[INDOLOGY] Alchemy metaphor

[Christopher Wallis]

Dear Dr Aklujkar,

Cognisant as I am of your expertise, I must respectfully disagree. In the
context of the Pratyabhijñā philosophy being expounded by Abhinavagupta
here, the idea is that the body mind etc., which are clearly objects of
awareness, lose their separate objectivity in this *turyā *state, becoming
expressions of awareness itself (*tadā bodha-svarūpīk**ṛtaṃ**
tad-rasānuviddham eva śūnyādi-dehāntam avabhāti*, further on in the passage),
not separate from it. So this is not the *turyā *of other schools (=
*samādhi*), because a complete withdrawal from the objects of cognition is
here called *turyātīta*. In the *turyā *state under discussion, it is
specifically the objectivity of the objects of consciousness that falls
away, not their appearance within consciousness -- but he specifies that
the impressions (*sa.mskāra*) of objectivity remain.

With regard to your second point, the *Rasa-ratna-samuccaya *(5.11)
citation (thank you for that!) I think shows that *vedha *can indeed mean
transmute; so what we have in the Abhinavagupta passage is three stages in
the process (in which the agent is *ahambhāva *or *svātantryarūpa-bodha*).
The first is denoted by *vidh-,  *permeate, infuse, but also transmute; the
second, *abhini+viś*, immerse completely (now dehādi have become like
gold); the third, *jīrṇa*, in which all trace of objectivity (the
*sa.mskāra*s referred to above) are "worn away" or the gold is "digested"
by the mercury in the metaphor. (This is now *turyātīta-daśā*). Thus the
mercury preparation (*siddha-rasa*) changes the base metal to gold, then
with prolonged exposure eats away that pure gold itself, since Abhinava
wants no trace of objectivity left in this process. A nice (if surprising)
metaphor, since the idea of pure gold triggers our *rāga*, and therefore
must be dissolved, leaving only the dynamism of consciousness itself.

Torella (1994) supports my reading in his summary paraphrase of this
passage:
"The objective realities with which the I had identified himself are
themselves transformed on contact with the I . . . so that they continue to
subsist, but as though they have ceased to be objects; they are compared to
copper which on contact with mercury is transformed into gold. The state
beyond the fourth state, in which . . . the differentiation is now
completely dissolved, the idantā dispelled; remaining within the terms of
the simile suggested by Abh., even the gold into which the various levels
of subjectivity have been transformed - from the body to the void - as it
is increasingly permeated by the mercury wears away and finally dissolves,
these realities only surviving in the residual form of samskāra."  but
later he seemingly changed his understanding of the passage, writing "This
experience, which corresponds to the
fourth state, can be extended further, until it flows into the state beyond
the fourth, where the components of limitation, including *sa.mskāra*, are
totally dissolved and incorporated in the I."

This last confusion hinges on the interpretation of the phrase *sa
drutarasa iva ābhāti kevalaṃ tat-saṃskāraḥ.*
I am taking *tat-sa.mskāra *to refer to the sole impression of awakened
consciousness itself (*drutarasa = cidrasa*).

very best,
CW


On 7 July 2014 21:34, Ashok Aklujkar <ashok.aklujkar at gmail.com> wrote:

> The understanding of the passage that is being proposed is largely on the
> right track, especially with the contribution of Dominik.However, I should
> draw attention to two points that may lead to a different understanding of
> the chemical/alchemical process.
>
> 1. Literally, the translation of *yena prameyatvāt tat cyavata iva*
> should be
> "whereby that (thing śūnyādi-deha-dhātv-anta) slips down/falls away, as it
> were, from being an object of cognition" (i.e., it ceases to be -- no
> longer figures in -- cognition, although it is out there as before),"
> not
> "by which their objectivity falls away as it were".
> Note that the subject of *cyavate* is *ta*t,  a neuter gender word, and
> *prameyatvāt* is an ablative. *śūnyādi-deha-dhātv-anta* is a bahu-vriihi
> and, therefore, something like 'thing', 'entity', 'assemblage' must be
> understood as its vi;se.sya.
> Now, one can say that the earlier translation may be grammatically opaque
> but it essentially conveys the same thing as the translation I have
> offered. However, as you will see from the next point, the literal
> translation assists us in understanding the analogy rightly.
>
> 2. In *prāṇa-dehādi-dhātuḥ saṃvid-rasena abhiniviṣṭo
> ’tyantaṃ kanaka-dhātur iva jīrṇaḥ kriyate,* one would expect pure
> consciousness to be similar to pure gold. It would be inappropriate to
> compare it with what is left after gold is taken out. The process conveyed
> by *jīrṇaḥ* should, therefore, be one in which impurities of gold are
> taken out as a result of its saturation by something (there is no word in
> the passage that would suggest that we should set aside the usual meanings
> of *vidhyate*, *viddha *and *abhinivi.s.ta* ranging from 'pierce' to
> 'permeate').
>
> That that 'something' is paarada 'mercury' is what we learn from
> Rasa-ratna-samuccaya 5.11: वेधजं सुवर्णम् -- पारद-वेधेन संजातं सुवर्णम्.
>
> Note that here gold is spoken of as the outcome, not anything else that
> goes with gold.
>
> The same Rasa-ratna-samuccaya, at 5.21-22, speaks of सुवर्णं जलवद् द्रुतं
> द्रव-रूपं वा करोति, which 'liquidity' notion is also found in the
> Abhinava-gupta passage under consideration.
>
> (I give the Rasa-ratna-samuccaya references according to the आयुर्वेदीय
> महाकोश अर्थात् आयुर्वेदीय शब्दकोश, p. 1628, of वेणीमाधवशास्त्री जोशी and
> नारायण हरी जोशी, मुम्बई : महाराष्ट्र राज्य साहित्य आणि संस्कृति मंडळ, १९६८.
> I do not have access at the moment to the Rasa-ratna-samuccaya itself).
> a.a.
>


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