asterix

*Am working on figuring out the best way to render Devanagari. For now, transliteration...sorry. Namaste.

Saturday, March 31, 2018

To Seed or not to Seed (YS 1.46-51)

In the last post, we had to do some rather fancy footwork to make sense of a few things, and even then, there are still some lingering questions. In short, we did discover that there are four types of Samãdhi, or meditative synthesis, at this point: sa-vitarka, nir-vitarka, sa-vicãra and nir-vicãra, and they are a succession towards an ever-more subtle, singularity of awareness for the mind. In other words, a gradation of stages towards profound awareness through Samãdhi. As such, the emphasis on the diligent praxis of the abhyãsa is what is ultimately going to make the theory of the Sutras a reality for the Yogic adept.



When we turn the corner into the homestretch of Book I, however, the sutras become pretty clear and straightforward again, especially in 1.46, which reads:

tã eva sabijah samãdhih  1.46

Or,

Those/they (four types of Samãdhi from above) are the Samãdhi "with seed".  1.46

tãh, or the plural of tah, which means "they/those" (with the possible exception of being singular, feminine "it")...and it refers then to sa-vitarka, nir-vitarka, sa-vicãra and nir-vicãra Samãdhih, and these are given the designation being sa-bija, or with seed. (If you have been following the logic of Patañjali, you will be anticipating that there should be a nir-bijah Samãdhih lurking around the corner, which we will see there in fact is!)

Now, the fun thing about innovative thinkers is that they innovate. The frustrating about innovative thinkers is also that they innovate...and they use words in their own special way, such as sa-bija...

It is not entirely clear what Patañjali means by "with seed" and later with nir-bijah "without seed" and as a result, there has been quite a bit of speculation on this seemingly innocuous term.

The general consensus is that sa-bijah Samãdhih is inferior, or tainted as compared with nir-bijah Samãdhi, which has led to the further consensus that sa-bija must mean that "with seed" will ultimately flourish into fruit, which shall then cause desire or aversion to the fruits of an action or process, in this case, Samãdhi. In other words, if there is a result, a fruition of our Samãdhi, it still means that we are doing it for a purpose, or have some residual attachment, which as we saw in the beginning, leads to suffering...So, we may be close to a release, or moksha, from this suffering, but not quite.

Let's go on a bit further with 1.47-50, which all deal with the nature of the four types of sa-bijah Samãdhi.

They read:

nirvicãra-vaishãradye 'dhyãtma-prasãdah  1.47
ritam-bharã tatra prajñã  1.48
shrutãnumãna-prajñãbhyãm anya-vishayã visheshãrthatvãt  1.49
taj-jah samskãro 'nya-samskãra-pratibandhi  1.50

Giving us:

Upon mastery of nirvicãra (Samãdhi), there is profound clarity in the Soul. 1.47

At that point, understanding bears the Truth. 1.48

Because of its specific objectivity, it is different from other objects known through sacred scriptures, inference and learning. 1.49

Cognitive filters born from that (sa-bijah Samãdhi) are further obstructing of other cognitive filters. 1.50

Okay, we need to do some gentle massaging to extract the meaning into clear language here from the literal translations.

With 1.47 and 1.48, it is already pretty clear. Nirvicãra, the fourth degree of sa-bijah Samãdhih, being the highest, brings with it clarity for the Soul and truthful insight.

With 1.49, we see that within nirvicãra, or cognition beyond rational thought (the Koan of the sound of one hand clapping...), it still has objectivity, the one hand clapping, but because it is a singularity (that is, super-focused upon ONE object), it is still objectivity, no matter how superior it is to all other rational cognition or thinking.

Why?

Samskãrah happens....

When we process information, whether it be through reading books (or Patañjali's Yoga Sutras...meaning he would even say they are not the ultimate source of understanding...), or through inference or even higher education, we create cognitive filters, or samskãrah. Simply put, when we see a flower for the first time, we may have no "flower" samskãrah. But, over time and with experience and repetition, we build up layers of such filters as "red, rose, smell, thorns, bees, love, Spring, beauty..." and so forth that we then apply to the "rose" when we see another one. This is an example of "with seed". In other words, we plant the seed of the concept in our mind's eye, and the fruition, or the flowering of it is when we "see" something that we can relate to those filters, namely, another rose. And, so it goes for everything in our lives. Otherwise, we could not get up in the morning because we would have no cognition of any-THING in our lives.

However, there is still an object and a subject, the See-er and the Seen (and those 2 shall make another important appearance later in Book 4) still rule supreme here in the land of sa-bijah. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed is king. And, for all intents and purposes for Patañjali, sa-bijah Samãdhih is still in the realm of the blind. So, although this is great, and vastly further than 99% of 99% of people could ever hope to obtain through Yoga, Patañjali has one last Ace of his sleeve...nirbijah Samãdhih, the ultimate goal of Yoga, which we saw already in 1.2...It is so ultimate that it transcends itself in words and thoughts...(starting to sound suspiciously like Advaita Vedanta if you ask me...not the dualism that is so rampant when speaking about Yoga...)



Yogas'citta-vritti-nirodhah... 

Circle becomes complete with 1.51, which reads:

tasyãpi nirodhe sarva-nirodhãn-nirbijah samãdhih 1.51

Slam dunk for Patañjali, when we compare 1.2 with the translation of 1.51, which is:

Even in the cessation/temperance of that (sa-bijah Samãdhi/nir-vicãra), due to the cessation/temperance of everything, [there is] nir-bijah Samãdhih.

In other words, from 1.3 up to and including 1.50, we have been making baby steps at first, and then grander steps at the end, learning to deal with the vritti's, or challenges that we face in our daily lives, and then ultimately having taken care of business, arrive at the cusp of a syn-thesis (literal translation of Sam-ã-dhi) of Enlightenment and clarity of the Soul by doing what?

By letting go of even that entire process once we've reached the peak of the mountain...in other words, go beyond even thinking...which ultimately we see in Zen as well...the heir apparent of "dhyãna" as we have seen.

Everything's Zen...

Mic drop...





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