Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

04. The Foundation of Sadhana

Fragment ID: 1128

The words “peace, calm, quiet, silence” have each their own shade of meaning, but it is not easy to define them.

Peace – śānti.

Calm – sthiratā.

Quiet – acañcalatā.

Silence – niścala-nīravatā.

Quiet is a condition in which there is no restlessness or disturbance.

Calm is a still unmoved condition which no disturbance can affect – it is a less negative condition than quiet.

Peace is a still more positive condition; it carries with it a sense of settled and harmonious rest and deliverance.

Silence is a state in which either there is no movement of the mind or vital or else a great stillness which no surface movement can pierce or alter.