20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

Śabdasaṃskāra, a mere grammatical technique? 497the first quoted verse from commentary of verse 144 bears a strikingresemblance with the first line of the commentary of verse 14:One, who, with a previous knowledge of correct forms of words, realisesthe unity of real word, goes beyond sequence and attains union with it. 21This very sequence is spoken of as that by which bringing down theunion with correct form is gained appears in the verse quoted in Vṛtti 144.Sequence (krama) seems to be a key term in understanding the wholeprocess.The sequence comprises both folding and unfolding or, in other terms,One and Multiple. The withdrawal of sequence or succession up to the pointfrom which it originates finds its correspondence in the three/four stagesof the word that Bhartṛhari explains further on in Brahmakāṇḍa (vaikharī,madhayamā, paśyantī and parā).But let us go back to the commentary of verse 14. It goes on almostexactly as the Vṛtti 144 does. We are told again about the merit as a result ofthe correct usage of the cultivated, correct word which is directly responsiblefor gaining complete dispassion and union with the great Word that should be,little to doubt, the very Word – Bull which is spoken about in the kārikā 143:By acquiring special merit through the use of correct word, he is unitedwith great Word and attains freedom from senses. 22At this point, after seeing two textual references, it is highly temptingto formulate a first conclusion that the process of the word purificationnamed in the kārikā 144 as śabdasaṃskāra refers strictly to the first stagealone and does not cover the following ones. Still, what do we have furtherin the Vṛtti 14?After having reached the undifferentiated state of world, he comes to thesource of all differentiation: Intuition. From that Intuition (pratibhā) inwhich all being is latent and which, due to repetition of union [mentionedabove] tends to produce its result, he reaches the Supreme Source (parāprakṛti) in which whole differentiation is completely lost. 23Iyer is no more reluctant to admit and discuss it in great details as “some kind of Yoga asa means of attaining Brahman, the Word-Principle”, p. 142.21Vtti I.14: śabdapūrvaṃ hi śabdasvarūpasyābhedatattvajñaḥ kramasaṃhāreṇayogaṃ labhate.22Vṛtti I.14: sādhuprayogāc cābhivyaktdharmaviśeṣo mahāntaṃ śabdātmānamabhisambhavam vaikaraṇyam prāpnoti.23Vṛtti I.14: so’vyatikīrṇāṃ vāgavasthām adhigamya vāgvikāraṇām prakṛtimpratibhām anuparaiti / tasmāc ca sattānuguṇyamātrāt pratibhākhyācchabdapūrvayogabhāvanābhyāsākṣepāt pratyastamitasarvavikārollekhamātram parām prakṛtim pratipadyate //