ఆంధ్ర గ్రంథాలయం/సంపుటం 2/సంచికలు 1, 2/Humans and Books

by ఎస్.ఆర్.రంగనాథన్

Humans and Books^[1]

Rao Sahib S. R. RANGANATHAN, M.A. L.T., F.L.A.

Librarian, Madras University Library

and

Secretary, Madras Library Association

Your Secretary stated in his minutes that at your last meeting my friend and co-secretary of the Madras Library Association, Mr. S. M. Fossil, urged you to concentrate on physical development instead of reading books. This was a surprise to me. I expected that some of you would challenge the correctness of the minutes. But When the President asked you if anybody objected to the minutes, nobody raised his voice. Even now I am afraid this passive attitude on your part was due to the fear of your headmaster. For I am sure that Mr. Fossil would not have made such a statement. The minutes need to be amended by altering "instead of" into "in addition to". There is a profound reason for this amendment.

You can get on happily in life by attending to your physical body and neglecting the mind and abstaining from the reading of books if you are your bodies and nothing more. I wonder whether you agree that you are nothing more than your body. Just look: there are plenty of things in the world-even in this room which are nothing more than their bodies. This table, these chairs, the desks, the black board and so on, all have bodies and have nothing else. Surely they did not read books! In fact they could not. Are you not different from them? Is not a human being a Body plus something? What is that something? Rather what will you include in that something? I am glad you all agree that the something should include Mind. So long as we have Mind we think we create thought. The destiny of thought is the Mind of others. Every human is anxious to transmit his thought to others.

Again a human is not merely Body and Mind. He is Body plus Mind plus something more. No doubt, there are beings which are simply Body plus Mind. You can easily guess what they are. I am sure you won't relish being clubbed and bracketted with those beings with the animals with the higher form of animals if you please. I am glad I hear a voice mentioning Darwin. Yes, Darwin has taught us that we have descended from hairy ancestors with arboreal habits. We have still representatives of these Darwinian ancestors of ours. They have Mind which directs their actions, which makes them remember previous experiences and even provide for future. But surely even according to Darwin to Darwin we had left that anthropoid stage behind us some millions of years ago. We are now entirely distinct from them. What is it that differentiates us from them if it is not the Spirit. A human therefore is Body plus Mind plus Spirit.

A human is happy, progresses, and looks after himself properly only if he developes these three components of his in a harmonious way. These three components must march abreast of one another. I wonder if any of you had travelled in village parts outside the bus route. If you have done so you can recall to your mind the double-bullock cart. Imagine if you had not actually experienced it, what will happen, if one of the bulls begins to gallop while the other one begins to lie down. Surely the cart will be upset and you will be injured. So it is with humans; if Body, Mind and Spirit do not move abreast of one another the human will be injured. Our ills are due to unequal development in these three factors. Even the huge inter-national travail which human society is experiencing to-day is traceable to the Mind and Body forging ahead while the Spirit is starved and left Behind, unattended to, unfed and undeveloped.

Assuming then that physical improvement by itself is inadequate to carry us forward, nay is harmful to us, let us see what the humans have done to develop the Mind and the Spirit in resonance with the feeding of the Body.

Mind has to be fed with thought. It is best developed by exchange of thought. Hence the chief problem of the earliest humans was to find a means of transmitting thought from one to another. They struggled for several thousands of years. to find out some means of transmitting thought. Even animals found that the use of voice was of some help. But it was not adequate. By varying the quality of their screamings they could at best transmit a few ideas like anger, love, warning and so on. The attempt of the earliest humans was to intensify the range of modulation of the voice. They went on experimenting with it. At long last they invented articulate speech. We are all so much accustomed to this power of speech that we don't realise what a struggle it should have been for our ancestors to have invented this power. Before the new-born completes the first year, he has by the force of imitation already acquired this power of speech. That is why you don't devote a moment's thought to the magnitude of this discovery by our earliest ancestors. Imagine for a moment that there was no power of speech We won't meet here to-day; there will be no meetings; there will be no schools; there will be no state. We would all still be wandering in the undeveloped forests undergoing tremendous tension by our inability to transmit the thought accumulated in our Mind and perhaps experimenting to discover some method for its transmission. The invention of speech-articulate speech-is the first major invention of the humans made perhaps millions of years ago.

Once speech was invented the human very soon realised how inadequate it was. Through your voice you can transmit your thought only to a handful of people found within a few yards of yourself. But that was not satisfactory. Thought should be transmitted, the ancient humans felt, to persons living at far off distances - The voice of a father at Madras could not reach the ears of his son at Benares. This was a distressing situation. As a first solution of this difficulty the father attempted to transmit his thought to a mercenary and made him go all the way to Benares and retransmit his thought to his son. Imagine what a laborious and costly process this should have been. Nay it was worse, for we do not know how much the carrier would have transferred and mutilated the thought when it was in his possession.

I am sure you remember the story of a fellow who went to a neighbouring village to attend a feast. For the first time in his life he tasted in that feast a peculiar sweet. He liked it so much that he resolved that he should ask his wife to prepare it for him when he went back to his home. He learnt from his host that the name of the sweet was 'Modaka'. He wanted to transmit his thought to his wife in the next village. So he carried his thought. Lest he should forget he went on repeating 'Modaka', 'Modaka'. Half way between the two villages there was a little rut. While jumping across the rut he instinctively uttered the nonsensical phrase 'atrimak' which the situation automatically created. There-after his lips went on repeating 'atrimak'. He reached home; he asked his wife to prepare 'atrimak'; She could not for the simple reason that she had never heard of a sweet called 'atrimak'. Next morning his grannie living in the next house came and asked the fellow "Why did you beat your wife so severely?" He replied "She refused to make a cake for me". The old lady chastised him saying "Surely that cannot be sufficient reason for beating her so severely that all over her body there are swellings like modakas". Then the fellow said "It was exactly modakas that I asked her to prepare". The grannie could not understand how his wife would have refused to prepare modakas for him. So she took her inside to effect a compromise and asked the wife: "Why should you refuse to prepare modakas for him; he says that it was they that he wanted." "Listen", retorted the wife, "It is all silly". The fellow intervened saying "I did ask for modaka." The wife retorted "You asked for 'atrimak' ". I need not continue the story.

If even such an interested messenger could unconsciously spoil a thought in transmission in this way, you can imagine how many vexatious situations would have arisen in the distant past when our humans had no other means of transmitting thought except through the voices of paid agents. A more efficient method of transmitting through space was therefore an urgent necessity.

Not only that; the humans felt the need for a means of transmitting thought through time. Let me state here that all these struggles and inventions were in the distant pre-historic period and we have no reliable record. Each country has got its own version-often mythological versions-of these inventions. I shall now tell you how the problem of transmitting thought through time was for the first time brought to a head in China.

Some five thousand years ago there was a genius in China. He was called Ts'ai Lun. He had made many inventions in farming and agriculture. He had discovered new methods of treating the soil, applying manure, propagating and developing the crop, warding off diseases of crops, harvesting, storing the harvest and converting the harvest into various palatable forms. The emperor of China was very proud of Ts'ai Lun. He arranged for all the thoughts he had created to be transmitted through space. He engaged several propaganda agents to receive the thoughts of Ta'ai Lun and deliver them to all the villages in China. He was very proud of his reign. He was more proud of Ts'ai Lun. He wanted to be with Ts'ai Lun as long as possible every day. One evening the emperor and Ts'ai Lun were enjoying the evening sun. Their sons were chatting a few yards away. Their grand-sons were just returning from their work. Their great-grand-sons-little babes were just being carried by nurses. The emperor suddenly became sad. He turned to Ts'ai Lun and said "You have invented many things. You have created wonderful thoughts. I have done my very best to have them transmitted throughout the country. But look what will happen when you and I have gone and when the present generation of adults have gone. How can our great-grand-children-sweet kiddies - who are basking in the evening sun, know your thought, know your inventions. My thoughts move forward. How is this wonderful thought of yours to be transmitted to our great-great-great-grandchildren-great-to-the- power-of-infinity grand children. Surely in the year 1941 both of us will have our descendants. How are they to be benefitted by your thoughts." Ts'ai Lun was so fond of his emperor that he could not see him in distress. So he said to the emperor "Your Majesty need not suffer so much. Please give me leave for for six months. I shall retire into solitude. When I come back I am sure I can bring to you some means by which all our thoughts can be transmitted to our grandchildren of 1941 and beyond."

After the end of six months Ts'ai Lun brought what we now call a piece of crude paper with some dark figures on it. He said "I have invented writing. By this writing thought can be transmitted through time. "I want you to think for a moment and realize what a wonderful invention this invention of writing is. Now you understand what is meant by transmitting thought through time. But for your secretary knowing to write how could the thought which Mr. Fossil created in this very room some months ago have been transmitted to me to-day. But for this invention of writing and your secretary reading the minutes perhaps I would not have had a theme to talk to you about to-night. I am aware that some of you might wish that your school life would have been far happier if Ts'ai Lun had not invented writing; for then you would not have had so many books to read; nor will your ensuing examination prolong for so many days in which you will be asked to write pages after pages. I wonder whether I have been right in singing the glory of Ts'ai Lun in the examination month. I don't know how many of you in your present examination terror will be prepared to accord a vote of thanks to Ts'ai Lun and how many a vote of censure.

This new invention which enabled the humans to transmit thought through time was of use also in transmitting it through space unmutilated and un-transformed by the messengers.

As soon as the invention of speech solved a problem the absence of writing created another problem and led to thousands of years of turmoil before writing could be invented. So also soon after writing gave satisfaction new problems arose. The humans found writing to be a long, tedious and expensive process. Suppose for example the marriage of one of you, say Yogu, has been fixed. Naturally Yogu is eagerly looking forward to the day of marriage. But his father wants to invite thousands of his friends scattered all through India. He wants to transmit this thought this invitation through space. To that end he makes use of Ts'ai Lun's invention and writes invitations Let us do a little bit of arithmetic. He takes 12 minutes to write an invitation. He can produce five copies in an hour. He is a busy man. He has the preparations for the marriage to make. He is able to write out the invitations only three hours in the day which means fifteen invitations. You can easily calculate how many months it will take for him to write out the invitations to thousands of his friends and how impatient Yogu will become. Perhaps speedy multiplication of copies of writing for transmission through space and time was the next major problem for the humans to tackle. It took them several thousands of years. to succeed. They did not succeed till very recently; for you know that printing was invented only about 1440. You might have noticed that the Madras Library Association celebrated the fifth centenary of Gutenburg's invention of printing through moveable metallic types only last December. Look at the immense benefit and the wonderful result of Gutenburg's invention. I wonder whether you had ever visited "The Hindu" office. You say, you have. Then recall to your mind the room in which messages are received from all parts of the world, from New York, London and Tokyo, at the radio typing room and how within an hour thousands of copies of the messages are delivered into the hands of the readers in the City. How could thought be transmitted so efficiently and so quickly but for Gutenburg's invention of printing?

Let us next see how we should use this wonderful triple heritage of speech, writing and printing to improve ourselves - not our Body alone but also our Mind and our Spirit.

To improve our Body we want food, clothing and shelter. To get all these we want bodily strength and mental capacity. They are inter-dependent. They are at bottom dependent upon improved mental capacity. Just think how much this improvement of mental capacity depends upon the triple invention of articulate speech, writing and printing. The books that help us in this matter are called 'Informative books.' we have plenty of them to-day. You will be wasting your heritage and defrauding yourself if you do not learn when you are at school the use of informative books. You cannot improve your body by exercise alone. You want food. In the present state of the world when all nations are closely knit together it is no easy job to get food for everybody. The world's population some pessimists say, has gone beyond the food resources of the world. Let us say that there are ten million more people in the world than the food resources warrant. How then are we to supply food to all. Is it by murdering's all the extra ten million people? I am glad you say no the correct method is to make the earth yield more food. To do that the new thoughts created by the new Ts'ai Lun of to-day should be learnt and put into practice. You see the value and use of reading informative books even for keeping your Body strong.

I said that the Mind also should be kept continuously fed and engaged. The human body gets exhausted very soon. They say it can work for not more than eight hours a day. It wants rest and relaxation during the remaining hours. When your Body is working the Mind also participates with it and is fully engaged. For nobody who is doing his job, say in a factory, can allow the Mind to wander elsewhere as you students do when your Body is in the class room in front of your teacher! For if the Mind is not co-operating with the Body the machines of the factory will cut off the fingers and maim the body of the workers. But when the body is resting and relaxing the Mind has to be attended to. For the Mind does not get exhausted as quickly as the Body. The Mind does not require sixteen hours of rest and relaxation. It can carry on for a much longer period. Except when you sleep soundly i. e. except for six to eight hours the mind cannot rest. That means there are about eight hours in the day - at any rate a few hours in the day when the Mind has to be engaged and fed while the body is resting. Now there are various ways of occupying the Mind without giving work to the Body. Some chat and dissipate themselves, some go to races and ruin themselves, some go to the base pictures and vulgarize themselves, some play at cards and come to blows, and you know how in all these modes of exercising the Mind people come to blows and disorder or deterioration and grief. But Gutenburg's improvement on Ts'ai Lun's invention which was itself an improvement on the invention by the unknown discoverer of articulate speech is a harmless, cheap and self-dependent means of recreation for the mind. We have plenty of recreative books. When you are at school you must learn how to use recreative books, how to use this triple benefit of speech, writing and printing to keep your Mind fed, engaged and improved when your Body needs rest and relaxation and Mind is unable to go to rest.

Lastly let us turn to the third component of the humans, the Spirit. If Mind requires less rest than the Body, the Spirit needs no rest whatsoever. There is a difference also. The Body easily gets satiated with food. You cannot make a man eat and improve his bodily strength beyond a certain limit without endangering the Body. To a less extent this is equally true with the Mind. The Mind has got a far greater capacity than the Body, so much greater that we imagine that it has an infinite capacity. But even this has its limitation. There are moments when the mind gets glutted. It is not so with the Spirit. The more you feed it the greater becomes its hunger. Valmiki has compared the Spirit with fire. The more you feed a fire with fuel the greater becomes the quantity of fuel that it can consume. So it is with the Spirit. There is still another way in which the Spirit differs from Body and Mind. The physical growth of man stops after some time. The mental growth continues even after the Body has stopped growing but it seldom goes beyond certain limits. But it is not so with spiritual growth. When you are children the inspiration of your parents is enough to feed you. In your adolescents stage the spiritual hunger goes beyond the inspiring capacity of your parents. So you seek the help of a select few your professors and teachers who are believed to have greater inspiring capacity. When you become adults your spiritual hunger transcends the capacity even of professors. The number of people that can satisfy you is far smaller. You seek inspiration from a few realized souls, sadhus and sannyasins. You know how few they are in number. When you grow older still your Spirit grows beyond the inspiring capacity of the contemporary realized souls. For for some reason unknown to us the number of Christs, Buddhas, Sankara and Valmiki's is so small that you perhaps find only one such in a thousand years. They are the central stations of spiritual power. We have all to look to them for light and for spiritual food. If we do not get contact with them our spiritual hunger consumes us. You can now understand the great potency of the invention of writing and printing for feeding the Spirit of man to enable it to grow from more to more. You have inspirational books for the purpose. You must know to spot them out, enjoy them and benefit by them. Whenever the Body, the Mind and the Spirit do not get fed harmoniously - that is not to an arithmetically equal extent but each according to its needs and capacity - you have trouble. The harmonious growth of human means the development of Body, Mind and Spirit each in proportion to its needs and capacity. Harmonious growth is curiously enough not uniform growth but differentiated growth. It is the lack of harmonious growth in this paradoxical sense that is responsible for the ills of humanity, be they of the individual or of society as a whole. The present conflagration of the world is due to the disproportionate growth of the three components. The Body and the Mind had grown. The Spirit had been neglected. If the Spirit also had been developed and nurtured as efficiently as the Mind and the Body we would have had a world of peace, happiness and bliss.

Books can help us in this matter. As students you must learn to read and enjoy all the three kinds of books, informative, recreative and inspirational books. It is only then that you will justify the rich heritage which has come to you through millions of years of labor of your ancestors - ancestors the triple invention of Speech, Writing and Printing.

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1. Valedictory address delivered at the Kellett High School, Triplicane, Madras, on 11th March 1941.