Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands

6th September 2016

Talking

“Speaking”

Every man and woman talk as a neutral, natural feature of daily life. A talk, however, can lead to either positive, social consequences or to negative, social consequences, and this happens between family members and friends as well. Man and woman are advised from an early age how to talk to be accepted socially.

Therefore, we believe we can talk because we believe we have learnt to talk. This belief is universal to logic and reason. But has the belief been pondered upon deeply? Wisdom, however, is revealed when the belief is pondered upon deeply. 

Man takes for granted that he can talk and has learned to talk. But the primitive man did not learn to talk because talking evolved in primitive man in the process of evolution. Primitive man made vocal sounds just as animals did in primitive times and still does in modern times.

The quality of vocal sounds that primitive man made evolved in tone and variety. The variety of vocal sounds evolved as letters, words and eventually primitive man began to talk. This implies that primitive man did not learn to talk: talking evolved in him as a process in evolution.

This process of evolution is evident in a new-born, modern child. The child makes a variety of sounds with different tones and not a singular sound lacking tone. The variety of sounds a child makes is a jumble of evolved letters as sound and not sound as letters in an evolved order. This implies that sound in an evolved order appears as letters and words, whereas letters that are not in an evolved order appear only as sound and neither as letters nor words. 

As the child grows, the letters evolve in an orderly manner and, eventually, the child evolves to utter sounds that appear as a talk. The parents, however, believe that they have taught their child how to talk, but that is not the truth. Talking happens as a process in evolution to a child and the child does not talk by itself.

In an adult the next word in a talk is known by the adult only after it happens; and so too in the child. The present word in a talk is also known by the adult only after it happens; and so too in the child. Therefore, the present and the next word in a talk happen to an adult in the process of evolution, just as it does in a child. Neither the adult nor the child makes the word in order to talk. 

Therefore, when man ponders deeply upon whether he can talk, the wisdom that is revealed is: Yes, man and woman can talk, but they do not understand that talking or speaking happens to them and they cannot make either talking or speaking happen to them. Man or woman will talk what he or she is meant to talk and so too the child; and the talk cannot be other than what it is in that particular moment.

Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2016

Editor’s Note:
Talking is fundamental in man’s life. Living without talking would be inconceivable just as living without communicating would be. These are features that not one of us is denied in our journey of life. The quality and depth of these features have countless manifestations. When talking or speaking on a formal occasion is required, the words to be spoken may have been carefully prepared and even written down, yet the words that are uttered may be as uplifting and fresh to the speaker as they are to the listeners. A beautiful gift of life.
Julian Capper, U.K

German Translator’s Note:
„Next time I talk with him, I have tell him that…“ „What if she says No when I see her next?“ „What should I say to them?“ Talking is the daily cause of anxiety and worry to every man and woman. Wisdom is taken to be the ability to know what to talk, how to talk and when to talk with whom. However, this article by Dr. Shankar reveals with clarity: Wisdom is being aware of not to know anything about our next word, yet even the present word is only known after it is spoken. And it is not spoken by the mind but happens as part of the evolutionary process of life. Anxiety and worry don’t happen with this understanding, but listening happens, listening to the sound of life, appearing as talking to the illusory mind.
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany.

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