The Language of the Stars

The theme of languages

I don't believe I have written anything like this before. Its an unusual experience for me … in my commitment to the human condition … to relate to stars. But we are all … involved in a chain of relations … that creates a common support for each other … and I'm not going to be a fuddy-duddy … about my own area of study. I believe there's considerable study … on Western legends … that brings a man … into relation with stars … and its a great help … for anyone contemplating … making contact with them.

One of the surprising results of the encounter … is the issue of language … and the way the human body … has been ' trained ' … to respond to the light of the stars … and from there … to language. I looked up the beginnings of languages … and traced its gradual development … to the advent of the Tamil language … around 500 bce … by the famous bard … Tolkappiyar. It exposed me to the nature of the acoustical sounds … that we rely on … to convey the meaning of words. But how does a person begin … to say … how that language would serve the … living needs of the community?

In that I had some help from the founder himself. Tolkappiyar had named the language he founded as … Tolkappiyam … which in translation means … ' preservation of the tissues.' No doubt that is in reference … to languages existing at the time … that had impacted on the health of the community … and they needed something … to restore it. So with … ' Tolkappiyam ' … as the key theme … they commenced a … scheme of acoustical sounds … that is best suited to the Indian physical physiology.

It appears to me … they had based … their acoustical sounds … on parts of the body … which they engaged … based on its function in our lives. Hence … the mind was ' Ta ' … intelligence Ah … voice ' ka ' … stomach ' ma ' … sexual organs ' ra ' … thighs ' la' … breasts ' pa ' … the tongue as 'na' … and the palm of their hands as … ' va.' Hence they called the mother of the Indic race … ' Komatha ' ( see What if … Komatha?) … meaning in essence … ko as a word to describe it … ma as mother and the need for survival … and tha … as that which the mind understands.

Another word … such as ' kalainithi ' ( see Ariyamala ) … begins again with … ka as the word … lai … as derived from the sexual energies … ni as the speaker 'I' … thi as what I think it is. In engaging the words these way … and creating a test with Indic expressions and songs … I came to a curious contact of mind and passions … as one … in a certain surrender of its will … to the meanings derived from the acoustical sounds. I found it stimulative … and invigorating on my senses … and discovered something I had only faintly experienced before as the passion mind.

Sri Aurobindo well known for his works on the spirit … refers to the passion mind as ' body mind ' … which I had borrowed in other essays. The contact with languages these way … is new to me … as I had always preferred business style expressions in my career. I had picked up Tamil … from one of the … 30-day books … but never experienced anything as profound as the effect this had on me. I wondered about … how man planned and designed … his language … and realized that … it must have begun in some way … either in reference to the human … or to the world.

The Tamil language has since evolved … to create a great expression of the passions … and brings to the passion mind … the individual's relation to the world … as an expression of his physical body. In addition … I found that … in some way … the Tamil language … also lend itself to meanings … derived from words in English. For instance the word … Britain … would translate acoustically … as the activity of the mind based on sexuality. America … would translate … as … an intelligent mother who is fond of activity … so to say.

I decided I will not venture too far into the English language … for theme and acoustical meaning … but it presents an interesting endeavor … in the use of language. It bears a remarkable … relation to the body passions … and a person's sense of belonging. English expressions … that refers to a person indirectly … illustrates a curious fact about languages. For instance … ' One should always try their best in all that they do ' … demonstrates the founding of the English theme as … world based … and not the individual person.

Native tribes bring a useful lesson … in their simple use of words and expressions … and illustrates … the presence of a theme … on which each language is founded on … and is the basis for molding the personality of the individual in society. The Chinese … Burmese … and Ceylonese … are examples of folks who may have since altered … their use of the original … acoustical sound in their languages. No doubt it suits their present temperament better. For in some way … our originally planned scheme of language … does not take into account the growing personality … of the individual in society.

There are other aspects of language themes … that impact on our personality. For instance … a society engaging language on a universal theme … would avoid entirely individual references … differences in culture … and instead emphasize on the universal commonality of man. Languages globally based … do something similar … but bear a practical relation to man's living theme in the world experience. Where the language is themed on a specific territory … it tends to isolate the society from the world's experience. On the basis of individual passions … it certainly emphasizes … the special nature of relationships. .

We return to the original experience of language … and realize that … in some way … the non-verbal nature of man … is the faculty … that worked at raising a verbal practice. It would certainly presume … a simple start … to the engagement of language. In doing so … its my impression … that man seeks to unite … the themes of individual … and world … in his use of the language. In my own practice … I find that abundantly clear … in the way I combine Tamil with the English language. In doing it right … a man almost feels himself … in communication … with the one.

Reviews

[Great Aunt Astri]

This is a very informative and interesting essay. You must have done a lot of studying. Wouldn't be interesting if animals began to use language. Then we could follow how it develops!!! Best wishes