Of passion to share
| Date :08-Sep-2020 |
Vera B Williams
By Vijay Phanshikar ;
“Passion to teach, to share
deeply-experienced lessons from life, is
embedded in all literature.”
-- Vera B Williams
TRUE, many writers of novels, poetry, prose, essays, often say that they write for themselves. A Sanskrit saying talks of the same principle -- Swantsukhaya (Swa-anta-sukhaya -- For my ultimate happiness). That is how much of literature has come into existence, many believe. But this may represent only a small part of the bigger truth. For, there is always an innate desire rising in people’s heads and hearts to write something for others to share with -- and be understood.
A school of thought in literature states exactly this so pointedly, so vigorously. It believes that it is basic human nature to share individual experiences with others, and possibly to teach others the lessons learned from various nuances of life -- of love, of hate, of joy, or despair, of concern, of caution, of eagerness to let others know what one went through, good or bad. All that urge, that passion to teach and share is the core impulse of literature, many litterateurs believe. That is how books get written, poems get penned, essays get so vociferously promoted as troves of ideas. That was also the urge that propelled the sages of the past to find expression of their inner inspirations that came to be known as the world’s most ancient literature -- the Vedas. Of course, the sages did not “write” the Vedas; they chanted the hymns that their disciples picked up and engraved those in memory. Of course, the human community then knew the art and science of writing -- on any surface with any medium.
But the Vedas came up through what is described as oral tradition having passed down from generation to generation. That detail apart, the core craving of the sages, too, was to communicate to others what their inner gods told and taught them -- so that humanity learned right lessons, adopted right thought, and helped carry forward the march of human race to greater glory. That is the actual impulse on which literature gets created -- in all languages in all societies in all times. In fact, the same ideology can be extended to all arts. The basic urge is to sing for others, dance for others, to paint for others, to sculpt for others -- so that the thought not just endures but also spreads far and wide.
In Sanskrit, the basic word is akshar -- letter, in literal translation in English. But basically, akshar means something that cannot be destroyed -- a (not) kshar (destructible). Literature, thus, has a core belief as well -- something that will endure, if it spreads to many. This is also, thus, a tribute to the power of thought as the most enduring of human creations -- with divine touch. And that thought rides on literature’s shoulders, gets embedded in its head, enshrined in its heart.