Language

What language is after all? It is a means of communication we use. It helps us to convey our thoughts/feelings to other persons in an easy way. Is it something more than this? I do not see why it has to be something more. I wonder when I see people so attached to their language. They fight, they hate, and they judge knowledge of a man by the language he uses! Yes, I understand, language shows the culture/region from where men come from. And cultures are different in different regions. But it cannot be the reason for the fight, right? But yes! It looks to be the reason for all the fights related to language. People no more tolerate the differences. Tolerate word itself is not correct here. We can use the word ‘Respect’ here. Now there is no respect left for other cultures that are different from our own. Most of the North Indians hate the culture in South India. And similarly most of the South Indians hate the North Indian culture. And in these regions there are sub regions based on state/cities. Most of the natives do not tolerate any language other than their native language. There are divisions based on Religion. This is one problem (which I do not want to discuss now!). But again there are divisions based on Region. I come first, my family comes next, my locality next, my city next, my state next, my country next. This is how it goes. Again inside each of these there are always groups based on cast/religion something like; in my locality my cast first, my religion next, other religions next! So are people divided! But aren’t these divisions existed all these days throughout the history of mankind? Yes. To say there were no fights is wrong. As long as there are divisions among us differences exist. And it is the thinking of man that we are discussing here. Differences are there. We should not compare them. If you do, you start asking question ‘which one is better?’ What is ours-is better. What is not-is not. This is what you start to believe and this is what you want others to believe. And that brings intolerance towards any difference we see in others. You criticize others. Others criticize you. So you naturally want to dominate others at least in your own region. When others get into your region and they too think like you do, there comes the fight. You just can’t tolerate it. But what you do not understand is it is the thinking that has a flaw in it. With that thinking you cannot live in other’s territory freely, without any fear and you do not leave others to live freely in your own territory. This flawed thought is dominating our society today. A North Indian goes to some region in South India and gets into a dispute with a native. You suddenly start observing that all natives come to the rescue of their person. They do not even care why the dispute started. They think it is their duty to support their own person. It is vice versa. ‘We are ready to behave nice, treat them well. This is what our culture stands for. But they will take advantage of our goodness and dominate us! They kill our culture, our language if we let them do it. And we certainly cannot tolerate this!!’ This is how generally people defend themselves. But what they do not understand is people in every other region think the same way! These divisions among men have incubated insecurity feeling in their hearts. The divisions, the insecurity feelings are sources of most of the troubles we face today. People want to have more power so as to protect themselves from others. More time and money is being invested to secure this power. Many international disputes on the topics like nuclear power continue because of this very same reason. There is no place left where you feel completely safe. No amount of power can give you that feeling of being safe and free. All this is because we are looking at the wrong direction for the solution. We are trying to achieve peace and freedom by having more power in our hands, by threatening others! History has proved it wrong innumerable times. When we talk about language we talk about all these things. Not only these, we should understand what language is, and why do we need it. When man understood he has amazing power to create sound, he thought of using it for the betterment, just as he does always. He found that he can use it for improving his communication among each other. So he named everything he saw or thought. And so he gave birth to different languages based on different regions. Basically language is just an instrument used for communication. There are many feelings, many other complex mysteries which language cannot describe. It is said by many religion leaders that no words can define what God is. It is something that can only be felt. There are some experiences in life which you can put in words. And when you try defining the complete universal whole using language or words it creates great confusion. Ask the philosophers. Philosophers frequently face this confusion and conflicting ideas in their work. Then why people are so attached to their languages? Probably because it is THEIR’s! But then why do they not like, say, English? Remember that our aim is to communicate better. Let it English or any other else. You understand what I am trying to convey? That’s it. And yes, without any doubt it is English which most of the people understand today. So if you want to communicate with larger group then you should know English. If you want to communicate only within the boundaries of your state you can stick to the prevailing language in your state. And if you want to talk to your own family member you need to stick to the language that you both are most comfortable with. Basically it is this; use the language that most of the participants in the communication are comfortable with. What is the point in sticking to your own dear language which others do not understand?! Idea always comes first and language is secondary. Language is not what you want to express. Language is what you use to express what you want to express. How can you judge a person’s knowledge by only considering how strong his language is? You learn English to understand what great men like Einstein, Newton, Shakespeare, Karl Marx said/wrote. But you do not expect them to learn your native language and write or speak using it. Every language has its own beauty. And there are men who became great not by their language use but by their knowledge. No one needs/wants/cares to know what language Mother Theresa or Buddha or Gandhi or Aristotle or Bhagat Singh or Benjamin Franklin or Descartes or Immanuel Kant spoke. It is their great work and profound knowledge and great principles for which society, irrespective of any kind of divisions, respects them. 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