20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

496 Florina Dobre-BratLet us now revisit the commentary of verse 144 with the idea of seeingto what extent, presumably the same grammatical tradition in the line ofPatañjali (as shown by Bhartṛhari himself) just a few centuries later, thinksupon how process of purification takes its practitioner to reaching brahmanśabda-tattva. It seems that there are three stages to be identified in theprocess of attaining Brahman:1. Purification of word essence, by removing corrupt forms andresiding in the correct form of word existence ensures certainly aspecific merit that leads to happiness (abhyudaya);2. Repeated practice of correct verbal form is thorough maintained byunion with it, intuitive knowledge (pratibhā) is reached;3. Pratibhā itself is not the end of process, thus, from pratibhā,one having rightly understood the process attains supreme peace(kṣema).The question that rises now is whether the expression śabdasaṃskāracovers the whole process displayed over those likely three stages, or itrefers only to purely linguistic process of correct verbal derivation andelimination of incorrect verbal forms (apabraṃśa), which would be onlythe first identified stage.It looks now that in order to answer the above question, we shouldseek for the answer in other places of commentary where the identifiedstages can be traced out. As the kārikā 144 and its Vṛtti point to the wordpurification as the means of Brahman attainment, it is absolutely normalto see where else a similar idea occurs. That is, as expected, in the verydescription of the grammar as “the door to salvation”:It [the grammar] is the door to salvation, the remedy for all impuritiesof speech, the purifier of all sciences and shines in every branch ofknowledge. 19The Vṛtti of this verse is a kind of mirror of commentary 144, or ratherthe other way round, if we give right to verses succession as laid downby Bhartṛhari himself. A closer look at the commentary reveals furtherinteresting aspects. First of all, we come across another most controversialexpression which is śabda-pūrva yoga. This has been translated in variousways 20 and is still looked upon with much hesitation. Then, we see that19VP I.14: tad dvāram apavargasya vāṇmalānāṃ cikitsitam / pavitraṃsarvavidyānām adhividyam prakaśate //20M. Biardeau 1964: 49 renders it as “word yoga” (“yoga de la parole”),whereas K.A. Subramanya Iyer, 1965: 21, is more circumspect and thus puts it as “unionwith previous knowledge of correct forms or words”. Yet, in his monograph: Bhartṛhari:A Study of the Vākyapadīya in the light of Ancient Commentaries, 1969/1992: 135-146,