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nobody else's silence is broken by you. Don't ask anyone useless questions, don't make unnecessary inquiries, don't raise useless questions, don't try to drag anybody into conversation. Cooperate and help others to observe silence. If somebody asks a question, signal him to keep silence. He needs reminding.
Leave aside talking absolutely for seven days. You have talked a great deal up to today, and you will do so again in seven days' time. But for this one week, give up talking completely. Everyone should try his best. If you can remain silent for the whole seven days it will help you tremendously, and you will have no need for the excuse, "I cannot meditate." If you follow the five guidelines I am giving you, you will have no cause for complaint. If you create problems by ignoring these points, you only are responsible. So observe total silence, and if you cannot do this -- if you are weak, if you lack determination, if your intelligence is not strong enough -- then make do with as little talking as possible. If you have some intelligence, some willpower, some strength, some self-confidence, then observe total silence.
Silence is the first essential of a sense-deprivation program. The second is a blindfold. Make one, and begin using it from tomorrow morning. Your eyes must be completely covered. The eyes are the door through which you go out. The more you keep them closed, the better it will be for you. Even when you are just sitting around, keep the blindfold on, because then you won't see others, and the opportunity for conversation will not arise; and seeing you blindfolded, others will not try to harass you unnecessarily. So be blind. You have already heard about observing silence; now I ask you to be blind also.
To be silent is a kind of liberation, and to be blind is a greater and deeper liberation, because it is the eyes which make us run outside all day long. Closing your eyes, you will have much less scope for going outwards, and the energy will start circling within. So keep the blindfold on. While walking push it a little up, enough to see downwards, enough to see the road four feet ahead of you. Keep the blindfold on for the whole
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