Self as God

Last week, I took a vow of silence for 36 hours. In the Hindu religion, this is called Mauna.

In a general sense, Christianity and Judaism connect others (the Prophets, etc.) with God while Pagan religions are animistic. However, in many Eastern religions and philosophies, adherents believe that the Self pervades all, and the Self is supreme to even the gods.

Most importantly, to me, is that in such Eastern religions, one’s pursuit of Godliness involves specific activities that one can do in regular life. For example, in Buddhism and Hinduism, there the concept of meditation is a core to their spiritual growth. Meditation improves the conservation of energy, fosters self-control (sattrayana) and non-attachment, and therefore calms the mind. By creating peace within the body and the senses, one hopes to create inner peace within the soul/mind, and eventually outer peace (a la Gandhi) within the world. This alignment of one's soul, mind, body, and then outer world is to me creating heaven on earth. It is a fascinating and life-altering concept to me. It meshes with how I've always believe man should be. Here are the four main examples:

1) Brahmancharya is sexual continence. Gandhi, as you know, practiced this from about age 36 for the rest of his life.

2) Mauna is a vow of silence. Gandhi did not speak on Mondays for most of his adult life. People like Maher Baba (who heavily influenced Pete Townshend of The Who) didn't speak for nearly 45 years, and there are many people who take vows of over 10 years.
There seems to be 7 levels of silence:
a) Conquer jealousy
b) Conquer anger
c) Conquer fear
d) Conquer memory
e) Conquer reason
f) Conquer willpower
g) Conquer ego

3) Anasakyana is fasting. Over the past year, I’ve done two fasts. The first, my first, was 30 hours, and difficult (I broke it at around 2am. My reptile brain stood me up and walked me to the pizza joint). The second went better, at 40 hours, and broken normally.

4) Vanaprastha is seclusion or withdrawal from social interaction.