A seeker, when he is treading the path of spirituality, may come across several texts of various types – some religious, some medical, some philosophical, some etymological and so on.
He must be careful before accepting any spiritual term as final. I have a personal simple rule – trust the words and its purported meanings of the 2 ancient languages – Tamil and Sanskrit. I am fully aware that there are other ancient languages like the Latin, that other may choose as the basic ones for consolidating terms.
Though I may not be an expert in Sanskrit, I chose these 2 languages – Tamil and Sanskrit as my basis – for the below reasons:
1. Foremost – I am comfortable with these languages. With Tamil, I am an expert user too.
2. I think, a large set of religious/spiritual texts originating from India are based on these 2 languages. My earlier introduction to spirituality happened through Tamil primarily.
3. I feel that the words, grammar etc., are very systematic and the meanings are consistent and is suitable for sweet and poetic expressions.
4. The richness of the languages is seen expressed in the various styles of poems written in these 2 languages since ancient times.
5. With Sanskrit, the hymns I have so far listened to with music sounds divine with rich meanings. Most of the temples in India use Sanskrit for divine oblations/chants.
6. Both these languages host advanced medicinal knowledgebase including that of the astral body and a full-fledged system of medicine called as Ayurveda (Sanskrit) and Siddha (Tamil). And the terms used with respect to the human bodies – gross and astral are remarkably same in both the languages. In my opinion, without the knowledge pertaining to the astral body neither the spiritual quest nor the medicinal quest will be complete.
So, for the serious spiritual seekers, the below are my advice on the ‘terms’ to be accepted:
1. Use the terms from ancient languages like Sanskrit and Tamil that recognizes the astral body and its functions and preferably that has an ancient system of medicine attached to it.
2. Know that the recent linguists might have mapped one or more profound ancient terms to new terms without thinking deep. So, what was before a profound concept might have been mapped to a mundane thing that is in vogue now. Try to know the profound meaning of the term and stick to it.
3. When you are accepting new terms into your language, directly use the term, as-it-is, with the profound meaning and be cautious about its synonym/antonym mappings.
4. It helps greatly if you know at least one language like Tamil or Sanskrit that has a treasure trove of rich spiritual literature. If not, it is still ok to follow the spiritual path, but be aware of the construct of the human species and the universe in all the dimensions possible. I hope your deep meditating sessions will reveal the eternal truths of the universe along with the divine blessings.