"Not that nothing is; something is, but you cannot identify yourself with that something. Something unknown, never known before, never even dreamed about, something utterly unfamiliar, something very disconnected from you, discontinuous with you – hence the fear.

"In silence you commit suicide. That's what sannyas is all about.

"In India we have the same word for death and for ultimate meditation – samadhi. Samadhi has two meanings: death and the ultimate attainment of super-consciousness. Very significant, indicates two aspects of that ultimate silence. On one hand you die – as you have always been you will never be again. That old man simply evaporates. It is not modified, it is not continuous in any way. It has nothing to do with the new consciousness that arises in you. The new is absolutely new.

"So on one hand you die, on the other hand a new kind of life, the life of egolessness, starts. That is not the life of humility, remember. Egolessness has nothing to do with humility or humbleness. Humbleness, humility, are again the ways of the same ego, subtle ways. A really egoless man is neither arrogant nor humble. If you find somebody humble, then he is just standing upside down; it is the same ego doing shirshasan – headstand.

"Arrogance can become humbleness. But when the ego disappears, it simply disappears leaving no trace behind – not even of humbleness. Hence the fear. One trembles to take the jump. It is committing suicide.

"You ask: 'Why should silence be threatening?'

"One: it is a death. Second: all that you know about your mind, all that you know about yourself, all that you are identified with, has been given to you by the society. It is borrowed. Your identity is borrowed. You don't know who you are; you only know what others say that you are. In silence, all those opinions will disappear. In silence you will come naked, without any clothes, to your utter loneliness. I call it utter because there is no why to change it. You can go on playing games of being together with people, but deep down you remain alone. Aloneness is something which cannot be corrupted, it is our very nature."