Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
29 January 2018
Birth of Thought
“Subtle sound”
A man or woman takes a thought for granted. A man or woman believes that he or she brings out a thought by thinking. But neither man nor woman knows what a thought is or how a thought is formed.
All that a man or woman knows is: a thought is followed by the next thought and that thoughts keep moving one after the other. This implies that a thought is in movement.
So what is a thought and how it is formed is wisdom. So what could this wisdom be is the question that man or woman needs to enquire?
Enquiry into what is known as a fact would provide a clue to the wisdom of what a thought is and how a thought is formed. What is known as a fact is that a movement is always followed by sound.
The next fact that is known by the human intellect to man or woman is that the human ear, just as any ear in every species of the animal kingdom, only receives sound-waves.
In man or woman a gross sound received by the human ear is heard as a word in the human mind. This implies that a subtle sound is a thought in the mind of a man or woman.
The intellect also informs man and woman that wherever there is movement there is gross sound. This is exemplified by the movement of lightning in the sky, which is followed by thunder, meaning sound.
This phenomenon implies that, wherever there is subtle movement, there will be subtle sound, which the human ear cannot hear. For example, the subtle movement of a snail.
This implies that, wherever there is movement, there will be sound, either gross or subtle. The intellect in man and woman informs that the blood circulates and reaches every part of the human body.
This implies that blood-circulation is a movement which is spontaneous, uncontrollable and unpredictable. This is because neither man nor woman has any control over the movement of blood-circulation
The subtle sound produced by the movement of blood-circulation manifests as a thought in the human mind. This signifies that thinking is a movement of thoughts and that both the thinking and the movement of thoughts are made neither by man nor woman. This is because man and woman do not make their blood circulate.
As man and woman have evolved, evolution signifies that thinking, thoughts and the movement of thoughts have also evolved in man and woman. And what is thought in the mind is meant to be thought by humans. Humans neither make thinking nor make thoughts happen as believed by man or woman.
The enlightened have rightly proclaimed that life is a play of light and sound and that man is not the doer, speaker or thinker.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2018
Editor’s Note:
‘A penny for your thoughts’ is a familiar and light-hearted expression used between people. An expression, however, that lays the responsibility for the thoughts on the person thinking, or supposedly so. Thinking is no respecter of persons, the young and the old, the educated and the uneducated. It is a facility shared by all for the greater part of waking life. And yet the enlightened declare that man is not the thinker. The careful examination gifted in this article by Dr Shankar reveals the wisdom that clarifies this declaration. Man may thus gratefully be relieved not only of the ownership of the thinking, but also of the doing and the speaking. Let us enjoy this daily play of light and sound.
Julian Capper, UK.
German Translator’s Note:
How proud mankind is of thinking! This is what makes them different from animals, humans think. However, the more thinking the less compassion it seems. Animals fight and kill, for the surviving of their body, their species. Man fights and kills for the thoughts he has in his mind, convictions, beliefs etc. How much more animal-like is mankind compared with a non-thinking animal? Animals seem to be more human so to speak. Only a deep understanding of the thinking process as presented here by Dr. Shankar makes man human in the best sense of the word.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.
Dutch translator’s note:
Thoughts are seen as intimate and private. Thoughts are the ultimate freedom, because our bodies can be taken in prison, but our thoughts will always be free. This article by Dr. Shankar 'Birth of Thoughts’ shows us that thoughts are indeed moving freely and cannot be controlled by others, but also not by ourselves. It becomes clear that it is impossible to control or stop thoughts. By reading this article and letting it’s wisdom sink in, the understanding may come that thoughts present themselves to us, but do not belong to us.
Paula Smit, Netherlands.