Levels of Communication

Views and Words - Dr. K S Radhakrishnan

Richard Rorti and other American writers who were too much conscious of resolving the riddle between body and mind have finally done it by creating a man who is free from mind – the mindless man, a man who is untouched by the problems of the mind. Such types of divisions can be seen in the Western philosophical trend, I mean the Greek philosophical trends. But this issue has been resolved in a brilliant manner by Jesus, when he said that there is heaven in you and there is heaven in me. Heaven is best common entity. There is the body in you and body in me; hence ‘you’ and ‘me’ need bread. Where I am more than the body, I am in need of something more than bread. This concept of the finer forms of human experience in life that begins with the sense organs, travels through the mind and finally reaches a state of experience which can never be explained either by words or even approached by mind. Everyone must be able to experience it. Such a state of experience has been termed as Ananda. Si it begins at Annam Brahma. Annam means the body, the matter - man is a matter. This fact can never be questioned. For ex. suppose you say that it is with wood that the table has been made. That is true; but if you ponder over the question and ask yourself ‘what you by wood?’ then immediately you will get the answer that it is specific unification of innumerable number of molecules in a very peculiar manner and the unification have been made by a set of rules and regulations. The table made out of wood is true at one level of our experience, and at the other level as the physicist says it is a peculiar arrangement of molecules also must be true. Here you agree with the fact that it is both molecules and wood.

Quite similar is the question ‘who am I’? Nobody can deny that there is a material entity in human beings. This truth cannot be ignored or deleted from the sphere of our experience. The body gets in touch with other material entities of the world. Whenever my body contacts with other material entities of the world there is a type of identity between the body and the material world. That is there. Here, you can also say that I am something more than the matter. There we have life - pranan. There are certain entities that come from the finer forms of matter. Life must be in the finer forms of matter. This vision is not new to the Indian Schools of thought, especially the Advaita System. We read in the Upanishads, ‘Who are You?’ ‘I am matter, then more than that I am life’. That life element can be seen in me and the unicellular mechanism in the world can never be differentiated. There is perfect identity in the life elements in me and that in the unicellular organism which can be termed as a microbe. It is impossible to find out that microbe through naked eyes, but with the help of certain equipments one must be able to detect it. But that life element which can be seen in that microbe in you and me is identical (not, are identical). More than that it is ‘mana’ (mind) – the ultimate reality is ‘manas’. Manas is the most subtle form of matter. Beyond manas, there is prangnanam (consciousness) and this consciousness can be seen in matter also. Ultimately it goes to a level of experience that can either be approached by mind or explained by words and such an experience is termed as Ananda. One must be able to communicate at that level also. Pluralism definitely raises the question of communication and this issue of communication can be resolved properly only if one is able to accept that there is something common in between you and me. Common entity can either be matter, life, mind, consciousness and ultimately the extreme Bliss (Ananda). There are various levels of experience, with regard to communication. All these have to be recognized and the moment we recognize it, the question that arises is, ‘what is the tool by which one must be able to understand that common element?’

To read more articles from Views and Words, kindly visit Indian Thoughts