Do you Speak a Language?

A quick google search will tell us that there are 7100+ languages in the world. I am sure you know at least 3-5 languages and can speak one or more fluently. There are smarter people in this world who can speak and understand 10-15+ languages BUT question is ‘Did you ever scrutinize the meaning of words in a language’? 

Let us dive deep. When a child is born, he/she is innocent with no language and no conditioning – just smiling and looking around. If you have kids, look into their eyes – the eyes are blank (with no desires, greed, jealousy etc.) and shining as Pure Life. Everyone wants to pick a child and hug him/her. The small innocent child when start learning words would definitely say things like ‘Munna ko bhuk lagi’ (Kiddo is hungry) – because he picked that this lady (Mom) keeps using word Munna and he will with all innocence repeat what he learned. The mom may laugh and say ‘well, you are the Munna itself’, ‘Here is Munna, pointing finger at his body’ and gradually the child picks up the language (Ok, I am Munna) and identify himself with the body/mind. After 25-30 years of this identification, if lucky, Gurus/teachers come in our life and try hard to tell us that you are not this body-mind complex, but with little success. 🙂

What actually happened to the pure bubbling Life? If analyzed thoroughly it boils down to conditioning by family, society, and the education system. The mode of communication used by all sorts of conditioning is Language. Well, we may say ‘It is just a mode of communication’. Agreed – It’s only a mode of communication BUT the fun fact is even language preach us pure Gyana (Knowledge).

Using a language, we refer to things that belong to us – ‘This is my car, That is my house, My book’ and so forth. Next – ‘This is my friend, This is my cousin, This is my brother/sister, My mom, My dad’. Further in daily conversations we say – ‘My body aches, My mind is acting weird today, I can’t think – may be my brain is not working, My emotions are out of control, My heart is broken, My feelings are hurt etc.’. A good question can be – Alright, everything that you said so far belongs to you as say ‘Me/Mine’ – then ‘WHO ARE YOU?’

If we question ourself – All this belongs to me and therefore is not me, then ‘WHO AM I?’. This profound question when asked sincerely will open the doors to realization and gradually ignorance will fall apart, and one day we will know our SELF (the Real Self). This is what Self-realization is – Again, notice the language (Self when realized is Self-realization). This real Self is not to be brought from outside but is already here and now – The Awareness/Consciousness – Our daily awareness that is present at all times. Let us do a quick experiment – Close your eyes, do not stir a thought for a few seconds and hold your breath. The Awareness that you experience now is the real YOU. The goal of all sadhanas and practices is to remove the ignorance (accumulated in past lives as latent tendencies) so that you can know your real Self (Atman).