[INDOLOGY] Alchemy metaphor

[Dominik Wujastyk]

Dear Christopher, you are using "piercing/penetration" again for vedha.
Were the arguments for "transformation/transmutation" not sufficiently
plausible?  Or applicable (philosophically)?

Best,
Dominik



On 10 July 2014 23:22, Christopher Wallis <bhairava11 at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>


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