C.

upto twelve

Poet Pablo Neruda in his poem ‘Keeping Quiet’ is asking all of us on this earth to keep silent and still for a moment. He tells it is the first requirement of calm self-introspection. Through calm self introspection we can attain a state of ‘self-realisation’. This state of knowing ourselves creates us a feeling of mutual understanding among human beings.

Through this stage of momentary silence and stillness, we try the stage of ‘know thyself. It further gives us the real meaning and real aim of life. It is only then we know, ‘life is life’ which is full of activities, dynamism and liveliness. We get rid of our sadness of life and also of the fear of death.

Note: This is an activity to be done by each student respectively. He can try it to gain power and realization of peace.

Hint: Sit in a corner for meditation. Control your mind and ideas. Glance sharply on the front part of your nose. Peep into yourself. You will attain miraculous results. This is the best exercise to attain peace.

Pablo Neruda stresses the importance of stillness and the need of quiet introspection. There is a great need of creating a feeling of mutual understanding among human beings. He urges neither to talk nor to make movements of arms. He asks to stop hurry and the working of machines for a moment. He even asks the fishermen and the salt gatherers to stop working. He is against wars because the victory is meaningless without the survivors. Rather he urges the different war-wagers to come together and go out for a walk with their brothers. It will create a feeling of mutual understanding.

The poet further says that we should not confuse stillness with total inactivity. Total inactivity would amount to death as the poet has no association with death. He wants silence for a while which can soothe our feelings and helps us in removing the sadness. We must learn a lesson from the earth which always remains alive though everything seems dead. Thus the life goes on the earth under apparent stillness.

After counting to twelve everyone of us become silent and still – no one is speaking and no one is moving. All of us thus become one. It becomes a foreign moment and in this sudden strangeness it appears like the victory of wars without survivors. But it leads us to calm introspection, to a feeling of mutual understanding among all the human beings. It brings real joy by developing a feeling of mutual understanding. This total and complete passiveness gives a strange feeling of death everywhere.

Earth, the symbol from Nature teaches us. all that seemed dead to be alive. Thus this sudden strangeness of calm self-introspection shows us that nothing is dead. Everything is alive and life is about life, it is around life, and it is for life.