SAUNDARANANDA 14.4: Speaking from Experience

aacayaM dyutim utsaaham
prayogam balam eva ca
bhojanam kRtam atyalpaM
shariirasy' aapakarShati

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14.4
Of substance, lustre, and stamina,

Of usefulness and of its very strength,

A meagre diet

Deprives the body.

COMMENT:
The essential elements of working on the self, as Marjory Barlow endeavored to teach them to me, are (1) inhibiting one's instinctive reaction to a stimulus to do something, (2) using thought directions (as opposed to reliance on feeling) to restore the integrity of one's whole organism, and (3) going into movement.

As every morning I sit with the ever-present question of what it means to work on the self, and at the same time with awareness of where I am in this process of translating Saundarananda, I see a definite parallel between the above three elements of working on the self, and the themes of Canto 12, 13, and 14.

To inhibit one's instinctive reaction is closely allied to confidence in a higher good -- a good that resides not on the instinctive plane, but on the plane of conscious control. At the same time, the practice of inhibition is just what allows a person to gain a foothold in work on the self.

The use of thought directions, again, is a means to thwart the power of the senses. (MB: "You can't help having feelings, only for God's sake, don't use them as a guide.")

And the title of the present Canto 14, aadi-prasthaana, could be translated as "Going Into Movement," or "Stepping Into Action."

So the tone of these verses is supremely practical. The Buddha is speaking of the practical aspect of practice, of stepping into action, on the basis of his own real experience.

Ashvaghosha has alluded to the experience in question in Saundarananda Canto 3:

3.4
When he mentally scoured the world, however,

For the most solid
among this and that tradition,

Certainty was not to be found out there.

He entered, after all, into ascetic practice
that was most severe.

3.5
Then, having ascertained that this was not the path,

He abandoned that extreme asceticism too.

He knew from past experience
that the realm of realisation was ascendant,

And so he ate most wholesome rice,
in readiness to realise the deathless.

In Buddhacarita Canto 12, Ashvaghosha will go into more detail regarding how the Buddha, based on past experience and by virtue of getting back in touch with his reason, decided to give up trying to subsist on the most meagre of diets.

A similarly practical man of more recent times who spoke on the basis of experience was FM Alexander. His niece Marjory Barlow relates: "He had a Nonconformist religious upbringing and everything was in moderation. He ate very little of anything, but an extremely varied diet, plenty of vegetables, plenty of fruit, little meat, little fish. He wasn't a big eater at all, and he wasn't a big drinker."

EH Johnston:
Deficiency of food drains away the substance of the body with its brilliance, energy, activity and strength.

Linda Covill:
Overly small meals drain the body of its solidity, its healthy glow, its energy, its usefulness and its strength.

VOCABULARY:
aacayam (acc.): m. collection , plenty (from √ci: to arrange in order , heap up , pile up)
dyutim (acc.): f. splendour, brightness , lustre , majesty , dignity.
utsaaham (acc.): m. power , strength ; strength of will , resolution ; effort , perseverance , strenuous and continuous exertion , energy ; firmness , fortitude ; joy , happiness

prayogam (acc.): m. application , employment, use
balam (acc.): n. power , strength , might , vigour , force
eva: (emphatic)
ca: and

bhojanam (nom. sg.): n. the act of eating; n. a meal , food
kRta: done, eaten, taken
atyalpa: very little

shariirasya (genitive): of the body, the body's
apakarShati = 3rd pers. sg. of apa-√kRSh: to draw off or aside , drag down , carry away , take away , remove