You feel blank at times for a moment or more, but that does not mean the mind's working has stopped. To stop the mind from thinking, or to make it think and concentrate on one thought, are both equal. If the mind cannot be stopped from thinking, the best remedy is to try to engage it by concentrating on one particular object.
If you really from the bottom of your heart wish, as I want you to, to gain in August not only the experience but also the knowledge to work for me in the future, then do tomorrow and on the 18th as I tell you.
From seven in the morning to seven in the evening, observe silence externally. Each of you should sit at a distance of six to seven feet from one another, and try not to think of anything except what I will explain to you tonight on the chart. To drive away thoughts means not to entertain or encourage other irrelevant thoughts.
Just imagine that you are on a special watch duty to guard yourself against grave danger to your very life. This "guard" means watching over unexpected and sudden attacks from deadly enemies who are determined to kill you. During that time, you have to keep on reproducing in your mind all that I will tell and explain to you tonight. If during this process other thoughts, like enemies, intervene, you have to be on guard and, because of these, try to stop and eject them. It is no ordinary meditation during these twelve hours. Just imagine how alert you would have to be under these conditions. Keep yourself like this.
On the 18th, the external silence will begin from 7:00 A.M., lasting till 8:30 A.M. Then the internal silence commences from 8:30 A.M. to 11:30 A.M., which is more difficult, and again from 3:00 to 6:00 P.M. You can go up the hill to a quiet spot to sit in solitude during this silence if you want. This silence is not like the internal silence of the yogis, nor is it for you. It is for my work . You can move about for nature's call, et cetera, but with the continuity of the same central thought maintained. It is not necessary for you to sit apart during the ordinary external silence. But it is specially necessary for the internal silence. It is for this reason that I said that the day after tomorrow, the 18th, is the day of Karbala, when the suffering will be at its greatest, and the test the severest.