Conversation
Markendeya Yeddanapudi
A Conversation on Language, Nature, and Wholeness
Characters:
You (YM Sarma)
Jiddu Krishnamurti
David Bohm
Alfred North Whitehead
Fritjof Capra
Ken Wilber
Scene:
A quiet grove. No walls, no podiums. Trees sway gently. The air itself feels like a participant.
YM Sarma (You):
In free nature, there are no isolated subjects. There are only clusters—interacting, overlapping, living wholes. Language, as we use it, breaks this living unity. It forces experience into subject, verb, and predicate. But nature sings—it does not parse.
Jiddu Krishnamurti:
Yes, sir… the moment you name something, you have already moved away from it. The word is not the thing. When you say “tree,” you are no longer in communion with the tree—you are in relationship with the word.
David Bohm:
What you are pointing to resembles what I called the fragmentation of thought. Language is part of this fragmentation. It creates the illusion that the world is composed of separate parts, while in fact it is an undivided movement—what I termed the holomovement.
Alfred North Whitehead:
Indeed. Reality is not made of things, but of processes—events in relation. What you call “subject-clusters” aligns with my notion of actual occasions. Each entity is a nexus of relationships, not an isolated unit.
Fritjof Capra:
Modern systems theory supports this view. In ecology, we see that nothing exists independently. Networks, patterns, interconnections—that is the fabric of life. However, we still rely on analytical language to describe these systems. The question is: can language evolve to reflect interconnectedness?
Ken Wilber:
Let’s be careful here. While it is true that reality is interconnected, we must not dismiss structure altogether. Human development includes multiple stages. Rational, analytical thought—what you call Cartesian—is not the enemy. It is a necessary phase. The problem arises when we absolutize it.
YM Sarma:
But in our universities, analysis has become dominant—almost tyrannical. Feeling has been exiled. Music, art, embodied knowing—these are treated as secondary. Knowledge has become mechanical.
Krishnamurti:
That is because we are afraid of feeling. Feeling demands attention without control. Thought seeks control, certainty, security. So education becomes conditioning, not understanding.
Bohm:
Perhaps the issue is not language itself, but our unconscious use of it. We treat abstractions as if they were reality. If we became aware of this process, language could become more fluid—less rigid, more participatory.
Whitehead:
Language, like reality, must be understood as process. It is not a fixed structure but an evolving expression. Poetry, in fact, comes closer to truth than rigid prose, because it preserves ambiguity and relation.
Capra:
Yes, and in science too, we are moving in that direction. The shift from reductionism to systems thinking is, in a way, a movement toward what you describe—toward seeing wholes instead of parts.
Wilber:
Integration is the key. We need not reject grammar, but transcend and include it. Music, poetry, science, analysis—all are valid modes. The real question is: can we hold them together without reducing one to the other?
YM Sarma:
In nature, this integration already exists. The air carries scent, sound, touch. The eye turns light into color. Every organism expresses itself artistically. Why can education not mirror this?
Krishnamurti:
Because education is built on ambition, comparison, and fear. Not on observation. If you truly observed nature—not as knowledge, but as living movement—education would transform.
Bohm:
Dialogue itself could be a path. Not discussion, not debate—but shared inquiry, where meaning flows between us. In such dialogue, fragmentation begins to dissolve.
Whitehead:
And perhaps universities should become places not merely of instruction, but of cultivation of experience—where thought, feeling, and perception are equally honored.
Capra:
Your idea of a “Free Nature Park” is interesting. A space where learning is not imposed, but emerges from interaction with living systems. That would embody ecological thinking directly.
Wilber:
Yes—but let us also include inner nature. Meditation, introspection, psychological awareness. Outer ecology must be matched by inner development.
YM Sarma:
Then perhaps the future of language is not in sentences—but in symphonies. Not in definitions—but in resonances.
Krishnamurti (softly):
Or perhaps… in silence.
(A pause.)
The wind moves through the trees. No one speaks. Yet something is being said.
End Scene
If you’d like, I can deepen this into a longer play, add conflict and sharper disagreement (especially Wilber vs. Krishnamurti—that can get interesting), or turn it into a stage script with acts and directions.
Rajaram Krishnamurthy
‘Speech is sliver and silence is golden’. But Chanakya goes one step further and says that one who eats in silence will have respect in heaven for ever.
sloka-9 in Chapter 11 0f Chanakya Niti:
One who has meals for a full year in silence gets respect in heaven for a thousand crore Yugas.
Yastu samvatsaram purnam nityam maunena bhunchati
yugakotisahasram tu svargaloke mahiyate.
A Swiss inscription says, “Sprehfien ist silbern, Schweigen ist golden’
These phrases are only a few centuries old. But Indian phrases are older than these.
There is some logic behind eating in silence and getting great benefits. Many of the times we don’t appreciate the good things in cooking done by wives or mothers. They do it well for 90 out of 100 days. But when it s not up to the mark in the ten out of 100 days we shout at them or at least we criticise them, saying this has no salt or this has too much salt, this is very spicy, this is very oily etc. If we eat in silence this would not happen. And both the cook and the person who took the food feel contented and happy.
In another sloka Chanakya says,
Silent Prayer
We all know the great saint of Tiruvannamalai Sri Ramana Maharishi cleared the doubts of thousands of devotees in silence. Even people like Paul Brunton (author of Search in Secret India) acknowledged that they got answers for their questions by simply in front of him, who most of the times maintained silence.
Chanakya says,
udyoge naasti darityam japato naasti patakam
maune cha kalaho naasti naasti jagarite bhayam
The meaning is.th exertion there is no poverty; one who offeres silent prayer incurs no sin. In silence there is no quarrel. For one who is wide awake there is no fear.
This advice is also very practical. If everyone maintains silence, the world will be a better place to live in. In silence there is no quarrel.
One who does prayer in silence, gets more benefit. In our own time we have seen Ramana Maharishi maintaining silence and helping the devotees. Many spiritual centres have meditation halls where silent prayer is encouraged.
Chinese philosopher Confucius said,
Silence is a true friend who never betrays.
Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle’s quotations are very popular:-
“Silence is more eloquent than words.
Speech is great, but silence is greater.
Speech is of time, silence is of eternity”. {London swami blogger}
II Speech needs company,
Silence needs solitude.
Speech wants to conquer others,
Silence helps conquer oneself.
Speech makes friends or foes,
Silence befriends all.
Speech demands respect,
Silence commands it.
Speech is earth-bound,
Silence is heaven-bound.
Speech educates,
Silence exalts.
Speech is subjective,
Silence objective.
Speech has regrets,
Silence none.
Speech has limitations,
Silence is boundless.
Speech needs effort,
Silence a lot more.
Speech is human,
Silence is Divine.
While speaking you are heard by creatures,
In silence you hear the creator.
Silence leads to a stillness of the mind,
Then to introspection,
Then to self-cleansing,
Finally to liberation. ()A poem I liked)
III B G Bg. 17.16
मन:प्रसाद: सौम्यत्वं मौनमात्मविनिग्रह: ।
भावसंशुद्धिरित्येतत्तपो मानसमुच्यते ॥ १६ ॥
manaḥ-prasādaḥ saumyatvaṁ
maunam ātma-vinigrahaḥ
bhāva-saṁśuddhir ity etat
tapo mānasam ucyate
And satisfaction, simplicity, silence or gravity, self-control and purification of one’s existence are the austerities of the mind.
K RAJARAM IRS 24426
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Rajaram Krishnamurthy
From: 'gopala krishnan' via KeralaIyers <keral...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2026 at 07:50
Subject: Re: [KeralaIyers] Re: Conversation
To: <keral...@googlegroups.com>
Respected Mr Rajaram,
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Rajaram Krishnamurthy
Mr. Rajaram,Your response is least to my point told. I have many good things to do. I can't waste my precious energy answering to the points raised.No member will forget your translation - Mangalyam thanthuthanena mama jeevitha hethusha is recited by sasthrikal alone and not by bridge groom.Gopalakrishnan
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