Macaulay and his critics

It has become a fashion to boast about our rich heritage. This is resorted to more by an army of social media enthusiasts as it gives a definitely a sense of satisfaction. It is indeed a privilege to belong to a rich heritage of culture, philosophy, scientific temper, social mores, spiritual insights etc .No doubt we have pride of ancestry and hope for the future.

But at the same time we must also accept and acknowledge why? What? Who?  led us away from, not down from, such rich heritage? We also need to look at practically what we must do now, to gradually and diplomatically, not only resurrect our past glory but also revive the areas in which the modern civilization needs to march ahead for a bright future.

We must also question ourselves how much of? Or what part of our past glory that we are proud of and are willing to identify ourselves with, without disturbing our present life too much? We have too many great observations, citations singing the glory and greatness of India along with a crowd , a more visible one, which gets more recognition as well, which is more keen on projecting 'Slum dog Millionaires' for a particular audience.

We are looked down as a nation which can be easily led by emotional maneuvering and manipulations, euphemistically implying no one need to bother about the mental capacity and identity of the nation. This is because we very often resort to uncritical love as when we deify some film stars, politicians and make too many god men out of orators, scholarly interpreters of our scriptures, heads of our mutts etc or resort to unloving criticism when we blame everything on some outside force, as if out of xenophobia. I have read and reviewed wonderful books by many. Especially on this topic the books BECOMING INDIAN and BEING INDIAN by PAVAN K. VARMA, who unfortunately is now in a very wrong place for all his erudition, exposure, experience etc. Probably, driven by desperation or frustration, at the lack of recognition and want of platform to survive at his level. No one has blamed the British cultural and linguistic intrusion along with the portrayal of our proud heritage more lucidly than him.

Having said that, how many of us can touch our heart and say that whole edifice created by the MaCaulay has been destructive, has not contributed to our small growth story, it has been only negative etc?. Certainly not, every event, especially if it had any great impact, which cannot be denied or ignored, must have taken place to either make us undergo a specific experience or benefit. So, in that way Macaulay's system too had its hidden, rather I would say immense benefit for so many generations of Indians. I am not saying his system is better or correct or more appropriate for a nation like India. We cannot either deny or do away with the fact that his system did penetrate and prevailed which probably gave employment to millions of Indians then as clerks now as software professionals; it has enabled the great Indian talent to be shared by the whole world. I would like to look at the positive contribution of Macaulay. I am not evaluating it in comparison with the negative impacts it may have or has had.

But what Macaulay failed to pen down, of course he could not have, is a great trait, we as a nation and a group of individuals practicing a particular way of life, called Sanathana Dharma or Hinduism, have, namely, the willingness to imbibe and include anything that leads to more sober and sophistic march in socio cultural evolution and in addition we excel in what we have imbibed or included.

Be it the concept of vegetarianism, be it ahimsa, be it forgiveness, be it changing our attire and hair styles, be it changing our political systems, be it a foreign language, be it another culture, be it a sport like cricket etc. That’s why our Prime Minister Modi is able to proudly declare that people from many nations may be in USA but Indians are in several nations. It is our adaptability and ability to excel in what we have adapted.

Real richness of our heritage, our cultures, our traditions, our languages need to be pursued, perpetuated and practiced [their popularity is incidental] but we need not suffer from paranoid reactions that they can be destroyed by some years of occupation by rulers of different cultures, religions, languages etc.

India is a country with second largest population of Muslims.

India has world’s greatest number of people speaking English combining native and non-native people who speak or understand English than any other country in the world.

Neither of these facts have either destroyed our religion or have  destroyed our languages.

We are perhaps one of the most advanced race to really live with a universal spirit, liberal mind [liberal enough to include atheism as part of its religion] and global socio cultural adaptability.

So let us also look positively what and how Macaulay’s system contributed.

Read this link to shed all prejudices and unloving criticism.

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2013/10/macaulayism.html

“The benefits that this single individual’s [Macaulay’s] dictate imparted to people, who were practicing Sanathan Dharma, and to the rest of the world far outweighs the smaller changes in life styles and traditions that it may have caused as a collateral damage”.

Language fanaticism, Linguistic fanaticism

1.   Ethno centric and linguistic fanaticism pursued with a massive mass mania is a deadly combo and dangerous trend, even if it increases our pride in our ancestry, especially when it tries to intrude into every realm of human activity. Probably it can or may  back fire as it happened with the European religious fanaticism which was broken by the age of reason, scientific temper, trade and commerce etc a combined counter combo, which all got together, and literally threw away the religious fanatic imposition and intrusion into all realms. So much so, when thrown out the religious fanaticism lost its relevance and its fortresses turned into museums of antic value. Most of these citadels of power, pride and pomp in the past are now protected and promoted as tourist  attractions as heritage centers or monuments and in some cases where they have lost even this relevance and respect are being used as lovers’ parks or lotus-eaters joints.

2.   Resurrection, repair and remodeling can never replace the robustness of the original.

3.   ‘Madisaru mami kalaiyil kondaiyil poovaithu kolamita kalai kandu kavithai pirandhadhu’ can never bring out the essence however well or expertly it may be translated in any other language in the globe.

4.   I observe,language too evolves in contexts to name new things, to label new activities and to fulfill the need for injecting new meanings for expressing feelings and emotions hitherto unexpressed verbally etc.

5.   I feel it has more to do with the socio-cultural milieu in which the interaction or communication happens; the socio- cultural milieu in which the language got churned up during it evolutionary process and also the predominant factors that contributed to the growth of that language.

6.   Some languages have too many words and expressions for religious activities; some have similarly for philosophical concepts; some have similarly for  nature; some have similarly for  technology; some have similarly for  winter sports and snow; some have similarly for  food etc

7.   Like everything else language too is more susceptible to these factors contextual utility, socio cultural acceptability and to cater to the necessities that arise in a new environ [like words that have cropped up after the advent of cyber world]

8.   I do not think this requires an elaborate thesis to establish.

I wish you read fully these links that I have been writing in the past few days          and give a feed back in this link has reference to some other in links in it

              http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2014/08/language-debate.html

The following links were written of course for an unwanted raging controversy in the past week in India

9.   On19th Nov.

http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2014/11/language-controversy-over-removal-of.html

10.      On 22nd Nov.

   http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2014/11/context-and-contextual-priorities.html

11. On 23rd Nov.

   

       http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2014/11/language-meaning-and-context.html

 

The factors contributing to the greatness of Sanskrit are too many to enlist but primarily         they could be classified as:-

a.    Its ancientness,

b. Its great structure,

c. Its flamboyant syntax,

d. Its enormous literature [many yet unearthed],

e. Its multiple layers of meaning- its ability to express one thing on the surface while ensconcing something esoteric for the perceptive interpreter with a profound knowledge unraveling the multiple layers of meaning as Mike Magee mentions in http://www.shivashakti.com

[This fact I feel has not yet been fully explored especially from texts like Devi Bhagavatham]

f. Its geopolitical life- Most importantly the geopolitical influences which did a great damage to Sanskrit as excellently written by the great scholar Rajiv Malhotra  almost a decade ago in this link which I have been repeatedly posting in my facebook page 

http://rajivmalhotra.com/library/articles/geopolitics-sanskrit-phobia/

    Some interesting links

12.       http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/11/24/lost-in-translation-ella-frances-sanders/

13.       http://www.boredpanda.com/untranslatable-words-found-in-translation-anjana-iyer/

14.       http://hellogiggles.com/10-fabulous-german-words-english-equivalent

15.       http://thoughtcatalog.com/koty-neelis/2014/11/23-untranslatable-foreign-    words-that-describe-love-better-than-you-ever-thought/

16.       Any language survives based on its relevance at specific times and that in turn depends on too many factors which cannot be oversimplified or over generalized.

Hard work

I have read many times 'PHANTOMS IN THE BRAIN' by one of my favorite and world renowned neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran with Sandra Blakeslee in 2009/10. This is one of my cherished collections. This book is imbued with lot of case studies. I myself could a partial example with a handicapped leg which initially when I was admitted at Royapettah Hospital after accident two doctors wanted to amputate. I shall give you some links below to get a peep into the subject. But today I came across an unbelievable example of this phenomenon of Phantom Limbs. Watch the link enjoy, express your sentiments, cry out if you want but also think of those kinds of people and join any group or organization that donates or helps such people especially as International Day of People with Disability is very near on 3rd December. Handicap is a handicap though as the great linguist Steven Pinker says the term may have undergone “ the euphemism treadmill as lame, crippled, disabled, challenged” and now differently- abled etc.

Now watch the link https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=640703379310760

Get a peek into the subject of phantom limbs and those interested in reading further literature on this subject just browse through these links.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_limb
2. http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/conte…/…/121/9/1603.full.pdf
3. http://www.ted.com/tal…/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind…
4. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15938103
5. http://chip.ucsd.edu/pdf/Synsth_Phant_Lmb_P_Roy_Soc.pdf
6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1692421/
7. Secrets of the Mind by V.S. Ramachandran in this wonderful talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTSN9phMZzk

But best would be to buy 'PHANTOMS IN THE BRAIN' by V.S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee

Though there are some shortened versions in PDF on the net they miss out the important notes.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=640703379310760

Language ,meaning and context

And the Sanskrit Language debate continues with good inputs

Dear Kalyanaramanji,

Message from Shri.S.Kalayanaramanji in brackets here [I have posited mleccha (meluhha) as the spoken version of Samskrtam, a Prakrit, Proto-Indian lingua franca of 7th millennium BCE. Later chauvinists created the dravida maaya and austro-asiatic family of languages in contradistinct categories to Proto-Indo-European, forgetting the essential semantic foundations of languages. See my Indian Lexicon available online.http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/sarasvati/html/indlexmain.htm See Late V. Sundaram's review together with other views: https://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/indus-script-cipher.Let us organize a forum to debate on Indian sprachbund (linguistic area).]

My response:-

I have not done detailed research work like you. So I grab every opportunity to go through any research work someone else has done and taste it as it is easier like savoring readymade noodles!

So, I have gone through both these works you have mentioned already as V. Sundaram mailed me long back and enjoyed reading them. I know it contains lot of useful and pertinent information. Of course, let us take away the hoax called Dravidian theory out of any discussion because it is waste of time and it is a good idea to engage in research as suggested by you. 

I have made it very clear that language evolution has too many complicated features and every language has too many facets that it does not allow any over simplified generalization that easily. So, the language debate will continue forever.

The factors contributing to the greatness of Sanskrit are too many to enlist but primarily they could be classified as:-

1.    Its ancientness,

2. Its great structure,

3. Its flamboyant syntax,

4. Its enormous literature [many yet unearthed],

5. Its multiple layers of meaning- its ability to express one thing on the surface while ensconcing something esoteric for the perceptive interpreter with a profound knowledge unraveling the multiple layers of meaning as Mike Magee mentions in http://www.shivashakti.com

[This fact I feel has not yet been fully explored especially from texts like Devi Bhagavatham]

6. Its geopolitical life- Most importantly the geopolitical influences which did a great damage to Sanskrit as excellently written by the great scholar Rajiv Malhotra  almost a decade ago in this link which I have been repeatedly posting in my facebook page 

http://rajivmalhotra.com/library/articles/geopolitics-sanskrit-phobia/

7. Its socio- cultural and religious connotations [which in the case of Sanskrit cannot be denied at all [that’s why the geopolitical damages have been intentionally inflicted on it].

I also see several other reasons for this which are all the result of some inherent  malady in our  mentality [ I mean Hindus] approach to many subjects or perhaps, almost all subjects. I can classify them as:-

1. Failure to document and preserve for posterity. 

2. We have stressed and glorified reverence over research. 

3. Exaggeration over exact reporting. 

4. Deification over delving deeper into details of real merit [a] 

5. Lack of openness in certain areas [this may sound contradictory, for, other religions are far less open comparatively]. I mention this here because we have been rather indifferent to include esoteric studies made by clairvoyants like H.P. Blavatsky especially in text like ‘The Secret Doctrine’ where she resorts to great interpretations with gay abandon unhindered by any constraints of tradition and comes out with some really great revelations.

In fact Steven Pinker and David Crystal have been doing so much research for the past four decades with all the materials available to them and still they have not been able to arrive at very clear cut categorization with linguistic justification even for one language which is of a comparatively recent origin, namely English. Steven Pinker thrashes many established rules with great logic in his latest book ‘The Sense of style’ which may unsettle the traditional grammarians because the expressive possibilities of language often rely on the rules being bent and almost all great poets, novelists have done it as getting across human thoughts, creativity, imaginations etc get a precedence over sticking to rules. It is in the nature of creative genius never to stop the flow and flamboyance by sticking to prescribed rules.

For example Shakespeare’s ingenuity in coming up with newly coined words /expressions to communicate many things have been mind boggling and they have been brought out very well in the book ‘The works of Shakespeare, revised from the best authorities: with a memoir and essay on his genius by Barry Cornwall: also annotations and remarks by many writers, illustrations from designs by K. Meadows’.

These are all because language is more a medium for expression than a tomb of rules. That’s why nowadays we come across many good ideas, opinions and suggestions emanating from many in internet and social media which may be with poor grammar or no grammar, bad punctuation or no punctuation etc.

Even some of the great spiritual and philosophical truths [expressed as an experience by enlightened souls] become a bit difficult to understand as language sometimes becomes an inadequate tool to communicate the real communion of a soul.[b]

Regarding Dr. V.S. Ramachandran's views it only from neuro anatomical perspective and presents his views and from that angle I accept his views for the simple reason he goes through a very strenuous and methodical scientific research based on many case studies and he is precise when he uses the terminologies and never delivers anything as a sort of conclusion with axiomatic certitude and he adopts the same method here too with careful observation when he says "But there were multiple exaptations with fortuitous interactions which resulted in language." Besides more importantly most of our knowledge in the subject he handles is only theoretical and half baked. Probably one may fault him as one would with Freud's psychoanalysis saying his studies were based more on examples who were all his patients and not many on normal people.

Of course

"But this by-product view is highly unlikely, as language is too complex. Exaptation -- a re-use of an existing structure -- is undoubtedly a powerful force in evolution. But in all documented cases, complex structures are used for simple purposes, and not vice versa. A type of wading bird uses its wings as a sun shade: there is no evidence of any bird using what was originally a sunshade as wings. You can use a television as a paperweight, but you can't use a paperweight as a television. The complexity of language, and the interwoven adaptations of the mouth, larynx and brain make it unlikely that language developed as an accidental by-product." [Aitchison (1996), pp.74-75.]

Besides all these I keep on insisting about context to unravel the inherent strength and utility because words and expressions in any langue primarily derive their meaning from one- the things they refer to and two -what it means to the mind of the person who uses it. For, all said and done even for ordinary words referring to things there are many abstract aspects attached.

For example when I say Dosa it may appear to refer to the edible item but it could include its appealing taste, the irresistible aroma, the many other things associated with it like the shape, size, texture, components, side dishes, it could also mean I want to eat a dosa now or feel like having a Dosa now etc.

If even a word within a language depends on so many factors or reflects too many aspects, then we can imagine the role and significance of a language or languages in life.

For example you ask any Indian what is the meaning of Rangoli or Kolam, you will come up with many answers or those born in the last decade and confined to living only in modern marble floored or granite floored apartments may just blush. But for me that is one of the best forms of learning art and producing multiple designs with manipulation of dots and lines. I cannot deny others views nor can anyone put aside my observation.

Word meanings are not static but dynamic that’s why connotations have in many cases totally erased the original denotation.

The meaning of meaning by itself is a debatable issue and meaning making sense is more contextual than anything else. http://www.anti-dialectics.co.uk/page_13_03.htm#Meaning-Of-Meaning

That’s why human vocabulary constantly gets expanded to express more and more feelings, emotions, new technologies, inventions, imaginations, concepts, discovery of or creation of new substances, space, time, causation etc like as Steven Pinker says, ELBONICS to refer to action of two people maneuvering for one armrest in a movie theater or SHOEBURYNESS to refer to the vague uncomfortable feeling you get when sitting on a seat which is still warm from someone else’s bottom.

a] [For example all great composers starting from Appar, to Annamacharya to Saint Tyagaraja everyone's biography has an episode where some deity appeared to their parents just the day before they were born and declaring that they would get a saint as a child, everyone of them were despised by the king or some family member and the next day the king had stomach ache and after they went and sang and pardoned the king the stomach ache vanished etc. All of them were painted as very poor  whereas what ought to have been given importance or stressed and studied in detail after putting in proper perspective that they all were normal human beings who had normal family life with children etc but they had extraordinary  genius which produced some of the unmatched, unthinkable and unrepeatable feats like the number of ragas that Saint Tyagaraja created with such subtle nuances making an unbelievable appropriate blend of stresses, pauses, intervals, vibrations etc delivering  one of the greatest  architectural designs of sound coupled with thousands of words of alliteration that too mostly on a single subject of Rama's life. It is easier to produce vast literature on many subjects. The nuances are so subtle that unless they are exact it can make a person slip into a different raga. I can only think of only one analogy that of canine sense of smell [ it is said a dog can differentiate between some 1. 2 million  different smells] so Saint Tyagaraja in way enhanced the auditory sense of human beings as whole through so many ragas. One of the greatest contribution to the world of music. Instead of studying this, we were propagating his cruel brother, his poverty etc

In fact he made the optimum utilization of the very musical language Telugu because of its excess of vowel sounds. I even use to joke to my Telugu friends on Ugadhi as 'Haapilu Newoo yearlu'.]

[b] "One of the best-known facts about mystics is that they feel that language is inadequate, or even wholly useless, as a means of communicating their experiences or their insights to others. They say that what they experience is unutterable or ineffable. They use language but then declare that the words they have used do not say what they want to say, and that all words as such are inherently incapable of doing so.

"According to the Mandukya Upanishad the unitary consciousness is 'beyond all expression'. According to Plotinus, 'the vision baffles telling.' In a passage which I shall quote more at length later, Eckhart says that 'the prophets walking in the light...sometimes were moved to...speak of things they know...thinking to teach us to know God. Whereupon they would fall dumb, becoming tongue-tied.... The mystery they found there was ineffable.'

"And modern Europeans and Americans who report having had mystical experiences feel the difficulty just as much as do the ancient or classical mystics. R. M. Bucke says that his experience was 'impossible to describe'.Tennyson says that his was 'utterly beyond words'. J. A. Symonds states that he 'was not able to describe his experience to himself' and that he 'could not find words to render it intelligible'. Arthur Koestler says of his experience that 'it was meaningful though not in verbal terms' and of his own [p.278] attempts to describe it that 'to communicate what is incommunicable by its nature one must somehow put it into words, and so one moves in a vicious circle.' Probably hundreds of similar statements could be collected from all over the world." [W T Stace, Mysticism and Philosophy, taken from here. Quotation marks altered to conform to the conventions adopted at this site. Links added.]

Context and contextual priorities matter more than anything else

         Context and contextual priorities matter more than anything else.

                                                                                                             

1.    Please note that wherever I have used the word compulsion in this write up it refers ‘to externally imposed force or coercion’.

2.    I have nothing against Sanskrit nor am I insensitive to its beauty, but, we all must remember a few things that are dynamic and they develop and decide the events, characteristics, behavior patterns of human life in each age or period and also determine the importance and impact of certain things predominantly based on primarily the survival value aspect of life.

3.    In this process or for that matter in the evaluation of many things two factors that are of vital importance, which we cannot afford to ignore, one the context because life does not function in vacuous inanity nor on past templates, and two because of the context the prioritization of things in terms of its contextual utility for each individual and the society at large.

4.    The present context for the individual, the nation and the whole of humanity must prioritize, as rightly repeated and reinforced  by our Prime Minister Shri, Narendara Modi, economic development, technological advancement, empowerment of all, more scientific researches, encouraging youth to develop skill sets and contribute to these activities, create an atmosphere of peace, harmony and happiness etc and all other concomitant aspects, of course not necessarily in the order in which they have been indicated here but all of these must be prioritized over whether what language our youth must be proficient in. Once again I repeat let us not forget facts of nature, I mean evolution, as one the greatest scholar Guy Murchie in his magnum opus 'THE SEVEN MYSTERIES OF LIFE'[ http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2013/07/guy-murchie.html ] in the Chapter on 'Human Languages' writes that," curiously enough, unlike the rest of proliferating evolution, languages and dialects seem to be getting fewer".

5.    Make in India is a great motivating slogan while ‘speak in Sanskrit’ or ‘should study Sanskrit’ will be irrelevant to the vital aspects of growth needed for every youth and the nation as whole.

6.    Homogenization is the psychological disease of the West [a] and why should we so avidly adopt a disease which is not likely to deliver any great dividends in the spheres of priority indicated above.

7.    For your information my love for Sanskrit has made me publish all these links indicated below in my blogs, years before the new found craze for Sanskrit made its landing in our educational system and unnecessarily providing more TRP for all TV channels in many languages other than Sanskrit.

8.    Let us remember one thing while all of us feel the need for unity, what unity needs is feeling for all by all .Let us remember what the great seer Bahaullah has said: “If language can help create a sense of nationalism, it can equally well help create a sense of internationalism.”   

9.    We must all remember that language, I mean every language in general, by itself has got so many facets and functions starting from being a mere tool of communication to representation to being a fulcrum to push out thoughts to expounding philosophies to entertaining in excellent literary styles to enlightening with wisdom [incidentally wisdom has never been partial towards any language]. People and institutions interested in any particular language must do in depth study and research in bringing out the great treasures in that language to the public domain, if necessary even trough translation so that people are motivated to migrate towards learning that language. There are several magnets to attract people to learn a language but not force or compulsion to learn it. Let us remember what the great Plato has said in his ‘The Republic’, “Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.”   

10. Let us all remember that the great Hindu scriptures are much admired, researched and relished primarily because a great Saint called Swami Vivekananda , a soul chosen to reveal the broad minded and open outlook of Vedas, expressed them in a language which others could understand what he initiated is a great boon to the whole of humanity. Imagine the loss to humanity if the entire gamut of great words or works of wisdom were struck in a language that people living in a particular place alone had accessibility to.

11.Let us make an unbiased approach without any unloving criticism or uncritical love towards or for any language in particular. There are multiple factors which made or make languages evolve [b]. If anyone pursuing  the study of languages will know that each language has certain predominant factor attached to it, though any language can be  or may be used to delve into any realm, and this predominant factor with which it is associated promotes the greater usage [ I mean more number of people using it for specific purpose] . When this predominant factor recedes even relatively or slightly or marginally in its impact or influence or significance or importance then along with it the usage of the language also moves away. It is just a matter of evolutionary trend that we have to accept and live with rather than getting sentimentally glued to it and fanatically push it forward which can actually hamper growth [c]   Paper and writing with a pen have not lost their role totally but the keyboard and touch screens have taken over a vast area of their usage.

12. Latin and Greek gave way to English, French, German etc in the course of evolution of human activities and the changing political milieu and because of that none of the wisdom that was in Latin or Greek language was lost.

That’s why according to expert linguist like David Crystal, “Indo-European ‘skei’ with the meaning of ‘cutting or separating one thing from the other’ has been the root for a wide range of  words starting from scythe, scissors to schism, skill, science, conscience, shit etc” But the language and its users move on without bothering too much about these issues with syntactic flexibility. [d]

13.  My blog postings on the greatness of Sanskrit

1.    Well, here I would like to quote a wonderful and worthy observation from a wonderful blog maintained by my friend Mike Magee http://www.shivashakti.com/ [don’t miss to see his page http://www.shivashakti.com/datta.htm] about some aspect of Sanskrit language “One of the unique but mysterious features of the Sanskrit language is how many words can be used at three separate and distinct levels of thought. Even whole verses have this remarkable feature. It is one of the factors which have made translation into other languages so difficult. The difference presupposes three groups of people. First there is the literal meaning intended for the householder or worldly man, and a guide to better thought and action. The second is the meaning on a higher level intended for the mumukshi or hungry seeker for God. Here the same words take the reader from the mundane level to the higher level, and the implications. The third is the meaning intended for the soul who has attained or is nearly ready to attain liberation”. This literally leads to both correct, crystal clear meanings and also gives room to those who pander to chaotic and callous interpretations, more so in spiritual texts, I stress spiritual texts, not religious ones, wherein there are always many esoteric intrinsic meanings which unravel only to the enlightened souls and not necessarily to a linguistic scholars or academic thinkers or even intellectual giants 

I have mentioned this in my blog link http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2011/05/dear-all-i-was-asked-write-about-guru.html

2.http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2013/09/sanskrit.html

3.http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2012/09/sanskrit-why-it-is-great-language.html

4.http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2011/10/sanskrit-its-importance-statements-and.html

5.http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2013/09/sanskrit-and-science.html

6.http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2011/12/sanskrit-is-divine-language-why.html

7.http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2010/11/sanskrit-help.html

[a] Sick obsession of the western psyche, namely, homogenization. If we glimpse through the annals of history, we can observe this and the several ways in which this has been carried out: by indoctrination, by force, by cultural invasions, by wars etc. Throughout history it has failed miserably. Be it the Roman Empire’s greed to spread its tentacles , be it the attempt to homogenize religion which failed with Spanish Inquisition, be it Nazism or Colonialism, all have failed. Once these attempts at homogenizing cultures, beliefs, political ideologies have failed, now, the West is trying it in Trade and Economy. As before, it is bound to fail. But what we must learn from history and guard ourselves against is the heavy price that humanity may have to pay for facing and overcoming these attempts emanating from a few individuals charged with fanatical obsession in terms of Religious wars, Nazism, Colonialism etc with all their destructive manifestations.

The impact of the previous obsessions were restricted to specific geographical area as they collapsed before they could successfully spread everywhere. But the manifestations of the present obsession, read Globalization of trade and economy affects the lives of everyone on the globe, either directly or otherwise, and can cause irreparable environmental damage which can even render life miserable for future generations.

[http://contentwriteups.blogspot.in/2010/11/west-needs-to-change-its-obsession-to.html]

[b] Every language has evolved imbued with beauty and utility with marvelous manipulations to make meanings conveyable and meaningful communication.
Language in my opinion has been the most important tool in the growth and development of human evolution in all aspects.

However, it still remains a great puzzle with many of its interesting nuances well explained by great scholars, linguists,scientists, attempted to be studied by many psychologists and neurologists but awaiting a very convincing scientific explanation in terms of evolutionary biology or perhaps it could as Dr.V.S. Ramachandran himself says somewhere, "I’m arguing that what happened is more like your jaw bones: there are different adaptations which evolved for different purposes. For example, bones of the ear that evolved for amplifying sound were exapted from reptilian jaw bones used for chewing. There is a fortuitous emergence of different sets of neurosystems that evolved for completely unrelated reasons—and the equally fortuitous interactions between them resulted in early language, which then became an elaborate system. So, it’s not wrong to say that there was natural selection. But there were multiple exaptations with fortuitous interactions which resulted in language.".

[c] On 29^th May,2014 Times of India newspaper carried a central page article titled  ‘HAPPY TO BE UNHAPPY’ BY Suman Chattopadhyay how insisting and enforcing for some decades Bengali medium has caused economic and cultural disadvantage for the Bengali youth.

[d] As per the great linguistic scholar Steven Pinker in his wonderful book one of the trio logy ‘THE STUFF OF THOUGHT-LANGUAGE AS A WINDOW INTO THE HUMAN NATURE’ writes “language itself is not a single system but a contraption with many components…….syntax itself encompasses several mechanisms, which are tapped to different extents by different languages……one of the key phenomenon of syntax is the way that sentences are built around their verbs. The phenomenon goes by many technical names [including subcategorization, diathesis, predicate argument structure, valence, adicity [roots thus mark points of interface between the language faculty and the wider cognitive makeup of a person], arity [the number of arguments that a function can take] , case structure, and theta-role assignment], but I’ll refer to it using traditional term verb constructions.”

He also goes on to write , “For example, pour, fill and load are all ways of moving something somewhere, and they all have the same cast of characters: a mover, some contents that move, and a container that is the goal of the movement. Yet pourallows only the content -locative [pour water], fill allows only the container –locative [fill the glass], and load goes both ways [load the hay, load the wagon]”

J.Krishnamurthy very clearly puts this across “force, compulsion, determination, a compulsive urge to bring about the change will not bring about a change at all; it brings about only greater disorder - which is obvious to anybody who has observed.”

Osho puts it, “Compulsion is sure to provoke resistance from the mind contrary to your expectation. Your inhibitions become invitation and your taboos attraction.”

Mahatma Gandhi  says, “ Force, violence, pressure or compulsion with a view to conformity are both uncivilized and undemocratic”.

The dominance and disuse of any language or even certain expression and words within a language undergo various mutations. As with life, with language also many changes happen some rational and logical and some just happen and which defies all logic as the great linguist David Crystal used to say both the words impedeand expede were introduced during the same period, as well as disabuse and disadorn , but in each of these pairs only the first word stayed in the language for no logical or linguistic reasons.

Every language is an art and science of very vast dimension carrying within it several years of civilization with all its splendor, the experiences of many souls, expressions of many lives and as such each language is a vast store house of both art and science. In short each language on earth is a divine tool or probably the best medium to express our thoughts and experiences.