The Other Song

Recensie

This book review is reprinted from Volume 22, Summer 2009 edition, with permission from Homeopathic Links.

Reviewed by Jay Yasgur, R.Ph., M.Sc., USA

Rajan Sankaran has written so many books that his bibliography has become muddled.

So which volume should the neophyte begin with? Perhaps it is this one, The Other Song, because in four hundred pages he covers it all: The Source of Stress, The Two Songs, The Levels, A Map to the Inner World, Three Postulates, Our Coping Reactions (Mechanisms), Technique of Reaching the Depth, Doorway Through Doodles, Metaphors, Awareness: The Way to Healing and Case Studies, to which he devotes some seventy pages.

It is in 'A Map to the Inner World' that Rajan describes the energy or essence of the three kingdoms and the periodic table. It is in this chapter that Rajan proposes that:

"... each of us lives two lives simultaneously [this initially appears contradictory], a careful observation of human nature shows it to be true. To quickly recapitulate the earlier observations, one is our life as a human being where energy sings the human song. On delving deeper, we find a completely different world inside which seems to sing the 'Other Song' altogether, another melody. This other melody is not innately human but is a reflection of a pattern that we have borrowed from nature - be it from a plant, a mineral, or an animal. Therefore this energy pattern is appropriate to nature, not to us. We have borrowed it to cope with our perception of reality.

The natural world consists of the animal, the plant, and the mineral kingdoms. The energy of each of these kingdoms is very different, as outlined below. As humans, we borrow an energy pattern (from one of these kingdoms) which corresponds to our inner way of perceiving and reacting. Depending on which kingdom is the 'source' of the 'Other Song' within a given individual, human beings can be mapped into one of these three kingdoms. There is an innate difference in the basic problem issue of persons belonging to each of these three kingdoms." - p. 92

He summarizes the 'Other Song' as found in the three kingdoms as 'heightened sensitivity' (plant), 'survival, competition, and victim/aggressor issues' (animal), and 'a feeling of deficiency in his own make-up, his own structure, or a fear of losing a part of this structure' (mineral).

Before ending this work Dr. Sankaran delves into some of his most recent ideas dealing with case taking, gesture, criteria for identifying words of importance (movement, non-human-specific, obdurate, picturised [sic], queer, repetitive, synonym), dreams, and the seventh level of experience.

Sankaran finishes this book by discussing drawing ('Doorway Through Doodles') and 'Metaphor' before allowing some 70 pages of case studies to serve as dessert.

This book is a compendium of Rajan's thought. It you want one book to cover it all and perhaps serve as a guide for the rest of your 'Bombay Method' voyage, this volume is recommended. Rajan should have considered including an annotated bibliography of his other books. One could then use that reference material to serve as 'index'. This would help the reader find the right volumes to pursue particular ideas further and deeper. As it is now, his broad bibliography tends towards confusion. An annotated dock to help in the selection of the appropriate vessel would have been quite helpful.

The book's typography is set in a sans-serif font. This is unfortunate as it causes the eye to tire easily. To this day, I don't understand why authors choose sans serif fonts for lengthy material. For short text passages to emphasize or add 'colour' sans serif fonts have advantages. For novel-length books a well chosen serif font reduces eye fatigue tremendously. Used for an entire book, the sans serif font becomes nothing more than an affectation.

There are a number of helpful charts to assist in the representation of his ideas.

The paper, cover and general quality of this book are all excellent and thus a guarantee of durability.

This book review is reprinted with the permission from the Summer 2009 Edition of The Homeopath.

Reviewed by Ken Mayne

The Other Song is a further development of Sankaran's thinking as it has evolved from The Spirit of Homeopathy, through The Substance of Homeopathy to The Sensation in Homeopathy. Along with our natural, innately human song, another song plays within us. This other song drives our emotions, dreams, ambitions, work, relationships, illnesses and even our circumstances. It is experienced as a constant inner sensation which has a corresponding pattern in one of the three kingdoms - animal, plant or mineral. Awareness of this song's theme is the way to reduce its intensity and its effect upon us. As this happens we can come out of the fixed melody that rules our lives and have the freedom to be in the now. In homeopathic practice, identification of the theme of the patient's other song guides the practitioner in the choice of remedy.

It is not clear precisely at whom or at what level the book is aimed. It is subtitled Discovering Your Parallel Self and is presented as a guide to help the lay reader find the theme of his or her own other song, but it contains a stern warning that it is not intended for self-diagnosis, or for superficial self-classification. Of course lay readers will do exactly that. People just cannot resist identifying themselves in any classification system - whether it be enneagrams, astrological signs, Myers-Briggs personality types, or our old friends the constitutional types.

Much of the material in the book, especially relating to the techniques of guiding a patient to reach these deepest of themes, will be highly valued by practitioners wishing to use Sankaran's methods, but completely lost on a lay reader. The book is visually quite appealing in its graphical presentation, but it is printed in a low-density sans-serif font which is very hard on the eyes after 400 pages.

Some will see Sankaran's book as the latest in a series of revelations from the master - a new map of human nature with a new set of metaphors as navigational aids. Others will see The Other Song as yet another departure from Hahnemann's ideal of a pure materia medica, free of hypotheses and speculation. Either way, Sankaran might well say that these different responses are determined by whatever version of the 'other song' happens to be playing within the reader. Play it again Sankaran!

This book review is reprinted from Volume 102, Number 1 Spring 2009 Edition, with permission from American Journal of Homeopathic Medicine.

Reviewed by William Franklin McCoy, MD

This review of The Other Song by Rajan Sankaranfirst appeared in Epoch Times and its associated website (httv:llen. evochtimes. comln2Ihealthlthe-othersong-ra;an-sankaran-7631.html), Nov 24,2008.

The Other Song, by Dr. Rajan Sankaran, is a book for the public regarding Sankaran's system of homeopathic medical practice. With a solid foundation in homeopathy as originally described by Samuel Hahnemann, M.D. (1755-1843), Dr. Sankaran and his team of homeopathic physicians in Mumbai, India, have spent many years refining this approach to homeopathic prescribing. They have been teaching his method worldwide, and more homeopathic physicians are following this approach.

The Other Song refers to the fact that within each of us there exists a human and a non-human "song." The human song refers to ourselves when we are in a normal state. The non-human song, which is always with us, can be that of a plant, mineral, or an animal. The other song is frequently more evident during periods of stress.

A human song is harmonious. So are the plant, mineral, and animal songs. However, when the human song and the non-human song are playing together, the result is discord. That discord leads to illness.

The aim of treating a patient homeopathically with Dr. Sankaran's method is to turn down the volume of that plant, mineral, or animal that is playing within us. When that is done, health returns.

Through careful questioning, the homeopath can discern from which kingdom the other song is playing. Then, through further questioning, the specific plant, mineral, or animal can be discovered.

This method of inquiry takes patients to a very deep state, beyond the intellect, to the core of their being, from which patients frequently express their state with hand gestures rather than words. In this semi-hypnotic state, patients often can express and describe the other song quite clearly.

Also, the reaction pattern of the patient can be determined, indicating his perceived nature of the illness, in ten categories ranging from panic to optimism to hopelessness. These reaction patterns help to find remedies after the kingdom is discovered.

The issue with plants is the patient's hypersensitivity and reactivity. The issue with minerals is the patient's structure and the formation and challenges to the integrity of that structure. The issue with remedies in the animal kingdom is that of competition, comparison, and survival, which is reflected in a patient's speech, including his talk of being a victim or an aggressor.

After determining that a patient needs a plant remedy, the homeopathic physician determines the family of plant and then finds the specific plant. If the patient needs a mineral remedy, the homeopath determines the row and column of the periodic table in which the mineral is found. If a patient needs an animal kingdom remedy, the homeopath determines the sub-kingdom and then finds the precise animal.

For example, a patient came to Dr. Sankaran with urticaria. She personified the illness, saying that she felt as if the disease were persecuting her and said that it hit her like a "punch." She felt victimized by the illness and her life situation. She was also verbally abusive to her husband and in-laws. From her expressions of being a victim, her competition with and jealousy of other family members, and other facets of her case, it was determined that she needed an animal kingdom remedy.

As the interview proceeded, she expressed that she really didn't like insects, especially bees. She received a homeopathic dose of bee (Apis mellifica) following which her skin ailment went away, her perception of her life situation changed, and she became a more considerate and caring person to her spouse and in-laws.

Dr. Sankaran's approach is the greatest single advance in homeopathic medical practice in the last century. The Other Song is an introduction to this new approach.