In silence, we hear.

We choose words and use them to communicate.
We assume that words are merely our tools to serve our purpose,
almost like servants in the homes.
But we should be aware of the hidden power of words
to charm our minds and mislead us.
The following writing warns us thus:
(Extract, adapted, from "The Song of the Bird" by Anthony de Mello)
(see also: http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/34616)

Beware of words.
The moment you look away, they will take a life of their own.
They will dazzle, mesmerize, terrorize and lead you astray,
from the reality they merely represent,
and lead you to believe that they are real.
The world you see is but a fragmented one,
broken into a thousand pieces by the word.
It is as if each ocean wave were seen to be disparate
and separate from the body of the ocean.

When words and thoughts are silenced,
the Universe blooms forth real, and whole, and one.
Words become what they were always intended to be:

the score, not the music;
the menu, not the food;
the signpost, not the journey's end.~

The language of the divine is silence.

In Dakshinamurti Slokam, Adi Sankara envisions
Siva as the Guru teaching the assembled rishis in silence:
mauna-vyAkhyA-prakaTita-para-brahma-tatvaM
(silently communicating the supreme Truth)

Lao Tsu echoes this in his ‘Law of the reversed effect’ thus:
It is in the letting go, that we are enabled to receive;
In the stillness, that we can participate;
In the silence, hear;and,
out of the dark night, see.
To know the Truth, one must get rid of knowledge

What does Siva teach thus in silence?
It is parabrahma tatvam - the understanding of the Supreme Truth
which is expounded at length in the Upanishads and the Vedas!

In societal transactions, words are necessary for communication.
But when we we want to communicate with ourselves
during the rare,and the few precious momets of solitude,
words merely strengthen the Ego to entrench itself firmly against intrusions by the Spirit.

When the mind is silent, devoid of all thoughts,
the ego has no place in the mind and
the Universal spirit is able to enter and instruct us in silence.