SAUNDARANANDA 16.48: Going Beyond Science, Scientifically

dhaatuun hi ShaD bhuu-salil-aanalaadiin
saamaanyataH svena ca lakShaNena
avaiti yo n'aanyam avaiti tebhyaH
so' tyantikaM mokSham avaiti tebhyaH

16.48
For in knowing the six elements
of earth, water, fire and the rest,

Generically, and each as specific to itself,

He who knows nothing else but them,

Knows total release from them.

COMMENT:
The six elements are the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space, plus the sixth element of consciousness.

My sons are both continuing with the study of chemistry, biology, and maths, to 'A' level and beyond, and that suits me fine. I look forward to them filling me in on the 2nd law of thermodynamics, among other things. If biology led them into psychology, I would not be too disappointed. But if they had tended towards, say, film studies or -- God forbid -- religious studies, I might not have encouraged them in that direction.

This verse, as I read it, affirms a scientific approach to knowing, as opposed to religious belief in such supposed miraculous Hollywood/biblical phenomena as God, virgin birth, winged angels, et cetera.

Ashvaghosha's point, as I take it, is that there never has been nor ever will be any basis in religion from which to transcend science. Gold is got from earth, by digging. The basis for transcending science lies in scientific endeavour itself.

This kind of scientific endeavor, as John Dewey saw it, was what FM Alexander was involved in. Thus Dewey wrote in his introduction to Alexander's second book:

"After studying over a period of years Mr Alexander's method in actual operation, I would stake myself upon the fact that he has applied to our ideas and beliefs about ourselves, and about our acts, exactly the same method of experimentation, and of the production of new sensory observations as tests and means of developing thought, that have been the source of all progress in the physical sciences."

Even more pertinent to this verse is a paragraph that Dewey wrote in his introduction to Alexander's third book:

"As might be anticipated, the conclusions of Mr Alexander's experimental enquiries are in harmony with what physiologists know about the muscular and nervous structure. But they give a new significance to that knowledge; indeed, they make evident what knowledge itself really is. The anatomist may 'know' the exact function of each muscle, and conversely know what muscles come into play in the execution of any specified act. But if he is himself unable to co-ordinate all the muscular structures involved in, say, sitting down or in rising from a sitting position in a way which achieves the optimum and efficient performance of that act -- if in other words he misuses himself in what he does -- how can he be said to know in the full and vital sense of that word?"

After my own scientific education, followed by 30 years of work in the laboratory of a misused self, what, as a result of all my many failed and falsified hypotheses, do I truly know?

Sitting rigidly upright while pulling the chin back and down in order to stretch the back of the neck is very largely a matter of earth; whereas consciousness, if I know it at all, is basically a matter of sitting upright not like that.


VOCABULARY:
dhaatuun = accusative, plural of dhaatu: m. element , primitive matter (usually reckoned as 5 , viz. kha or aakaaza , anila , tejas , jala , bhuu ; to which is added brahma; or vijNaana Buddh. )
hi: for
ShaD: six
bhuu: earth
salila: water
anala: fire
aadiin = accusative, plural of aadi: et cetera

saamaanya: equal , alike; shared by others , joint ; whole , entire , universal , general , generic , not specific
-taH = ablative/adverbial suffix
svena = instrumental, singular (agreeing with lakShaNena) of sva: its own
ca: and
lakShaNena = instrumental, singular of lakShana: indicating , expressing indirectly; a mark , sign , symbol , token , characteristic , attribute, quality

avaiti = 3rd person singular of ave: to see, understand, know
yaH: [he] who
na: not
anyam (accusative): other, else, apart
avaiti = 3rd person singular of ave: to see, understand, know
tebhyaH (ablative, plural): from them

saH (nominative, singular): he
aatyantika: continual , uninterrupted , infinite , endless; entire , universal (as the world's destruction &c )
mokSham (accusative): emancipation , liberation , release from (ablative)
avaiti = 3rd person singular of ave: to see, understand, know; to go to
tebhyaH (ablative, plural): from them


EH Johnston:
For he who understands the six elements, earth, water, fire etc., both in their general and their specific characteristics and understands that there is nothing other than them understands complete liberation from them.

Linda Covill:
For the man who understands the six elements of earth, water, fire and so on in their general and particular characteristics, and who understands that there is nothing else apart from them, attains utter freedom from them.

SAUNDARANANDA 16.23: Knowing Cause & Effect

phalaM hi yaadRk samavaiti saakShaat
tad-aagamaad biijam avaity atiitam
avetya biija-prakRtim ca saakShaad
an-aagatam tat-phalam abhyupaiti

16.23
Seeing what fruit is before one's eyes,

One knows, from past knowledge of that fruit,
the seed it was in the past.

And having identified a seed before one's eyes,

One knows the fruit it may be in the future.

COMMENT:
By aagama , or "what has come down to us from the past," in the 2nd line, I think Ashvaghosha might be pointing in the direction of scientific knowledge. This verse, as I read it, stands in support of scientific inquiry into cause and effect.

What is the doctrine of re-incarnation?
The doctrine of re-incarnation is a doctrine.
What is the doctrine of no re-incarnation?
The doctrine of no re-incarnation is also a doctrine.

What is science? Science is a method of inquiry.
Is the doctrine of re-incarnation susceptible to scientific inquiry?
I am not sure. Maybe not, so far.

What does seem evident is that belief in any doctrine, in however a subtle form it manifests itself, is always prone to be troublesome.

And Ashvaghosha's practical and non-doctrinal teaching with regard to trouble, as I understand it, is clear and simple: walk away.

VOCABULARY:
phalam (acc. sg.): n. fruit
hi: for
yaadRsha: (relative adjective) of which kind
samavaiti = 3rd person singular of samave: to regard , consider
saakShaat (ablative of saakSha): with the eyes , with one's own eyes; before one's eyes
saakSha: having eyes

tat: it, that
aagamaad = ablative of aagama: arrival , coming , approach; origin; appearance or reappearance; reading , studying; acquisition of knowledge , science
biijam (accusative): seed
avaiti = 3rd person singular of ave: to look upon , consider; to perceive , conceive , understand , learn , know
atiitam (accusative): past, the past

avetya (absolutive of ave): after identifying, after considering
biija: seed
prakRtim = accusative of prakRti: "making or placing before or at first," the original or natural form or condition of anything, original or primary substance; nature
ca: and
saakShaat: before his eyes

an-aagatam (acc. sg. n.): not come, future; the future
tat: it, that
phalam (acc. sg.): n. fruit
abhyupaiti = 3rd person singular of abhyupe: to go near , approach , arrive at , enter; to select as (acc.); to agree with , approve of

EH Johnston:
For instance, when a man understands what sort of fruit he has before his eyes, he understands from its presence what its seed was in the past, and, when he identifies the kind of seed before his eyes, he recognises what its future fruit will be.

Linda Covill:
When someone considers which kind of fruit is in front of him, he can, based on its origin, determine what seed it was in the past; and when someone considers the nature of a seed in front of him, he knows what the future fruit of that seed will be.