language (Was Re: Quotations)

[Allan Curry]

Namaste!

Jaldhar H. Vyas writes:

>I've never heard of this Krishnamenon person so I can't say how much he
>new about Indian philosophy but the view expressed above is not the
>traditional one.  Think about it, all the astika darshans treat the
>Shruti and Smrti -- a body of text as the source of truth.  This is why
>the systematic analysis of language developed very early on in India
>resulting in Sanskrt (the "polished" language.)  The Vaiyakaraniks or
>Grammarians based a highly developed philosophy based on language.  Other
>darshans particularly the Nayaiyiks and Prabhakar Mimamsaks also delved
>deep into this area.  Advaita Vedanta was affected by these darshans and
>also made contributions of its own.  Language as a path to truth is also a
>core foundation of tantra.
>
>So far from being an obstacle, many would say language and hence thought,
>is the _only_ way to truth.
>

Krishna Menon is also known as Sri Atmananda and is considered by many to
be a jnani. He lived in twentieth century in India.

Sometimes I think that the best use of reason/thought/language is to spend
just enough time on it to figure out how to run it in reverse! How else
will thought, which is the "outward tendency of the mind" lead us to
discover the origin of thought and help us to be rooted there? Isn't
thought the thief that is pretending to be the policeman looking for the
thief? Can there be any possible thought concerning the witness of thought
that is true, particularily if the ultimate witness of thought is also
witnessing the very organ (ie. buddhi) which determines what is true and
false?  If thought was the _only_ way to truth why would Bhagavan Ramana
Maharshi talk to us about "killing" the mind which he said was just a
bunch of thoughts?

Having said all that, I must admit that of course I know absolutely nothing
about the Indian philosophy of language! If I did, I might very well praise
its virtues to the skies and find it to be extremely useful as a path to
truth. From bitter experience however I'm also aware of the extent to which
the illusion of seperation from the truth is created by thought itself. If
that illusory seperation was not created, perhaps the path to truth would be
considerably shorter!  As someone on this list said to me recently,
"everyone is in the sahaja state, they only think themselves out of it".
If that is true, could anyone, by thinking, put themselves back into it,
if they have never actually left?

Is this just too simple minded to be right?

Namaste!

-a.c.