Mikael Stamm

In this paper we will focus on characteristics of language when a primordial truth is posited. We suggest that such a claim to a pristine origination necessarily implies an articulation of a corresponding pervasive nescience, which modifies/distorts the totality of all possible linguistic expressions. To explore such a pattern, we employ a method which maps key-concepts according to their contextual application, divided in two conceptual domains, the domain of the primordial truth, and that of its absence; each of them has to reflect and exclude the other. It is our view that these dependent exclusions show the problem attached any attempt to reconcile the delineated domains. We outline some possible ways to indicate truth, and we conclude our paper by pointing to the Indian use of mantras, which can be charaterised as self-validating, necessary and essentially meaningless. This reveals a fundamental principle of originary speech beyond the scope of speakers, contents and communicative purposes.

What if a theory of 'primordial truth' is brought forward that claims to precede conventional theories of truth, and additionally asserts that the conventional understanding of truth is inherently compromised due to the distortions related to the very questioning of truth? This type of truth can be attributed to Heidegger’s presentation in his work Beiträge der Philosophie (vom Ereignis) where he considers what he calls the 'event of truth'. To approach such a primordial truth implies a fundamental problem of articulation which has to circumvent conventional methods of expression. In order to better evaluate Heidegger's approach, this paper will juxtapose it against the approach of the Indian philosopher Śaṅkara. Each approach is concerned with the 'saying' of truth, and each approach is concerned with how to articulate something which emerges prior to articulation, and explicate something which evades conventional understanding. We will here explore the nature of Heidegger's primordial event of truth and the effects that such a concept can induce, against an understanding of Śaṅkara’s concept of 'superimposition' which is practiced in order to remove obstacles to the illumination of true Being. Although these two approaches cannot be reduced to one another, their juxtaposition provides us with an opportunity to reflect on method, language, the nature of understanding, and ultimately, the possible inability of academic efforts to engage in such a project. The question in this study may be posed as follows: should Heidegger’s Beiträge be understood as a (very long) pointless mantra?

In a world where books write themselves, where speech has no speaker, where death illuminates the living, where essences communicate indeterminacies, where things fold upon themselves, and meanings can be un-thought-where truth consumes everything in purifying fires, and machines create worlds for the benefit of the eradicated other-if seen, the unfathomable event of truth has already taken place, and everything must cease to be as it once was. This book explores the concept of the event in Heidegger's Contributions to Philosophy alongside the notions of truth and nescience in Sankara's Brahmasūtrabhāşya. Through this lens, it examines the question of articulation by mapping conceptual domains and investigating what occurs between them. This negative field raises fundamental questions about the nature of the self, the role of agency, and the conspicuous absence of meaning in'mantric' sayings-all of which point to a radical 'other' truth. Additional Indian philosophical traditions and practices are incorporated to shed light on significant ways of understanding words and sounds, revealing an unexpected vision of reality. The book also includes a comprehensive and insightful foreword by the esteemed Prof. S. Panneerselvam, General Secretary of the Indian Philosophical Congress and the Chennai Philosophical Forum, and former Professor & Head of the Department of Philosophy, University of Madras, Chennai. His foreword addresses key aspects of both Indian and Western philosophical traditions, providing valuable context for the reader.

The study of language has a long tradition in Indian philosophy; since the grammarian Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī (7th century B.C.) dealing with the inherent structure of Sanskrit, the discussion of the nature of language, word, and meaning has been important topics of all major philosophical traditions in India. This book introduces the classical dualist Śaiva Siddhānta philosophy as a part of the Tantric movement which flourished outside the domain of the Vedic culture in India. This introductory section is followed by a presentation of the general philosophy of dualist Śaivism on the basis of traditional textual evidences, focusing on the elaborate system of principles (tattvas) perceived as underlying our phenomenal reality. To provide a basis for an understanding of the theory of language, the book presents the discussion of sound, speech and language between three classical Indian traditions: Mīmāṁsā (ritualists), Nyāyā (logicians) and the grammarian school of Bhartṛhari. The detailed argumentations propounded by these three positions are applied to a central Śaiva Siddhānta text, the Nādakārikā, written by Bhaṭṭa Rāmakaṇṭha presumably in the 10th century, which deals with the nature of speech and meaning and their connection to the principles of reality. The Nādakārikā, including the commentary by Aghoraśivācārya (12th century), is translated with explanatory notes, and subsequently analyzed in the light of other significant śaiva texts, in order to gain the proper perspective, particularly in regard to the later well-known Tamil school of Śaiva Siddhānta. The pervasive expressive power inherent in sound is applied to the crucial initiation rituals, dīkṣā, which shows the theory of nāda ‘in action’ through the utterance of holy mantras. The use of mantras explicitly demonstrates an essential feature of the language which constitutes the structure of the meaningful world in which we act and understand on a daily basis.

Martin Heidegger's deconstruction of Western Metaphysics was a project designed to retrieve an appreciation of the question of Being through a distancing from the distortions created by the history metaphysics itself. This project takes several forms, but a particularly radical form can be seen by interpreting Heidegger's work Contributions to Philosophy in the light of the Indian philosophical tradition, Advaita Vedānta. We find in this juxtaposition an accentuation of three concepts: Self, concealment and Being. The relation of these three elements can be seen within the movement of the work of art, and can be seen especially vividly in outsider art. It is in outsider art that we see the movement towards a disruption which breaks us free from metaphysical thought, throwing us into a pre-metaphysical realm, while still under influence of what Advaita philosophy would call nescience [māyā, avidyā]. We intent to show in this article that the works of Adolf Wölfli can be seen as a manifestation of the rupture of 'pre-metaphysical occurrence' disrupting our normal discourse; an occurrence that ultimately can be verified only by its own example, as a unique appearance.

Several seemingly in-congruent ingredients are involved in this paper on pragmatic metaphysics: First a Western relatively recent attempt to restore metaphysics, second a Tamil philosophy connected to Śaiva worship, and third the nature of language which didn’t really play a central role in ŚaivaSiddhānta as opposed to the classical philosophical systems of Nyāya or Mīmāṁsā. The jump from a modern Western ‘Heideggerian’ interpretation is indeed far, but is much needed if the dynamics of the kind of being which are us, in the view of post-classical Tamil ŚaivaSiddhānta, is to be accentuated and put forward in a cross-cultural context. The central concept is that of openness, which expresses an existential interpretation of the text of Śivajňānabodha—a central philosophical text of Śaiva Siddhānta.