Co-Experience.

Saha-Anubhoothi is the root word in Sanskrit. Saha is simply “co” like that ‘& Co.,’ Sahapaati is the word for class-mates, meaning ‘learns along with the other’.

Interestingly enough, we find this word (sahaanubhoothi) being used liberally to mean only as some sort of sympathy, “kind-consideration”(using that discretionary capability to “allow” some concession in favour of somebody in a lesser comfort or in discomfort), etc ( I dare not graze into other pastures like sahataapam, anutaapam or paschataapam, because invariably it ends into getting heated, being a “taapam”. Already we are reeling with the summer heat, being March, and we are also heated up due to discussing hotly, a recent topic called ‘Global-warming’!).

But when we look at the word ‘anubhoothi’ it is clearly just an ‘experience’ (not an idea, imagination, or thought). Perhaps, pain brings a person a bit closer to ‘life-experience’ better than other situations like joy, success, etc. When there is a deep experience, it just permeates around. The other person around too does have that experience, but whether with or without any awareness is dependent on the ‘availability’ of that person. Generally, a bit broad-minded person, with that fellow-feeling or fellow-consideration becomes more readily available to experience the pain of other. That may be the reason why the meaning of saha-anubhoothi became restricted over a period of time. As a contrast, nothing really prevents us from experiencing the joy of the other person, but we are caught up in our own web most of the time, and so we inadvertently remain ‘unavailable ‘ for that experience. For instance, a young student, bags a Gold Medal in an University examination, and the whole family seems to share the joy. But please see, each has one’s own private reason for rejoicing the same event, quite unique, distinctive, and not ‘experiential’ most of the times! The feel of joy is not exactly through the experience of it, but the thought process of having compared the ‘expectation’ or anticipation, or even contra-expectation (beyond expectation), and its matching of the situation (the actualization of the Gold Medal). Though without much of that self-awareness, a kid going into the LKG on the first day of his schooling, due to that pristine innocence, happens to simply absorb the ‘experience’ of intense sorrow of another kid who cries in deep anguish of being suddenly left out alone in the hands of a total stranger, for the first time in his life. Having absorbed this experience from the crying kid, this fellow also starts crying without knowing why! That also is saha-anubhoothi.

A saha-dharmini (wife) was supposed to share the anubhoothi of her spouse for the rest of the life, having taken the sacred vows with fire as a divine witness. This tradition was based on the observation that only women are gifted with the capability to ‘feel’ anubhooti of another person. Now when a woman finds herself incessantly engaged in that co-experience, over a period of time, she is naturally freed from her own thought process, preferences, likes and dislikes. Meditativeness simply pervades into her quite effortlessly. Perhaps that is why no special religious rituals are ‘prescribed’ for a woman compared to endless ‘duties’ cast upon her male counterpart in a ‘grihastha’ aashrama life. Obviously she ‘waits’ upon the spouse most of the time, “all attention”.

When the deep reasons, perception of these reasons fade out over centuries, the traditional outlook of woman seems like subservience, and it is quite logical to struggle for liberation out of this kind of slavery. Rightly, we have that woman’s day, to remind that she has chosen to have that ‘saha-anubhoothi’ as a matter of ex-gratia towards the spouse and other men-folk, at her choice, and at will. The way the femininity has been designed, the physiology struggles to adjust to this ‘modern’ view/outlook, and we now have a spate of latest types of woman-related physiological health problems, needing constant medical help. (For those who are inclined to doubt or question the theory that women are gifted to ‘experience’ the anubhoothi better than men, there is an example, which may only demand a little bit of ‘faith’ in puranic stories. Krishna was capable of experiencing intense joy and joy being experiential, it permeated into those Gopikas (the bulk of women folk around that place called Gokul), who grossly outnumbered the men who chose to wander around Krishna quite aimlessly, due to the sheer joyousness permeating into any body receptive enough around him.

We, the present day citizens scatter only that negative emotion most of the time, putting up a ‘defensive’ long face as soon as we step out of our homes, and join the mainstream of crowd, wading through busy traffic, fretting and fuming through bottlenecks commuting to and fro our workplace, market place for shopping etc.

A little bit of conscious concerted effort in that direction to try out sharing experience would bring a lot of deep life-experience and a sense of joy into us.

With wishful regards,
Psn(11th March, 2010)