na tasy' otpadyate klesho
yasya kaaya-gataa smRtiH
cittaM sarvaasv avasthaasu
baalaM dhaatr" iiva rakShati
- = = = - = = =
= - = - - = - =
= = = = - = = -
= = = = - = - -
14.37
No affliction arises in him
For whom mindfulness pervades the body --
Guarding the mind in all situations,
As a nurse protects a child.
COMMENT:
Klesha means affliction i.e. that which disturbs a person's mind and clouds a person's judgement. Citta is a general term for the mind, but can refer particularly to the thinking mind, reason, intelligence.
In this verse, as I read it yesterday, that which clouds a person's judgement is contrasted with reason/intelligence.
No affliction arises in him
Whose mindfulness pervades his body --
Guarding in all situations his intelligence,
As a nurse protects a child.
That interpretation made perfect sense to me, yesterday, on the basis of experiences that are diametrically opposed to each other, namely:
(a) repeated failures in everyday life in which I become, to use phrases favoured by FM Alexander, "out of touch with my reason," as a result of "unduly excited fear reflexes and emotions";
(b) being guided on the teaching table of Alexander's niece Marjory Barlow towards a condition which she described as "the whole body informed with thought."
But this morning I decided against limiting citta -- as EHJ and LC before me seem to have done -- to thoughts, reason, or intelligence.
Intuition might also be something for which room should be allowed.
So in this verse as I read it today that which clouds a person's judgement is contrasted not only with the power of reason but also with the power of judgement itself.
EH Johnston:
No sin is produced in him whose attention is fixed on his body. It guards his thoughts in all circumstances, as a nurse guards a child.
Linda Covill:
Defilement does not arise in a man who is mindful with regard to his body. Mindfulness guards his thoughts in all circumstances, as a nurse protects a child.
VOCABULARY:
na: not
tasya (gen.): of him
utpadyate = 3rd pers. sg. ut-√pad: to arise , rise , originate , be born or produced
kleshaH (nom. sg.): m. pain , affliction , distress , pain from disease , anguish ; wrath , anger ; worldly occupation , care , trouble
yasya (gen.): of/for whom, whose
kaaya: body
gataa (f): come to , approached , arrived at , being in , situated in , contained in (acc. or loc. or in comp.)
smRtiH (nom. sg.): f. remembrance, mindfulness, attention, thinking of or upon
cittam: n. thinking, intention, mind, intelligence, reason
sarvaasu (loc. pl): in all
avasthaasu = loc. pl. avasthaa: f. state , condition , situation
baalam (acc. sg.): m. a child , boy (esp. one under 5 years)
dhaatrii: f. " female supporter " , a nurse ; midwife
iva: like
rakShati = 3rd pers. sg. rakSh: to guard , watch , take care of , protect, save, preserve
2 comments:
I have been thinking a lot about endgaining triggering the moro response, which certainly seems to be true for me. But it also seems to be a bit chicken and egg doesn't it? It seems that the moro reflex drives me to do all the time. Yesterday morning I went ape because I couldn't put my hand on a nice pen. Why did I want it in the first place?
It's interesting that you describe your body being informed with thought on the table. Did MB mainly work with you on the table?
Yes, I think that it is definitely a chicken & egg situation, or a vicious circle.
The raging frustration at not being able to find something, at things not being organized as they should, I am sure has to do with that vicious circle, whereby vestibular disorganisation trips the Moro, and the aberrant Moro makes the vestibular diorganisation worse.
Mindfulness/Alexander awareness might be seen as an insulating layer around all that. When the insulation fails because I am run down or too careless, or because the stimulus is too strong, then all hell is liable to break loose.
Yes, Marjory would work for a matter of seconds with me standing in front of a chair, then she would take me into the chair, and often she would put her hands on my shoulders from behind me while I sat on the chair. Then she would stand me up and invite me to lie down on her table, or "couch" as she called it. It would be towards the end of maybe 25 minutes work on the table that Marjory would talk of "the whole body being informed with thought." One of the phrases she liked (from Hamlet I think) was "word to fit the action, and action to fit the word." So my sense was that she talked about the whole body being informed with thought when she saw that going on -- mainly as a result of her getting me to give up my desire to feel out the directing process, to give up my desire of becoming something, and to give up my desire to move a leg.
Those three kinds of desire -- (1) the desire to feel a good feeling,(2) the desire to become something, and (3) the desire to get something out of the way, over and done with, might be the three fundamental kinds of thirsting to let go of.
Maybe the conclusion should be that, Moro reflex or no Moro reflex, thirsting is the chicken and thirsting is the egg.
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