Silence Is Solitude
-By Ramana Maharshi

Lectures may entertain individuals for hours without improving them. Silence, on the other hand, is permanent and benefits the whole of humanity.... Preaching is simple communication of Knowledge: it can really be done in silence only. What do you think of a man who listens to a sermon for an hour and goes away without having been impressed by it so as to change his life? Compare him with another who sits in a holy presence and goes away after some time with his outlook on life totally changed. Which is the better, to preach loudly without effect or to sit silently sending out inner force?

Solitude is in the mind of a man.. One might be in the thick of the world and yet maintain perfect serenity of mind: Such a person is always in solitude. Another may stay in the forest but still be unable to control his mind. He cannot be said to be in solitude. Solitude is an attitude of the mind; a man attached to things of life cannot get solitude, wherever he may be. A detached man is always in solitude.