[INDOLOGY] Alchemy metaphor

[Christopher Wallis]

For those following the alchemy discussion, Prof. Torella offered this
important parallel passage (ĪPvv III p. 348):

yadā vā sarvathaiva pradhvaṃsitā vidrāvitā vā bhavati turyātīta-daśāyāṃ . .
.
tan-nija-rūpa-samyag-viddha-kanaka-rūpatātyanta-jaraṇāpādita-tatsaṃskāravaśa-pītalatāvaśeṣa-vidruta-rasa-nyāyena


Which I think confirms what we have been saying about the alchemical
processes here. My first pass at a translation would be:

"or when [objectivity] is completely destroyed or liquified, i.e. in the
state Beyond the Fourth, after the manner of the liquid mercury that
remains after the gold leaf -- i.e. the power of the impression(s) of that
[objectivity]--has been thoroughly digested, its form having been [first]
well penetrated by the innate form of that [consciousness]".

I hope I am correct in taking *pītalatā *as "gold leaf". The sentences
immediately before this one establish that the penetration of (in this
case) copper by mercury extracts the gold (*rasa-viddhatāmra-kanaka-nyāyena*),
corresponding to the Fourth State in which objectivity is covered (*idantā
ācchāditā*), only its impressions remaining.

I hope Prof. Torella and/or others will correct any mistakes here.

best, CW


On 10 July 2014 02:45, Raffaele Torella <raffaele.torella at uniroma1.it>
wrote:

>
> just after an interminable car trip in Central Europe, I do not have the
> mental alertness to express my overall and detailed opinion on this very
> interesting matter. For the moment, at least, I can’t refrain from making
> some short remarks on the last point (and indirectly on my alleged
> ‘confusion’).
>
> *yadā tu parāmṛṣṭa-nityatva-vyāpitvādi-dharmakaiśvarya-ghanātmanā
> ahambhāva-siddharasena śūnyādi-deha-dhātv-antaṃ vidhyate yena prameyatvāt
> tat cyavata iva, tadā turyadaśā*;
> *yadāpi viddho 'sau prāṇa-dehādi-dhātuḥ saṃvid-rasena abhiniviṣṭo
> ’tyantaṃ kanaka-dhātur iva jīrṇaḥ kriyate yena sa druta-rasa iva ābhāti
> kevalaṃ tat-saṃskāraḥ, tadāpi turyātīta-daśā sā bhavati. *
>
> *drutarasa* is clearly (at least to my mind) a *bahuvrīhi* depending on *prāṇa-dehādi-dhātuḥ
> . *However fairly elliptical, also the following *tatsaṃskāraḥ *also has
> to be taken as a *bahuvrīhi*, nuancing *sa drutarasa iva ābhāti* (of
> course, we would have been very grateful to Abh. for a more merciful
> *tatsaṃskārasahitaḥ,* or so…; also possibly to be understood as: “only,
> the *saṃskāras* left by body, prāṇa, etc. [for the moment still
> remains]). The key term is here *kevalam*, which introduces a restriction
> with the regards the previous statement (which also contains in itself the
> germ of a possible restriction: *drutarasa *iva*. * Wallis’ alternative
> interpretation ("the sole impression of awakened consciousness itself”)
> does not convince me: in these contexts *saṃskāraḥ *always refers to the
> residual traces left by “inferior” realities on the way of their being
> progressively overcome or transfigured (see e.g. the somewhat parallel
> passage in IPVV III p. 348
> *tannijarūpasamyagviddhakanakarūpatātyantajaraṇāpāditatatsaṃskāravaśapītalatāvaśeṣavidrutarasanyāyena).*
>
> I should like also to add that the *turyātīta samāveśa*, which this
> passage refers to, is not something intrinsically different from *turya*,
> but only its progressive extension, which virtually leads the
> complete elimination of the *saṃskāras* too. In saying ‘virtually’ I mean
> that for these authors this is in a sense an endless process. After all, if
> the process were indeed completed, how could *samāveśa* itself be
> possible? As Abhinava says (IPV on III.2.12) *samāveśapallavā eva ca
> prasiddhadehādipramātṛbhāgaprahvībhāvabhāvanānuprāṇitāḥ […] **dehapāte tu
> parameśvara evaikarasaḥ , ---- iti kaḥ kutra kathaṃ samāviśet.*
>
> More (perhaps) to follow.
>
> All best wishes to the members of this wonderful list
> Raffaele Torella
>
>
>
>
> Prof. Raffaele Torella
> Chair of Sanskrit
> Istituto Italiano di Studi Orientali
> Sapienza Università di Roma
> www.scribd.com/raffaeletorella
>
>
>
>
>
>


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20140710/97f3d082/attachment.htm>