Monday, September 28, 2009

SAUNDARANANDA 14.27: You Should Feel the Real

bhayam aagamanaan mRtyoH
priitim dharma-parigrahaat
janma-duHkhaad a-paryantaac
chokam aagantum arhasi

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14.27
You should feel the fear
that derives from death's approach,

The joy from grasping a teaching of Dharma,

And from the boundless suffering in a birth,

You should feel the anguish.


COMMENT:
feel: 1a. to handle or touch in order to examine, test, or explore some quality


I do not need to manufacture fear, joy, and anguish in order to feel them, any more than I need to start breathing in order to feel the breath passing through the nostrils.

Fear, joy and anguish, as I feel them, are not only psychological phenomena.

In fear, my whole body is held in the grip of fear. I feel it with neck, head, back, arms, and legs.

A teaching of true Dharma might be: "You cannot do an undoing." And the joy of grasping it I feel as if flowing through neck, head, back, arms and legs.

And with respect to shokam , the anguish, Bob Dylan, sounding like he really meant it, asked a good question.

How does it feel?

EH Johnston:
You should foster fear of the approach of death, love in marriage with the Law and grief at the boundless sufferings from birth.

Linda Covill:
You should derive fear from the fact that death is getting closer, joy from your possession of the dharma, and grief from the boundless suffering attendant upon birth.


VOCABULARY:
bhayam (acc.): n. fear
aagamanaad = abl. of aagamana: n. coming , approaching , arriving
mRtyoH = abl/.gen. of mRtyu: death

priitim (acc.): joy
dharma: Dharma, the teaching
parigrahaat = abl. of parigraha: m. laying hold of on all sides, comprehending; getting , attaining , acquisition , possession , property (ifc. " being possessed of or furnished with ")

janma: birth
duHkhaat = abl. of duHkha: suffering
a-paryanta: mfn. unbounded , unlimited

shokam (acc.): m. sorrow , affliction , anguish , pain , trouble , grief
aagantum = infinitive of aa-√gam: to come, to come near to (acc.), arrive at, reach; to fall into (any state of mind); have recourse to
arhasi: you should

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