Silencing the mind is understood as absence of any thoughts. A discerning meditation practitioner would question that since mind is composed of nothing but thoughts, what would be left if all the thoughts were to vanish?

The beginner in meditation therefore suspects if he or she was not being led into some kind of foolishness; looking for something that existed only in imagination.

Nevertheless, enlightened masters and also those practicing meditation for long, vouch for these experiences as real and true. When would a beginner begin to experience these?

To experience the silencing of mind and listening to the source-less sound, the beginner would require long, perhaps many years of meditation practice. The source-less sound is always present within but he or she is not accustomed to it.  When he or she practices meditation regularly and begins to reach a certain state of deep relaxation, the source-less sound appears buzzing in his or her head automatically. Since this is a new experience, his or her mind begins to examine it. With repeated practice, the source-less sound becomes well-defined and intense. There comes a stage when the source-less sound and the thoughts co-exist; sometimes the thoughts overtaking the mind and sometimes the source-less sound.

Experienced practitioners do not even have to go into deep relaxation to experience the source-less sound. They simply look inwards and meet the continuous loud echoing of source-less sound there. It is a very joyous experience.

Many meditation practitioners stop at the experience of source-less sound and the thoughts present simultaneous. Some stop at it lifelong. They fail to make over to completely silencing the mind. One has to make a concerted effort to cross over to this. The trick is, listen the source-less sound with all your concentration such that not a single thought enters to occupy the mind. If it could be achieved for say about half an hour, you are done with it forever. In the beginning you may start entering the silencing of the mind for a couple of minutes and gradually make it longer and longer. By the way, silencing the mind does not mean that you would not be able to return to normal thinking self again.

Total silencing the mind means the mind comprised entirely of the source-less sound. This one experience of silencing the mind would change you forever. What happens next? Well, wait and watch. Everyone has to wait for his/her enlightenment.