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 listRaffaele TorellaProf. Raffaele TorellaChair of SanskritIstituto Italiano di Studi OrientaliSapienza Università di Roma