tasmaad vyaasa-samaasaabhyaaM
tan me vyaakhyaatum arhasi
yac chrutvaa shRNvataaM shreShTha
paramaM praapnuyaam padam
12.17
Therefore, in detail and in summary,
Could you please communicate it to me,
O best of listeners, so that through listening
I might come to the ultimate step.”
COMMENT:
Nanda wishes to know each tree and the whole forest, every detail and all things entered into one picture.
His wish is not simply to be told some words. Like an Alexander student standing before a chair, he is asking for something to be communicated to him. What is communicated? Is it something -- the Truth? A direction? Life itself? Or is it a bit of nothing? Is it a bit of freedom from noise?
This verse is about the desire for communication. More than that, it is about listening. It may be that listening leads us to the backward step of turning light and shining. Or it may be that the backward step of turning light and shining is simply that very rare thing which is listening itself.
I who am never the best of listeners come to the forest here in France mainly to listen. Eight years ago I came here, out of desperation, looking for a quiet place to sit, such as the place where I am now. Previous to that, from training as a neuro-developmental therapist at INNP Chester and then as a provider of The Listening Program and a Johansen Sound Therapist, and from meeting an inspirational protege of Alfred Tomatis named Paul Madaule, I had begun to understand the importance of listening, and to understand how much I was suffering from noise, both external and within my own system. The external noise that bothers me comes especially from incessant traffic of light aircraft. I believe that the internal noise arises mainly from a lack of harmony between four vestibular reflexes.
Fifteen years ago when I began training as an Alexander teacher, I experienced the fact that Alexander work -- especially in the hands of my favourite teacher at the training school, a violinist named Ron Colyer -- dramatically reduced the internal noise in me. So for fifteen years I have been trying to figure out what was going on. FM Alexander would simply say that the right thing was being allowed to do itself. And it is no use us trying to figure out what the right thing is, because the right thing doing itself is totally beyond our capacity to fathom it. But what we can be more clear and definite about is the wrong thing, the noise. The noise in me, I have no doubt, has to do with my congenitally faulty vestibular system, and in particular with immaturity of four vestibular reflexes.
Even though I remain here by the forest in order to be free of noise, to listen, and even though when I am here I give myself hours of opportunity every day just to sit and listen, I begin to understand why Alfred Tomatis used to say that listening is very rare. For me, a moment of true listening is indeed very rare.
Sound of flowing
wind or water
and birdsong
waking the one
who listens
in secret
growing
in Buddha's secret
womb
EH Johnston:
Therefore deign to explain it to me both briefly and at length that listening to Thee, the Best of listeners, I may reach the supreme state."
Linda Covill:
Could you therefore explain it to me both in detail and in summary, O best of hearers, so that in hearing it I may obtain the supreme station."
VOCABULARY:
tasmaat: therefore
vyaasa: extension , diffusion , prolixity , detailed account (instr. ; abl. and -tas ind. in detail , at length , fully)
samaasaabhyaaM = ablative, dual of samaasa: succinctness , conciseness , condensation (ibc. and -tas , " concisely , succinctly , briefly "
tat: it, that
me (dative): to me
vyaakhyaatum = infinitive of vy-aa-√khyaa: to explain in detail , tell in full , discuss ; to relate , communicate
arhasi = 2nd person singular of arh: to deserve , merit , be worthy of , to have a claim to , be entitled to (acc.) , to be allowed to do anything (Inf.); (with an infinitive is often used as a softened form of imperative. ; e.g. shrotum arhasi , " deign to listen ")
yat (‘internal accusative’ of subordinate clause): that, so that
shrutvaa (absolutive of shru): after listening, on listening, by listening, through listening
shRNvataam (genitive, plural): of listeners
shreShTha: most splendid or beautiful , most beautiful of or among (with gen.) ; most excellent , best
parama: supreme, ultimate
praapnuyaam = 1st person singular, present optative of pra-√aap: to attain to, reach, obtain
padam (accusative): step
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