“QUIET TIME” has become the mantra of choice for the truly busy in a wide range of workplace types – from a corporate environment to the confines of the household, and everything in between. “Alone time” doesn’t seem to cut it anymore.

“One can be alone and yet weighed down by heavy feelings or negative thoughts,” says BK Jayanti Kirplani, a meditation teacher for about 40 years now. On the other hand, she says, “One can be in the thick of a crowd and yet perfectly peaceful, appreciative of, and yet unaffected by, the goings-on.”

In essence, she notes, “Silence is a state of mind quite removed from the mere absence of noise.” She adds that while this state is natural – and naturally beneficial – for every person, most people have forgotten how to go back to that zone once they’re caught up in moment-to-moment concerns.

BK Jayanti, director for Europe of the India-based Brahma Kumaris (a United Nations Peace Messenger organization) will speak on “The Power of Silence” in a public program on September 3, 7 to 9 p.m., at the Ballroom of Shangri-La Makati (tel. 8907960).

It is her sixth visit to the country. Last year she gave a lecture on the “Secret Laws of Abundance” to an SRO audience at the Mandarin Oriental.

Among the major benefits of silence, Jayanti says, are absolute clarity and the ability to make accurate decisions.

“The more we practice letting the mind be quiet, the more we develop the power to still the mind when it is time to make any decision. Never, ever, make a decision when the mind is frantic.”

Especially not big ones, that is – and the key word is “practice.”

But even outside of decision-making, she stresses, silencing the constant gabbing in one’s head is a boon to the quality of life. A still mind is wise, and free, says Jayanti – “Free from worry, speculation, regret, past hurts… the whole list that makes one feel weak and old.”

Since we do not always have easy access to external quiet space, she says, “We need to create a quiet sacred space within ourselves.”

It is like a construction project, yes, and there are very specific building blocks. Jayanti calls them the “energies of the soul” – apart from the mind, there are “the conscience, heart, attitude and memory.”

How these are glued, cemented and soldered together to build that virtual fortress, and how to keep it safe, noise-proof and confusion-proof, is the basis of her talk on Thursday.

Jayanti has spoken about this subject in numerous engagements throughout the years and around the world. Her views on this, and many other subjects pertinent to meditation as a way of life, have been compiled in lectures and books and recorded in audio-visual learning kits for use in Brahma Kumaris seminars and workshops in 66 countries.

She has participated, several times as presenter, in UN conferences on women, development, environment, youth and peace. She is based in London, at the BK Global Cooperation House.

In an interview, Jayanti said, “By nature, I don’t speak a lot but it really must be God’s plan for me, this role as an instrument to teach meditation. And I’ve found that it is very easy for people to learn, especially those who have a deep inner motivation.”