Thanks so much for your reply, Dominik. It is very helpful, since I have been confused about the meaning of vedha/vedhana in these texts. I have been translating it as piercing, since the context often is a transmission (sankramana) of spiritual energy from guru to disciple, but it has not been entirely satisfactory. Do you have a reference to its use in rasa-śāstra? In the passage I cited, I don't think it's quite synonymous with abhini+viś, I think the latter is a further stage in the process, because it goes with turyātīta-daśā while the vidh verb goes with turyā-daśā. So, infused then immersed?

To explain the passage briefly as I now understand it, when the layers of subjectivity which are actually objects (e.g. body etc.) are permeated/infused/penetrated (vidhyate) by the elixir of awakened consciousness, they are transmuted and shine like gold, i.e. appear as expressions of that consciousness rather than separate objects. Further immersion (abhiniviṣṭa) in this elixir of consciousness digests/oxidizes/wears (jīrṇa) away the gold, leaving only the liquid essence itself, with no trace of objectivity. This seems to fit within the larger scope of his argument and avoid doing violence to the alchemical metaphor, which of course I don't completely understand. any further comments welcome.

gratefully yours,

Christopher Wallis, M.A. (Cal), M.Phil. (Oxon), Ph.D. (ABD, Cal)

On 7 July 2014 06:36, Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk@gmail.com> wrote:

I don't think vidhyate means "is penetrated." I think it means "transmuted." Or even "multiplied." Actually, I'm not really sure what it means. But "vedhana" isn't simply "piercing" in rasaśāstra literature. It seems to correspond to what the classical (Greek and Latin) authors mean when they talk about transmutation and multiplication (increase) of substances. In your text, vidhyate is used synonymically (?) with abhini+viś. Infused? Permeated? I'm really not sure what the alchemical simile is, so I would be urge caution with the application of a chemical metaphor to the philosophical case. Maybe you could work backwards, if you know pretty much what Abhinavagupta is saying philosophically, we could deduce what he thought the chemical processes were. I think transmutation or transformation might work.

About jīrṇa, I think it's the same as one of the 16 rasa-saṃskāras, jāraṇa a form of chemical digestion (perhaps, in modern terminology, oxidation). I'll leave it to others to say more.
Best,
Dominik

On 7 July 2014 02:03, Christopher Wallis <bhairava11@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear respected colleagues,

I wonder if anyone here knows about alchemy (rasāyana) and can clarify the meaning of the word jīrṇa in that context. In the passage below (ĪPvv III p. 328), in discussing mystical experience, Abhinavagupta uses an alchemical metaphor involving siddharasa (≈ mercury), drutarasa, and kanakadhātu. The meaning of the passage is fairly clear to me, I am just wondering about the alchemical significance of of jīrṇa (matured?) and drutarasa.

the passage follows.

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
'But when the [layers of limited selfhood] from Void to the physical body are penetrated by the “alchemical elixir” that is the (true) I-sense—replete with the sovereignty of the qualities of eternality, all-pervasiveness, etc. which are cognized [as aspects of that I], by which their objectivity falls away as it were, then it is the Fourth State.
When, further, these elements of prāṇa, body, etc., penetrated by the elixir of Consciousness, are completely immersed [in it], they are “matured” like the element of gold . . .'(?)

best wishes,

Christopher Wallis, M.A. (Cal), M.Phil. (Oxon), Ph.D. (ABD, Cal)

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