LANGUAGE IN INDIA

A Study on the Physiological, Psychological and Spiritual Perspectives of Different Selves in a Self with Special Reference to Yann Martel's SELF

S. Joseph Arul Jayraj, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.

1.0. Abstract

The paper aims to analyse the efforts taken by Yann Martel in confronting the different situations in his life in order to find out his hidden 'Self'. Physiological, Psychological and Spiritual points of view are taken to perceive, understand, and explain the crisis faced by the protagonist of SELF. The ways and means through which one can identify his/her 'Self ' and other 'Selves' and liberate the individual 'Self' from the fetters of the body and mind are suggested.

1.1. Introduction

The questions that seem to propel Yann Martel to ask himself are: "Who am I?", "What does it mean to be a human being?", "What is man, if not a 'Self'?", and "Can the individual 'Self' be liberated from the fetters of the body and mind? How? " In the process of analyzing his 'Self', Martel not only addresses these questions to himself but also the readers. He doesn't provide the reader with answers to these questions. He invites the reader to ponder over these questions and find answers for themselves.

1.2. Question-1: Who am I?

This is the most radical, the most urgent of all questions. That is why Socrates proclaimed: "Man, know thyself"! In other words, the enquiry about BEING (ourselves as beings) is more fundamental than the question about KNOWING. According to Descartes, "I AM" is the first of all evidences and therefore good philosophizing must begin with it. I am sure of one thing that I doubt. To doubt is to think. To think is to exist. Therefore, he said: "Cogito, ergo Sum", which means "I think, therefore, I am" (BEING HUMAN, "Introduction", 5). This is the first state of being certain. I AM (thinking): this first basic experience has two components. They are: "I" and "AM". They mean: MYSELF and EXISTENCE. Therefore, every human being deals with two distinct problems: the problem of "existence", which provokes to ask a human being the question asked by Hamlet: "To be or not to be?" (ibid, 5). This question asks for the purpose of the existence of an individual, others, and the world around.

1.3. Question-2: What does it mean to be a human being?

The problem is about MYSELF, not as "existing" but as a human being. This is the question about ESSENCE and not EXISTENCE. ESSENCE deals with WHAT a thing is. EXISTENCE deals with THAT the thing is. In other words, ESSENCE is that which makes a person or thing. EXISTENCE is the status of being a thing (ibid, 6). Even though the existence of the unnamed protagonist is transformed from male to female, the essence of the unnamed hero of the novel seems to remain the same to some extent. Even after having been transformed into a woman, he thinks like a man on many occasions. However, there is also the transformation of his ESSENCE. That is, he undergoes the experience of a woman and feels like a woman. SELF deals with the problem of identity morphing, the hidden nature of the 'Self' and its survival. The identity of 'Self' of an individual is so much entrenched in his body-mind-intellect personality that becomes necessary to distinguish between the 'Self' (Atman) and the 'Non-Self' (An-Atman), the one without 'Self' (ibid, 14). In fact, nothing is stable or permanent. According to Heraclites, everything is in a state of flux or change. A human being is no exception to it. He too has to become a 'Non-Self', a 'Non-Soul' ('An-Athman') or 'Metaphysical Self '(Paramatma). The individual 'Self' must become the UNIVERSAL SELF the 'Atman-Bhraman', the Spirit that is within every 'Self' and lose himself in it. (ibid, 17-18; PHILOSOPHY, 121) This is the cosmic force that sustains the universe as well as the 'Self' within an individual. A being normally confuses his "true" 'Self' with one's "Empirical Self" (a self which is guided only by practical experience rather than by scientific ideas). The "Empirical Self" which is composed of what the 'Self' sees, touches, feels, experiences and even thinks, is not the true 'Self'. The empirical reality is false because it cannot lead one's 'Self' to the realization of the Bhraman who is the true 'Self '. In order to realize one's true 'Self', one should raise his/her 'Self' to a superior level of existence. This is the process of identifying one's 'Self' with Bhraman.

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