Thursday, July 30, 2009

SAUNDARANANDA 13.24: More Backtracking

prashrabdhiH kaaya-manasaH
sukhasy' opaniShat paraa
prashrabdher apy upaniShat
priitir apy avagamyataam

= = = = - - - =
- = = - - = - =
= = = = - - - =
= - = - - = - =

13.24
An assurance on which sits ease of the body-mind

Is of the highest order,

And the assurance is seated in enjoyment.

Again, let this be realised in experience.


COMMENT:
EHJ notes that: prashrabdhi is properly the feeling of intense, almost buoyant, calm that ensues on the sudden cessation of great pain and has a similar meaning as applied to the mind.

This explanation and EHJ's translation "buoyancy" seem to fit in the context of prashrabdhi being the link between enjoyment of some worthwhile process and the condition of psycho-physical ease. EHJ's description suggests some kind of a positive feedback loop in which the flow of endorphins is boosted.

Enjoyment of the translation process I am engaged in now has been linked, it seems to me, in my own experience, with almost total disappearance of a symptom of pscyho-physical dis-ease: namely, a stomach pain that had been bothering me for several months. In general, a link between enjoying some worthwhile process, and greater ease in one's body-mind, seems to ring true in everyday experience.

When his students arrived with long faces, taking too seriously the matter of going up, FM Alexander used to send them off to enjoy a walk around the block. Alexander's point, and maybe also the point of this verse, is that doing something wholesome and enjoyable cheers us up. In other words, enjoyment is the seat of buoyancy.

In that case, the buoyancy in question is neither the air-punching euphoria of a battle won nor even the nice sensory buzz that follows a good massage or a physical work-out. The buoyancy in question is of the highest order (paraa). It might be, to use Marjory Barlow's phrase, "a cut above" other kinds of buoyancy. (Marjory used to say that real Alexander work was a "a cut above" bodywork.)

Having prepared the outline of this comment yesterday, I had a night of sleep intermittently invaded by the word prashrabdhi. Although EJH's translation "buoyancy" fits on the basis of common sense and, with its connotation of an upward force, gels nicely with Alexander experience, the thought kept bothering me that the root of the word has to do with confidence, trust, being free of cares or worries. Maybe "buoyancy" is erring on the interpretive. So this morning I considered as a translation of prashrabdhi "assurance," for which Webster's (the dictionary I used in Japan for the Shobogenzo translation) gives the following definition:

2: the state of being assured: as a: security b: a being certain in the mind [the puritan's assurance of salvation] c: confidence of mind or manner : easy freedom from self-doubt or uncertainty ; also : excessive self-confidence : brashness, presumption

The sense of "easy freedom from self-doubt or uncertainty" certainly fits well in context.

Plus, the further possible meaning of excessive self-confidence brings into still clearer focus the point of the word paraa ("of the highest order.") If prashrabdhi means self-confidence, it does not mean empty brashness, or unearned self-esteem; it means self-assurance of a higher order, rooted in actual conduct of one's life. But neither is this assurance the same as grim puritanical self-righteousness. It is seated in enjoyment. To come back again to a saying of Marjory Barlow: "It is the most serious thing in the world, this work. But you mustn't take it seriously. It is supposed to be fun!"

EH Johnston:
Bliss of body and mind is based on supreme buoyancy, and know too that buoyancy is based on ecstasy.

Linda Covill:
Understand that complete confidence is the real secret of physical and mental bliss, and that joy is the secret of confidence.


VOCABULARY:
prashrabdhiH (nom.): f. ( √shrambh) trust , confidence
√shrambh: to be careless or negligent ; to trust , confide ,
kaaya: body
manasaH = genitive singular of manas: mind

sukhasya = genitive of sukha: ease, happiness
upaniShad: secret, basis
paraa (f.): on the other or farther side of;

prashrabdher = genitive of prashrabdhi: trust, confidence
api: and, also
upaniShad: secret, basis

priitiH (nom.): f. any pleasurable sensation , pleasure , joy , gladness , satisfaction
api: and, also
avagamyataam (passive, imperative of ava-√gam): let it be realised
ava-√gam: to go down , descend to (acc. or loc.) ; to reach , obtain ; to get power or influence ; to go near , undertake ; to hit upon , think of, conceive , learn , know , understand , anticipate , assure one's self , be convinced

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