Chopping the Headf

Views and Words - Dr. K S Radhakrishnan

It is at this point that we have to think of a different way of life that says that though there is flesh and blood in human beings, they are something more than that. According to Bible, “Man can never live by bread alone.” He needs something that comes out of the mouth of God. That something can be anything. It has been identified as heaven by Jesus. The moment we think that we are in need of something more than the flesh, that something is the foundation of the human beings, then the communication has to be directed to that end. From flesh to flesh we have to shift the communication to spirit to spirit or heaven to heaven. So the heaven in me and the heaven in you must be identical. This fact has already been explained in a brilliant manner with logical precision and clarity by the Advita System. The Advaita basically says that the world is a pluralistic entity but amidst that pluralism there must be something that is identical in everything that makes communication possible. A man and man, that is flesh and flesh, mind and mind; and also something more than flesh and mind. That something that exists in me and you that makes communication easy and possible.

The problem of communication is really important in the present day world. With the physical proximity that has already been seen in the world, thanks to the development of IT and transportation, we must be able to get in touch with the other within the least possible time. But the unfortunate fact is that the physical proximity alone is not enough to understand oneself and the other. So we have to find something more than that. That is why the Advaita System says that human beings are something more than what we directly perceive. Advaita asks ‘who you are?’ ‘I am the body’, that is one of the finest answer one can give. But are you the body alone? ‘No I’m more than that. There is mind in me.’ ‘Are you mind alone?’ ‘No, I’m more than that. There is spirit in me.’ ‘Are you Spirit alone?’ ‘No I’m more than that. There is pure Ananda in me’. This type of experience also must be identical. This problem has either been forgotten or misrepresented by many of the scholars and exponents of various Systems of thought, especially that of Western origin, more precisely that of the Greek origin, because Greek philosophy basically believes in bifurcation. There is no unity in Greek philosophy and the philosophical development of bifurcation is the central problem of Greek philosophy. That problem has not yet been properly solved by the tradition. So, generally we would like to say that there is a Decarthian problem or the Carthesian bifurcation, which says that there is difference between body and mind. Hence, we have got a psychology that is entirely different from that of the physiology.

There is physiology and psychology and these two systems are working on different systems of thought. Physiological rules and regulations need not be applicable to the psychological operation; hence we have the psycho-somatic; soma means body and psycho means mind. The somatic entity need not be applicable to the mind because mind is an entity totally different from body and what exactly is the relation between body and mind still remains an unresolved question or puzzle or riddle in the entire history of the Zen thought. Resolving this question Richard Rorty has suggested that it is possible to have a man without mind. So if there is no mind there is no question of any division between body and mind. This is as easy as possible to treat the headache of a man then it is better to chop the head itself; then we must be able to eradicate the whole ache due to the ailment of the head.    

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