not because the 4th grader don't have the faculty to understand Einstein's equation. He must wait many years and work hard in order to understand this great equation. Similarly, Rama was not in a position to understand Vasistha's answer because he lacked the direct experience of inner silence and couldn't decipher the meaning behind Vasistha's silence. In other words, true knowledge only comes through direct experience which Rama didn't have; and,Rama thought all questions could be answered through the help of verbal language which is not true. This was the field where the knower and the known merge together. There is no subject-object relationship here. When the knower and the known merge together, who knows what? When this happens, contentment spontaneously arises and there is deep silence which is real.

In reality answers are not important?

So, it's not important that we know what happened to the Malaysian plane that disappeared? Or we just keep quiet and say OM?

Is it not important that we try to understand diseases and try to come up with medicines/therapies? Or we just say "real questions are those which does not have the answer" and go back to meditation?

I say, in reality, answers are important. Answers are not important when you leave home and go live in jungle :-)

ujl,

Thanks for your answer.

I was under the impression that Lord Rama would have known Vasistha's silence answer since he is the Lord. Or is he not Lord Rama? Or is he a regular Rama guy?

;-)

@Power_Ranger...... Rama was an ordinary guy destined to become Purusha. In Hinduism, he is the Avatar of visnu in human form. So, he has to go through human experience.The knower of Purusha becomes Purusha. The aspects of knowledge is infinite. Answers are important for this relative life. In the deep sleep state, there is neither question, nor answer. What is there, only deep silence!

ujl,

We do not live in deep sleep state. Therefore, answers ARE important. I'll give it to you that answers are not important in deep sleep state. I'm not sure if you live in deep sleep state. Do you?

In this world, you don't go to the court and say answers are not important.

@power_ranger..... Yes, answers are important. You need to answer according to the question. If someone ask you, what is the capital of Nepal; you answer, Kathmandu. So answers are indeed important.

@ujl
I was asking about your original post. If they are non existent then who are they teaching? Silence. Whaaaat?

one of my fren name is Rama....Are you referring to him?

@ Kiddo.......This is the field of self-knowledge. Vasistha gave answer to Rama's question in silence and said, "Silence was the only answer." What do you understood from this? The question which Rama asked was not an ordinary question. It was regarding Self-knowledge. Self which is beyond any duality cannot be comprehended by mind, senses, and intellect. So, Vasistha had to adopt a technique where it transcended all these duality. The moment we utter a word, it means there is a speaker, a listener, and a medium through which the sound is traveling. So, Vasistha's only option was to adopt a technique where there is no speaker and no listener. When there is no experiencer and no experienced, what remains? If you can understand this, you will understand what Vasistha's "Silence" was about.