Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
6 February 2018
Birth of letter
“Gross and subtle sound”
A man or woman takes a letter in the alphabet for granted. A man or woman believes that he or she can either think a letter as a thought or speak a letter. A man and woman are convinced that they can think and speak a letter.
The enlightened have, however, indicated that man or woman is neither a thinker nor a speaker. They have declared that thinking and speaking happen to a man or woman, but they believe that they can speak and think a letter.
So what is the understanding of the wisdom of the enlightened that man and woman are neither the speaker nor the thinker of a letter, though speaking and thinking a letter happen? How could this be understood by both man and woman is the question?
A child gives a clue for understanding the wisdom of the enlightened that man and woman are not the speaker or thinker and that speaking and thinking a letter, albeit illusory, happen to man or woman.
A new-born child evolves every moment. This implies that the movements of the new-born child evolve while in the mother’s womb and continue to evolve even after birth as well.
Since a movement of the child evolves, it implies that sound evolves as well in the child because movement is always accompanied by sound and they cannot be separated.
The blood-flow is a movement, which includes the movement of air in the blood as well. The air within the lungs evolves as well, because the lungs move during respiration and air comes into the lungs and goes out of the lungs.
Therefore, the child initially makes gross sound because of the physical movement of the body and the sound heard is without any meaning. A particular, subtle sound evolves as a letter in the mind due to the movement of air within the blood. Later, particular sounds evolved as many, individual letters in the mind for the same reason of the movement of blood-circulation, which includes air as well.
Simultaneously, the gross sound uttered by the child, due to movement of air from the lungs, evolves as a letter and later as many, individual letters as the child evolves. This is the phenomenon of the evolution of particular, gross sound as a letter and particular sounds as letters.
A letter, therefore, is an illusion of a particular sound. Similarly, letters in the alphabet are a collection of illusory, particular sounds.
This is evident because the child recognises one letter at a time and speaks one letter at a time as the child grows. The recognition and speaking of a letter is the birth of a letter as an illusion of sound.
The enlightened have rightly pointed that life is an illusion of light and sound and that man is not the speaker or thinker, though speaking and thinking happen.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2018
Editor’s Note:
Language, ancient and modern, spoken and written, evolves from the birth of letter. Variations in language evolve from the birth of letter. Scholars, linguists, grammarians, libraries, scrolls and this article have evolved from the birth of letter - and so it will continue. And yet, the enlightened reveal that neither man nor woman speaks or thinks. Miraculous are the manifestations, albeit illusory, in life that are gifted to the living. Miraculous too the deep understanding of the wise: man’s guiding star in his and her journey.
Julian Capper, UK.