American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 6.91 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 1 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC BREAKING LINGUISTIC CHAINS: CHOMSKY'S VISION FOR A STIMULUS-FREE VERBAL SYMPHONY 1Ananya S. Choudhury, 2Arjun M. Singhania 1,2Department of English, V.K.S. University, Arrah (Bihar) 802301, India. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10600344 Abstract: This paper explores the intriguing concept of a "stimulus-free language" as envisioned by the eminent American linguist, Noam Chomsky. Chomsky's assertion challenges conventional notions about language, positing that the normal use of language is not only innovative and boundlessly expansive but also emancipated from the constraints of detectable stimuli, be they external or internal. This departure from stimulus control, as proposed by Chomsky, bestows language with the unique capacity to function as a tool for thought and self- expression. This inherent characteristic, according to Chomsky, is not exclusive to the exceptionally gifted and talented but is a faculty available to every normal human being. The exploration of this "stimulus-free language" concept delves into the intricate relationship between language, thought, and self-expression. By examining Chomsky's perspective, we navigate through the realms of linguistic autonomy, breaking away from traditional paradigms that tether language to external or internal stimuli. The paper discusses the implications of this vision on our understanding of language acquisition, cognitive processes, and the democratization of linguistic prowess among individuals. Furthermore, the paper considers the practical implications of Chomsky's vision, evaluating how a stimulus-free language might manifest in everyday communication and cognitive endeavors. This investigation leads to a reconsideration of educational approaches, linguistic interventions, and the nurturing of linguistic capabilities in diverse populations. In synthesizing Chomsky's ideas with contemporary perspectives on language and cognition, this paper aims to contribute to the ongoing discourse in linguistics and cognitive science. By critically engaging with the concept of a stimulus-free language, the study seeks to unravel the intricacies of language's role in shaping human thought and expression. Keywords: Stimulus-free language, Linguistic autonomy, Language and thought, Cognitive processes, Language acquisition INTRODUCTION "...the normal use of language is not only innovative and potentially infinite in scope but also free from the control of detectable stimuli, either external or internal. It is because of this freedom from stimulus control that language can serve as an instrument of thought and selfexpression, as it does not only for the exceptionally gifted and mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 6.91 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 2 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC talented, but also, in fact, for every normal human (Chomsky, 2014:11)." Here emerges the vision of a ‘stimulus- free language’ from the being of the celebrated American linguist Chomsky. Such emergence brings about not only a turning point in the growth of the linguistic world, but also comes to be an evolutionary breakthrough of linguistics. It is for the reason that in the discovery of the stimulus-free language the world of linguistics transcends the plane of corporeality. The stimulus-free language as ‘an instrument of thought and self-expression’ comes to question the validity of the deconstructive vision of language as a network of the differential relationship of linguistic signs, the relationship which is based on the separative principle of existence rejecting the existence of the One Universal and further giving rise to the sovereignty of the conflicting state in a literary text, resulting in ‘Sous rature’, “under erasure” (Gayatri Chakravorty, 1976: 14). The vision of the conflicting state in a literary text manifest the separative principle of consciousness in the being of Jacques Derrida, the propounder of ‘Deconstruction’. On an examination, it is found that on account of the operation of the separativity of consciousness he does not visualise the existence of the One Universal in his vision of ‘Deconstruction’. Consequently, the rejection of the One Universal which is at the base of Deconstruction comes to be the cause of the vision of such a conflicting state. Owing to this, Derrida’s vision of language is confined within the corporeality of language in which nothing exists beyond language; the root of which lies in the vision of classical physics that matter is the fundamental truth. In the Classical Physics, Matter gives birth to Energy. It does not visualise the prior existence of Energy. The most celebrated scientist Albert Einstein discovers such a vision of Classical Physics to be incorrect. He establishes the truth that Matter is the creation of Energy since the former is the condensed form of the latter. He also reveals the physical truth that Matter can be converted into Energy. Here, one transcends the plane of Matter. The stimulus-free language of Chomsky which exists in such transcendence poses a valid challenge to Derrida’s rejection of the prior existence of consciousness, transcending language. It is for the reason that Chomsky’s vision of the prior existence of thought, or to say, consciousness which, according to him, is at the base of language has got a scientific support from the Modern Physics, to be more specific, the Quantum Theory as the Quantum Theory discovers the creation of Matter by Consciousness, or to use the noted British scientist Arthur Stanley Eddington’s terminology, ‘mind stuff’ (Eddington, 1929: 268) while penetrating into the sub-atomic plane of Matter. The vision of the conversion of particle into wave and vice-versa in this sub-atomic world of Matter is the result of the two different states of human mind. Physicists working on the Quantum Theory conclude that it is ‘observer created’ (Polkinghorne, 2006: 90). The vision of the conflicting state in a literary text manifest the separative principle of consciousness in the being of Jacques Derrida, the propounded of ‘Deconstruction’. On an examination, it is found that on account of the operation of the separability of consciousness he does not visualise the existence of the One Universal in his vision of ‘Deconstruction’. Consequently, the rejection of the One Universal which is at the base of Deconstruction comes to be the cause of the vision of such a conflicting state. Owing to this, Derrida’s vision of language is confined within the corporeality of language in which nothing exists beyond language, the root of which lies in the vision of Classical Physics that Matter is the fundamental truth. The thought, or to say, ‘mind-stuff’ (1929: 268), is, thus, at the base. mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 6.91 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 3 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC It is now conclusive in the World of Physics (Eddington, 1929: 276). The Quantum theory witnesses that firstly, thought, or to say, consciousness comes to be wave, the ‘probability wave’ as it has been termed by the World of Physics, the wave which is not a three-dimensional wave, but a tendency. It is a tendency to be particle. It, then, comes to be particle, the Matter, out of which, as the Biological Sciences say, Life evolves. Mind, subsequently, evolves out of Life in the form of a human being. Thus, what is at the base of Creation is also found to be existing at the base of the ‘language’ of human being and is operative there. Further, on an examination, the consciousness which is at the base of Creation is found to be integral in nature. The integrality manifests when it gives birth to the probability wave and the particle, to be specific, electron, photon, having different features. In his yogic consciousness, Sri Aurobindo, too, visualises consciousness as the fundamental thing in existence coming into the state of ‘unconscious energy’ (1979: 236a), and further, into what we call, electron, atom and so on (236-237). The integral principle of consciousness which is the sovereign principle of consciousness comes to be intelligible when we begin to notice, first, the separate existence of wave and particle with incompatibility to each other before entering the subatomic plane of Matter, and, further, their oneness firstly in the probability wave in the sub-atomic plane of Matter, and then after, in ‘consciousness’ in the deeper recesses of the sub-atomic plane of Matter as noted earlier. The discovery of, what Physics terms, ‘probability wave’ (Fritjof, 1983: 78), the wave which is not a threedimensional wave, as noted earlier, made as a result of the mathematical structure of Max Born by which particle converts into wave and vice versa takes place, and further the higher discovery of the ‘mind-stuff’ at the base of wave and particle by Eddington and other scientists, as noted earlier, go to reveal all the more the integrality as the sovereign state and, hence, the integral principle of consciousness. Conclusively speaking, such phenomena very clearly show that since consciousness comes to be the origin of wave and particle, it is integral in nature. Hence, it is the integral consciousness which is found to be existing at the base of Matter, hence, of language, too, since, as noted earlier, Mind in the person of Man is the result of evolution out of Matter. It is for this reason that the vision of the existence of the One Universal descends into the being of Ferdinand de Saussure and other structuralists such as Chomsky who discovers ‘mind’ at the base of language. Hence, there is no room left for the deconstructionist to reject the prior existence of consciousness, the consciousness which is integral in nature at the base of the material creation, and hence, infinite. It is to be noted that while propounding his vision of deconstruction Derrida presents nothing logical and scientific to substantiate his vision. In fact, deconstruction violates the unmistakable vision of science of the existence of the Universal, the vision which descends into the Quantum Theory and in both the Special and General Theories of Relativity established by Einstein. In fact, the vision of the Universal Truth on the plane of Matter is received by science on an in-depth investigation. On a further deeper penetration, it is also discovered on the examination of the vision of the Classical Physics of the separate and incompatible existence of Space and Time and Einstein’s ‘Spacetime’ that the divisive principle is the secondary principle of the essential consciousness. It is for the reason that in the divisive, or to say, separative consciousness the separate and incompatible existence of Space and Time is visualised, and in the integrality of consciousness the one transcendent integral existence of Space and Time, ‘Spacetime’, or ‘Space-Time Continuum’ as it is called, -the mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 6.91 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 4 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC ‘Spacetime’ which is the higher and primary truth. Hence, the integrality of consciousness is within the inmost being of language on account of which infinite visions of Truth are expressed, the visions in which there is no conflict or warring state. There exists integrality instead. The aforesaid vision of Chomsky of a language which is ‘free from the control of detectable stimuli, either external or internal’ (2014:11) speaks of the two states in the being of man, to be specific, two planes of Mind, the one under the gravitational pull of the stimuli, and the other beyond such gravitational pull. The state existing beyond the gravitational pull of stimuli takes us beyond the corporeality of the being of man. Chomsky’s vision of the beyond of the internal stimuli speaks of the existence of the supra-corporeal state of the being of man. Having studied in the light of Sri Aurobindo, the external and the internal stimuli which are ‘detectable’ (2014: 11) reveal the outer being of man, and the state which is ‘free from the detectable stimuli’ (11) reveals the inner being. The latter is, as stated earlier, the supra-corporeal state of the being of man in which the subtle body, the subtle life and subtle mind exist as revealed by Sri Aurobindo in his letters on yoga. In one of his letters he says: “Man, for instance, has, besides his gross physical body, subtler sheaths or bodies by which he lives behind the veil in direct connection with supraphysical planes of consciousness and can be influenced by their powers, movements and beings. What takes place in life has always behind it pre-existent movements and forms in the occult vital planes; what takes place in mind presupposes pre-existent movements and forms in the occult mental planes. That is an aspect of things which becomes more and Kumar 9 more evident, insistent and important, the more we progress in a dynamic yoga (Sri Aurobindo, 1979: 253b).” In the background of the aforementioned yogic revelation of Sri Aurobindo, the revelation which is a matter of higher consciousness, to be specific, yogic consciousness, it is now witnessed that in the supracorporeal state there exists a plane of mind, the thought of which goes to produce a language of it which comes to be stimulus- free, free from the stimulus which is found in the corporeal being, that is to say, the gross body, the gross life and the gross mind. Such language, therefore, comes to be the instrument of the thought of the stimulusfree mind, nay, ‘occults mental planes’ (253). Such an exploration from the plane of yogic consciousness is a logical ascent having discovered the truth that consciousness is at the base of material creation. The very supra-corporeality is, thus, found to be existing in the realm of Language, the Language which has evolved, or to say, emerged in the material world. Such supracorporeality is all the more affirmed in the World of Science when we enter into Einstein’s ‘four-dimensional plane of existence’. In his in disputed mathematical structure of the four-dimensional plane of existence he has shown that the three-dimensional plane of existence is the projection of the four- dimensional plane of existence in the same manner in which shadow is a twodimensional projection of a three- dimensional object. “The shadow is a projection of points in threedimensional space onto a two-dimensional plane, and its length will be different for different angles of projection. Similarly, the length of a moving object is the projection of points in four-dimensional space-time on to a threedimensional space, and its length is different in different frame of reference (Fritjof, 1983:187).” mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 6.91 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 5 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC Further, the four-dimensional plane of existence, ‘SpaceTime Continuum’ is the plane of existence where the separate and incompatible Space and Time of the threedimensional plane of existence are found to be the one transcendent integral as noted earlier. It reveals the existence of a plane where the principle of One reigns. It finally affirms the sovereignty of the supra-corporeal state, to be more specific, of consciousness since the principle of the One operative in the consciousness of Einstein could be able to view the transcendent Oneness of Space and Time, the consciousness which is integral in nature. On a deeper examination, the four-dimensional plane of existence, ‘Space-Time Continuum’ or ‘Spacetime’, which has not been found to be physically existing by the World of Science, is found to be a thing of supra-corporeality which gives birth to corporeality in the form of the three-dimensional plane of existence. Such consciousness is essentially integral, again it is noted. Hence, the language of the integral consciousness of the integral plane of existence comes to be at the centre. It shows the absence, nay, non-existence of the conflicting state in the literary texts, to be specific, in the literary texts written from the planes of spiritual and supramental consciousnesses. There exists the vision of infinite aspects of Truth on account of the transcendent Oneness at the base. It is on account of Oneness that there are no ‘warring forces’ in these literary texts. Therefore, no question arises for the sovereignty of the conflicting forces in the literary texts as asserted by the deconstructionists. These deconstructionists have, obviously, imprisoned themselves in the three dimensionality of existence ignoring the scientific truth of the four-dimensional plane of existence and the higher yogic vision. Though Chomsky unmistakably speaks of the existence of a supra-corporeal plane of mind in his ‘stimulus free language’, the supra-corporeal plane of mind is yet to be explored. It, therefore, necessitates us to enter into, what Sri Aurobindo terms, the ‘psychicised’ state of mind, of which the stimulus-free language is found to be the creation. It is to be noted here that the psychicised mind is presently occult in the being of man as he is yet to rise evolutionarily. With the evolutionary emergence of the psychicised mind in the psychicised being, one is yogically able to rise to the further occult subtler planes of Mind, the occult mind, of which Sri Aurobindo speaks in his aforementioned letter of yoga (1979: 253b). The psychicised mind exists in the psychicised being of man, the being wherein exist the psychicised mind, the psychicised life and the psychicised body as disclosed by Sri Aurobindo in his letters on yoga. The investigation is all the more imperative as the stimulus-free language has also been found to be the instrument of the self-expression by Chomsky. Since both the corporeal and the supracorporeal states have been found to be existing within the being of man, the stimulus-free language comes to be the expression of the Self of the supra-corporeal being of man. Such self is the deepest Self which is ultimately in command of the different selves of the corporeal state of the being of man. In the psychicised state of the being of man, the deepest Self makes language its instrument to express the deepest truth of the individual, the terrestrial and supra-terrestrial existence. Language is no more the instrument of body, life and mind which are, as discovered by Sri Aurobindo and other Rishis, the instruments of the deepest self, the Soul. SRI AUROBINDO’S YOGA OF PSYCHICISATION AND THE STIMULUS-FREE LANGUAGE mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 6.91 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 6 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC The corporeal state of the being of man, the vision of which emerges, as noted earlier, in Chomsky’s discovery of the stimulus-free language is the state in which man is not yogically and spiritually transformed as studied in the light of Sri Aurobindo’s yogic revelations. In such an untransformed state, man is under the gravitational pull of Matter and, therefore, his language is not stimulus-free. It is to be noted that the Rishis have discovered that man is made up of body, life and mind, and Soul, the Divine Self is at the centre of his being. In his yogic consciousness, Sri Aurobindo comes to witness a hierarchy of consciousness existing within and beyond the Creation. He witnesses that the gravitational pull of Matter has taken the intellectual mind, and the planes of the mental consciousness below it, and, further downward, the plane of Life, too, into its grip on their universal planes of Existence. This is what he witnesses in the yogically and spiritually untransformed being of man also. While speaking of the evolution of the mental consciousness of man to the spiritual planes of consciousness he lays emphasis on the need of getting freedom from such gravitational pull of Matter in the being of man. It is unavoidable for the reason that without freedom from the gravitational pull of Matter, the ascent of the mind of man to its spiritual planes will not be an irreversible one. Without such freedom the spiritual ascent of the human mind and other constituent parts of the being of man, e.g. life and body will be undone since the lower consciousness, of which the untransformed body, the life and the mind existing within the being of man are manifestations, is hostile to spiritual ascent and transformation. They put resistance to the effort of man for spiritual transformation, not only of his mind, but also of his life and body. In order to get rid of the gravitational pull of Matter and bring about the end of the hostility of the lower consciousnesses, Sri Aurobindo speaks of undertaking the yoga of, what he terms, ‘psychic transformation’ of the being of man. The psychic transformation is the soul transformation of man. The term ‘psychicisation’, too, he uses for such psychic or soul-transformation. In another letter on yoga Sri Aurobindo while revealing the inner being of man says that man is made up of body, life and mind, at the centre of which exists Soul, the Divine Self in his being as stated earlier. He says: “When one speaks of the divine spark, one is thinking of the soul as a portion of the Divine which has descended from above into the manifestation rather than of something which has separated itself from the cosmos. It is the nature that has formed itself out of the cosmic forces—mind out of cosmic mind, life out of cosmic life, body out of cosmic Matter” (Sri Aurobindo, 1979: 109192a). The psychic transformation takes place when Soul, the Divine Self, which remains behind body, life and mind, comes to the front and takes over their command in the being of man. Of Soul’s coming to the front, the ‘Soul’ for which he uses the term, ‘Psychic’, he says: “What is meant by (the psychic’s) coming to the front is simply this. The psychic ordinarily is deep within. Very few people are aware of their souls - when they speak of their soul, they usually mean the vital+mental being or else the (false) soul of desire. The psychic remains behind and acts only through the mind, vital and physical wherever it can. For this reason, the psychic being except where it is very much developed has only a small and partial, concealed and mixed or diluted influence on the life of most men. By coming forward is meant that it comes from behind the veil, its presence is felt already in the waking daily consciousness, its influence fills, mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 6.91 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 7 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC dominates, transforms the mind and vital and their movements, even the physical. One is aware of one’s soul, feels the psychic to be one’s true being, the mind and the rest begin to be only instruments of the inmost within us (1097).” As a result of taking over their command, it’s consciousness, or to say, the divine consciousness percolates into the beings of body, life and mind. The integral consciousness of Soul is established in them and comes to be their foundation. Integrality is established in them and, consequently, harmony exists in their beings. It is to be noted that prior to their psychic transformation they are at conflict with one another. Consequent upon the psychic transformation, or to say, psychicisation, they undergo a divine transformation and come under Soul’s direct governance getting freedom from the gravitational pull of Matter. It is, in fact, the release from the gravitational pull of the divisiveness of consciousness, the divisiveness which had earlier taken the command of the body, the life and the mind. Receptivity to the things which descend from the Transcendent Sovereign plane of the Divine Consciousness evolves in them. It, therefore, comes to be the psychicisation of body, life and mind of man. Sri Aurobindo says further that in the evolutionary journey of man, the psychicisation of the body, the life and the mind which are the instruments of the Soul of man for executing the Divine Will in his being enables him to ascend the planes of spiritual consciousness decisively and irreversibly as there is no downward force due to the gravitational pull of Matter in body, life and mind on account of the percolation of the Divine Consciousness in them. He makes it clear in his letters on yoga, as stated earlier, that when man ascends the spiritual planes of consciousness for his spiritual transformation without undergoing psychicisation of his body, life and mind, the very untransformed consciousnesses of these body, life and mind put severe resistance to his effort of ascent and pose a very serious threat to his spiritual transformation. Such resistance is put by the divisiveness of consciousness operative in them. Therefore, in one of his letters on yoga he says: “This psychic development and the psychic change of mind, vital and physical consciousness is of the utmost importance because it makes safe and easy the Kumar 11 descent of the higher consciousness and the spiritual transformation without which the supramental must always remain far distant (1095).” When the body, the life, or to say, vital, and the mind undergo soul-transformation since the consciousness of the Soul descends into them as a result of taking over their command by It, they opt, as a result of their new nature, to be dictated by the Soul, the Divine Self. They come to be the obedient servants of the Soul. Since the Divine Self in man, according to Rishis, is in constant communion with the Divine existing beyond Creation, It receives the Divine Vision existing on the transcendent plane of existence and transmits it to the body, the life and the mind. They do not alloy their stamps in such vision of the Divine as a result of their psychicisation. Of psychicisation, he says: “Psychicisation means the change of the lower nature bringing right vision into the mind, right impulse and feeling into the vital, right movement and habit into the physical—all turned towards the Divine, all based on love, adoration, bhakti—finally, the vision and sense of the Mother everywhere in all as well as in the heart, her Force working in the being, faith, consecration, surrender mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 6.91 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 8 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC (1093).” Such a change, or to say, psychicisation takes place when the psychic comes to the front as discussed earlier. Very obviously, the language of such a psychicised state of man comes to be stimulus-free. Consequently, it further comes to express the Divine Self which is the deepest self of man. It is on account of this truth that Chomsky finds stimulus-free language ‘innovative’ (2014: 11) and ‘potentially infinite in scope (11). In fact, on a deeper examination, it is found in such a vision of Sri Aurobindo that the truth of the psychicised state of mind has taken hold of the orientation of Chomsky’s linguistic mind in spite of the fact that the yogic consciousness is yet to evolve in him. MANTRA OR THE MANTRIC POETRY The Vedic Rishis have found the universe to be the graded consciousness. They are of the vision that the Mantra exists on the higher spiritual planes of consciousness which are hidden to the matter-oriented mind of man. The Rishi Dirghatamas says that the Mantra exists in ‘a supreme ether’ (Sri Aurobindo, 1991: 5-6). “The Rishi Dirghatamas speaks of the Riks, the Mantras of the Veda, as existing “in a supreme ether, imperishable and immutable in which all the gods are seated”...” (5-6). Sri Aurobindo has revealed the ‘supreme ether’ to be existing as the higher planes of existence. He further draws our attention to the discoveries of the Vedic Rishis that the vision of the Mantra in our being is the result of the inspiration coming into our being from the higher spiritual planes of consciousness. “The Vedic Rishis believed that their Mantras were inspired from higher hidden planes of consciousness and contained this secret knowledge” (5). Such descent takes place in the spiritually inspired state of man. The inspiration rises when the body, the life and the mind are psychicised and, consequently, ‘love, adoration, bhakti’ (1093) rising within the being of man turn ‘towards the Divine’ (1093). The Rishi Dirghatamas says that Mantra exists in the inmost recesses of the human consciousness where it is found that Godward emotion and feelings exist. For, within the Godward emotion and feelings of man lie the planes of Mantric Consciousness latent, the planes which tend to manifest in Mantra, or to say, Mantric Poetry. According to Sri Aurobindo, Mantra is the poetic expression of the deepest spiritual reality (Sri Aurobindo, 1991: 17). To be more specific, he says that it is the poetry which is written from some higher plane of, what he calls the Intuitive Mind Consciousness and the Overmind Consciousness. These planes are ‘the two successive uppermost planes of the spiritual consciousness on the plane of Mind’ as he says. He discovers four planes of spiritual consciousness existing above the intellectual plane on the plane of Mind, or what he terms, the ‘mental mind’, the spiritual consciousness wherein one has the knowledge and realisation of the One Divine, the One Cosmic Self. They are, as he terms them, Higher Mind, Illumined Mind, Intuitive Mind and the Overmind. The Overmind Consciousness is the summit of the spiritual consciousness on the plane of Mind. It is the plane where ‘all the gods are seated’ (5-6) in the ‘supreme ether’ (5-6), the ether of which Rishi Dirghatamas speaks as stated earlier. The plane of consciousness which exists beyond Mind is ‘Supramental’ as Sri Aurobindo terms. He uses the term ‘Supermind’ too for this consciousness. Speaking of the Supramental, he says that it is the plane of mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 6.91 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 9 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC Consciousness which exists beyond Creation as noted earlier. It is integral in nature and is the sovereign plane of the Divine Existence (Sri Aurobindo, 1979: 257, 258b). It is the Consciousness which manifests itself in Creation. In other words, the Creation itself is the manifestation of the Divine Consciousness. The Rig Veda speaks poetically of the Primordial Resolve of the Divine on Its manifestation: “Eko-Ham, Bahu-Syam, Praja-Eyam”, “I am One, Become Many, Yet Remain the Same.” It is under this resolve that the One Divine, the Sovereign Integral Consciousness of the One Divine comes to be ‘many’ without losing Its Sovereign Oneness. In such ‘many’, the creation comes into existence, or to say, the manifestation of the Divine takes place and the Sovereign Divine Consciousness begins to come to be latent in the Creation. In the phenomenon of ‘many’, the divisive consciousness, or to say, the separative principle of the Divine Consciousness comes into operation and the plane of, what we earlier noted, the ‘Overmind Consciousness’ comes into existence in the supraphysical state. It is the plane where ‘all the gods are seated’ as pointed out earlier. The gods are the chief cosmic functionaries. They are ‘the emanations, formations put out from the Being of God for a special purpose: to fulfil his intention in this creation. Each emanation from the Being of God is charged with a particular function. Each god is both a power and a personality. These gods, known by different names in different climes, are the cosmic functionaries, making possible the growth of this creation in the mould of the original intention of the Creator’ (Pandit, 2010: 3-4). Sri Aurobindo reveals that under the continuity of the operation of the separative principle of the Sovereign Integral Divine Consciousness the next lower plane of the spiritual consciousness, the Intuitive Mind Consciousness comes into its supraphysical existence, and, further downward, the Illumined Mind Consciousness, the Higher Mind Consciousness and then the other planes of the ordinary mind consciousness such as intellectual mind etc., too, come into existence. He terms such phenomenon ‘involution’. The involution continues and what we term ‘Life’ or ‘Energy’ and, further, ‘Matter’ come into existence consequently, the Matter which is the lowest plane of existence in hierarchy. In such involution, the higher planes of the spiritual consciousness and the Supramental come to be latent on the lower planes, and, consequently, the divisiveness, or to say, the separativity of consciousness increases. Matter comes to be the seat of the separativity of consciousness. As this is the picture which exists within the being of an individual, too, Rishi Dirghatamas speaks of the Mantra to be existing in the inmost recesses of the human consciousness. Since the Overmind Consciousness comes to exist downward in the hierarchy of consciousness next to the transcendent Supramental Consciousness which we have noted to be the Sovereign Integral Divine Consciousness, the former is vibrant with the Divine Consciousness and is, therefore, creative in nature and is revelatory of the Sovereign Divine Consciousness existing on the transcendent plane of the existence. According to Sri Aurobindo (1990: 950), the Overmind Consciousness is the highest plane of the Mantra on the plane of the spiritual mind-consciousness. It is, as he says, ‘a power of cosmic consciousness, a principle of global knowledge which carries in it a delegated light from the supramental Gnosis’. He further says, ‘It is, therefore, only by an opening into the cosmic consciousness that the over mind ascent and descent can be made wholly possible (950). He further says that the ‘cosmic empire of the Overmind’ (2012: 666) is ‘Time’s buffer state bordering Eternity’ mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 6.91 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 10 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC (666). Further, though the Intuitive Mind Consciousness which is the next lower plane of the Mantra comes into existence under the growing separative principle of the Sovereign Integral Divine Consciousness, the Supramental, it is also under divine vibration and is, therefore, creative and revelatory. In fact, it is a ‘ray of the Supramental’, he says. He further says that it is ‘an immediate translation’ (Sri Aurobindo, 1984: 781) of ‘some infinite selfknowledge that acts above mind in the superconscient spirit’ (781). It is for this reason that Mantra has been found to be creative and revelatory as well as inspired poetry. Of Mantra, he says in his epic poem Savitri:“An inspired Knowledge sat enthroned within Whose seconds illumined more than reason’s years: An ictus of revealing lustre fellAs if pointing accent upon Truth,And like a sky-flare showing all the ground A swift intuitive discernment shone. One glance could separate the true and false, or raise its rapid torch-fire in the dark To check the claimants crowding through mind’s gates Covered by the forged signatures of the gods, Detect the magic bride in her disguise or scan the apparent face of thought and life.”(Sri Aurobindo, 2012: 37-38)He continues to reveal the truth of Mantra:“Oft inspiration with her lightning feet A sudden messenger from the all-seeing tops, Traversed the soundless corridors of his mind Bringing her rhythmic sense of hidden things. A music spoke transcending mortal speech. As if from a golden phial of the All-bliss, A joy of light, a joy of sudden sight,A rapture of the thrilled undying WordPoured into his heart as into an empty cup, A repetition of God’s first delightCreating in a young and virgin Time (38).” A transcendent Mantra was discovered when consciousness evolves to its Supramental plane. On the examination of his works like Savitri, The Life Divine, etc., it is very unmistakably found that Sri Aurobindo manifests the transcendent Supramental Consciousness. Therefore, his epic Savitri comes to be the Supramental Poetry being a Mantra of the transcendent plane of consciousness. In the epic, he reveals the pre-creation state of existence in which preparation is made for the descent and the establishment of the transcendent Supramental Consciousness for a new creation on the earth. In the new creation, a higher order of existence, to be specific, the supramental Man and eventually the supramentalised earth emerge, and so on. It has also been shown that when man rises from the planes of the spiritual consciousness as a result of evolution, the vision of the One Divine, the One Cosmic Self, the Divine existing on the transcendent plane of existence, to use Sri Aurobindo’s terminology, the Supramental, evolves accordingly in his being. In other words, the vision of man of the One Divine Kumar continues to lose its eclipsed state with his successive ascent to the spiritual planes, —the eclipse which is caused by the divisiveness of the lower planes of consciousness in his being. The uneclipsed vision comes into the being of the man of the Supramental Consciousness. THE SUMMIT VIEW In order to get rid of the matter-oriented mind, and, consequently, to rise to the aforesaid planes of spiritual consciousness as a result of evolution, — the rise which is a movement away from the separativity of consciousness towards the integrality of consciousness, and, consequently, to write poetry from these planes of mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 6.91 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 11 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC mantric consciousness—, we are required to turn inward and undertake the yoga, ‘integral yoga’, inhering the yoga of psychicisation, the yoga of spiritualisation and finally the yoga of supramentalisation. The yoga comes to be imperative and inevitable for Mantra. It is all the more inevitable and imperative as man’s destiny lies in the evolution of his consciousness. In such a task we have to undertake first the yoga of the psychicisation of the body, the life and the mind of our being so that our ascent to the planes of spiritual consciousness could be decisive and irreversible, failing which the gravitational pull of Matter, dwelling in the untransformed state of being, that is to say, unpsychicised state of our being in which we are not stimulus-free, pulls us down from the spiritual planes of consciousness, and consequently we are not able to receive the Mantra from the planes of Mantric consciousness as noted earlier also. In one of his letters on poetry, literature and art Sri Aurobindo (1971: 58) says: “Certainly if you want to achieve a greater poetry, more unique, you will have to alter the poise of your consciousness. At present you write, as you do the things, too much with the brain, the mere human intelligence. To get back from the surface vital into the psychic and psychic vital, to raise the level of your mental from the intellect to the Illumined Mind is your need both in poetry and in Yoga”. Such a vision of Sri Aurobindo necessitates us to undertake the yoga of psychicisation first. When man comes prepared to receive the Mantra as a result of the psychicisation of his body, life and mind, he ascends the planes of the spiritual consciousness entering into the world of the Higher Mind and beyond it in the Spiritual Mind. The consciousness and the power of these planes descend into his body, life and mind and they get transformed. Such transformation is the spiritual transformation. Of the power of the Mantra which is capable of bringing about evolutionary change of consciousness, Sri Aurobindo says:“As when the mantra sinks in Yoga’s ear,Its message enters stirring the blind brainAnd keeps in the dim ignorant cells its sound;The hearer understands a form of wordsAnd, musing on the index thought it holds, He strives to read it with the labouring mind, But finds bright hints, not the embodied truth: Then, falling silent in himself to know He meets the deeper listening of his soul: The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains:Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s selfAre seized unalterably and he enduresAn ecstasy and an immortal change;He feels a Wideness and becomes a Power, All knowledge rushes on him like a sea:Transmuted by the white spiritual rayHe walks in naked heavens of joy and calm,Sees the God-face and hears transcendent speech…” (Sri Aurobindo 2012: 381). The first spiritual transformation in the world of the Higher Mind paves his way for the further ascent to the plane of the Illumined Mind, and finally to the planes of the Mantra, the Mantra which exists on the aforesaid higher plane of the Intuitive Mind Consciousness and the Overmind Consciousness, and further on the plane of the Supramental as we see in Sri Aurobindo’s epic Savitri. In the psychicised state Mantra gets an opportunity to descend into the body, the life and the mind of man and they undergo transformation accordingly. The stimulus-free language which emerges as a result of such psychicisation of the being of man, thus, comes to be the pedestal of the Mantric Poetry. It is in the stimulus-free language that one can express the truth of arriving at ‘a silent self’ (Roshen, 2023: 208) and ‘a nameless vast’ (208) where ‘there is no duality or differences and love prevails and the conflicting thoughts and struggles of the world have ended’ (208). In the language which is not mailto:topacademicjournals@gmail.com American Journal of Arts and Communication Vol. 9, Issue 1; January-February 2024; ISSN: 2994-0540 Impact Factor: 6.91 1252 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC, United States https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC; mail: topacademicjournals@gmail.com 12 | A m e r i c a n J o u r n a l o f A r t s a n d C o m m u n i c a t i o n | https://topjournals.org/index.php/AJAC stimulus free, there is focuses on the external (208). One cannot ‘realise what is written and cannot understand the ‘cosmic will’ (208). It is only in the stimulus-free language that the truth of the ‘Spaceless Self’ of Savitri can be visualised and attained. The stimulus-free language reveals the truth of the ‘oneness of the psychic being and Jivatman’ (Nikhil, 2023: 140), the two poises of the Divine Self in the being of Man. Such a yogic achievement has been pointed out in the paper ‘Spaceless Self’ in Savitri: The Eternal Self in of Supramental Man in Sri Aurobindo’s Epic ‘Savitri’. Thus, the stimulus-free language is revealed to be constitutionally capable of receiving the Mantric Poetry as we witness in Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri. CONFLICT OF INTERESTS The authors have not declared any conflict of interests. REFERENCES Chomsky N (2014). Language and Mind. Cambridge University Press. Eddington AS (1929). The Nature of the Physical World. New York: The Macmillan Company Cambridge, England. Fritjof C (1983). The Tao of Physics. Flamingo. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (1976). Of Grammatology. Motilal Banarasidass Publishers Pvt. Limited, Delhi. Polkinghorne J (2006). Quantum Theory: A very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, Indian Edition. Nikhil K (2023). Spaceless Self’ in Savitri: The Eternal Self ofSupramental Man in Sri Aurobindo’s Epic ‘Savitri. European Journal of Literary Studies 4:2. 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