Silence is experienced in 5 different ways:
silence of speech,
silence of the senses (sight, smell, touch, etc.),
silence of the mind,
silence of deep sleep, and
conscious silence, as in deep sleep.
Only the 5th type of silence is conducive to liberation.
In this type of silence, the prana (life-force) is neither restrained nor promoted, the senses are neither fed nor starved, the perception of diversity is neither expressed nor suppressed, and the mind is neither mind nor non -mind. There is no division between effort or effortlessness, and yet prana is liberated from any motion and is experienced as emptiness.
The nature of this silence is of supreme peace, which can not be said or defined as real or unreal.
In that silence, there is no sense of ” I,” nor any notion of another.