SAUNDARANANDA 12.35: Confidence in Biological Cause & Effect

sasy'-otpattiM yadi na vaa
shraddadhyaat kaarShakaH kShitau
arthii sasyena vaa na syaad
biijaani na vaped bhuvi

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12.35
Without the confidence that corn will grow

In the soil he tills,

Or without the need for corn;

The farmer would not sow seeds in the earth.

COMMENT:
My two sons have parents who sit, following the Buddha's teaching, and they attended a Church of England primary school, where they were told some fairly spurious things about Jesus turning water into wine et cetera. Notwithstanding these various influences, my sons recently show little if any interest in sitting, and no interest at all in so-called theology. They have also given up on formal study of physics. But they are both students of chemistry and biology, and this suits me fine.

Physics, chemistry, biology. The three natural sciences studied in English schools to advanced level are in the generally accepted descending order of difficulty: physics, chemistry, biology. But in another sense there is an ascending progression in physics, chemistry, biology -- in the direction of life.

The tendency of water to find its lowest level is extremely difficult to understand to the extent that understanding of the effect depends on understanding of the cause which is gravity. At the same time, water returning underground is a simple physical process in that it does not involve a chemical reaction.

The tendency of wood to burn, once activation energy barriers have been overcome, does involve a chemical reaction: it is a relatively simple chemical reaction in which energy is released.

The tendency of living things to grow upwards, opposing gravity, involves a more complex series of chemical reactions, depending on the construction of activation energy barriers. These molecular dams prevent corn from dissipating its energy until such time as it is ground into flour, baked, chewed, and digested. (Note to self: to deny oneself the energy in bread is never the Buddha's teaching. The Buddha's teaching is to be content with just enough bread -- not too much.)

So in the progression of the last three verses there seems to be a certain order. It can be seen as a progression in the direction of life, that direction also being the direction of upright sitting -- upward.

Order seems to exist in the natural world, and the human mind seems to be adapted for finding order, even in chaos. This tendency to find order involves identifying hierarchicies, in which some things are primary, some secondary, and so on. Hence FM Alexander's term "primary control" to describe a person's use of his head, neck, and back in relation to each other (a dynamic relationship in at least four dimensions; never the same as "correct posture").

In these three verses, actions are secondary to the motivation of those actions. Digging, twirling, and sowing are secondary. The primary factors in each case are a need that must be fulfilled, and the kind of confidence that can be engendered by study of physics, chemistry and biology -- not religious faith, not optimistic self-belief, but confidence that certain effects follow from certain causes.

EH Johnston:
Similarly the husbandman would not sow seed in the earth, unless he believes in the growth of corn in the ground and has need of it.

Linda Covill:
And if a farmer did not believe that corn is produced from the earth, or if he had no need of corn, he would not sow seeds in the ground.

VOCABULARY:
sasya: corn , grain , fruit , a crop of corn
utpattim (accusative): arising, production
yadi: if
na: not
vaa: or

shraddadhyaat = 3rd person singular optative of shraddah: to believe
kaarShakaH (nominative): one who ploughs or lives by tillage , a husbandman
kShitau = locative of kShiti: the earth, soil of the earth

arthii = nominative of arthin: one who has need
sasyena = instrumental of sasya: corn
vaa: or
na syaad: there were not

biijaani (accusative): seeds
na vaped (optative): would not sow
bhuvi = locative of bhuu: earth