At one time it was thought that the Buddhists carried it all over the
world with them, but it has been found out that ages before
Buddhism it was used among nations. In Old Babylon and in Egypt
it was to be found. What does this show? All these symbols could
not have been purely conventional. There must be some reason for
them; some natural association between them and the human mind. Language
is not the result of convention; it is not that people ever agreed to represent
certain ideas by certain words; there never was an idea without a corresponding
word or a word without a corresponding idea; ideas and words are in their
nature inseparable. The symbols to represent ideas may be sound symbols or
colour symbols. Deaf and dumb people have to think with other than sound
symbols. Every thought in the mind has a form as its counterpart. This is called
in Sanskrit philosophy Nâma-Rupa — name and form. It is as impossible to
create by convention a system of symbols as it is to create a language. In the
world's ritualistic symbols we have an expression of the religious thought of
humanity. It is easy to say that there is no use of rituals and temples and all
such paraphernalia; every baby says that in modern times. But it must be easy
for all to see that those who worship inside a temple are in many respects
different from those who will not worship there. Therefore the association of
particular temples, rituals, and other concrete forms with particular religions
has a tendency to bring into the minds of the followers of those religions the
thoughts for which those concrete things stand as symbols; and it is not wise to
ignore rituals and symbology altogether. The study and practice of these things
form naturally a part of Karma-Yoga.
There are many other aspects of this science of work. One among them is to
know the relation between thought and word and what can be achieved by the
power of the word. In every religion the power of the word is recognised, so
much so that in some of them creation itself is said to have come out of the
word. The external aspect of the thought of God is the Word, and as God
thought and willed before He created, creation came out of the Word. In this
stress and hurry of our materialistic life, our nerves lose sensibility and become
hardened. The older we grow, the longer we are knocked about in the world,
the more callous we become; and we are apt to neglect things that even happen
persistently and prominently around us. Human nature, however, asserts itself
sometimes, and we are led to inquire into and wonder at some of these common
occurrences; wondering thus is the first step in the acquisition of light. Apart
from the higher philosophic and religious value of the Word, we may see that
sound symbols play a prominent part in the drama of human life. I am talking
to you. I am not touching you; the pulsations of the air caused by my speaking
go into your ear, they touch your nerves and produce effects in your minds.
You cannot resist this. What can be more wonderful than this? One man calls
another a fool, and at this the other stands up and clenches his fist and lands a
blow on his nose. Look at the power of the word! There is a woman weeping
and miserable; another woman comes along and speaks to her a few gentle
words, the doubled up frame of the weeping woman becomes straightened at
once, her sorrow is gone and she already begins to smile. Think of the power of
words! They are a great force in higher philosophy as well as in common life.
Day and night we manipulate this force without thought and without inquiry.
To know the nature of this force and to use it well is also a part of Karma-
Yoga.
