Vasanas 4 Continued

[Guest guest]

VASANAS 4 from Padamalai- P.248 Continued

 

89 Destroy the worldly vasanas. Sow the vasana of chidakasa [the expanse of

consciousness] in your Heart.

 

90 Expelling the accumulation of evil vasanas from your Heart, garner in copious

quantities the wealth of God [which is grace].

 

91 Through the momentum gained by the practice of bhakti yoga, which is loving

Isvara, attain the destruction of vasanas in your Heart.

 

92 Truly, vasanas are association [sanga]. You should therefore know that their

extinction is the total abandonment of all association.

[Guest guest]

Thank you Alan,

 

 

Can someone explain 92 in other words?

Does it mean vasanas are identification, as another word

for " association " ?

 

Namaste,

Soul

 

 

, Alan Jacobs

<alanadamsjacobs wrote:

>

> VASANAS 4 from Padamalai- P.248 Continued

>

> 89 Destroy the worldly vasanas. Sow the vasana of chidakasa [the

expanse of consciousness] in your Heart.

>

> 90 Expelling the accumulation of evil vasanas from your Heart,

garner in copious quantities the wealth of God [which is grace].

>

> 91 Through the momentum gained by the practice of bhakti yoga,

which is loving Isvara, attain the destruction of vasanas in your

Heart.

>

> 92 Truly, vasanas are association [sanga]. You should therefore

know that their extinction is the total abandonment of all

association.

>

[Guest guest]

Dear Soul,

 

This is very interesting and I too puzzled over the use of the word

'association', something new . I think if it meant 'identification', the

translators would have said so. But they translated 'sanga' meaning association.

 

As we well know from self-observation the mind is largely a slave to

asssociative thought, one idea triggering off another, so the constant arising

of associations in most cases seem to spring from these latent tendencies ,

unless of course we are using discriminative intellect with attention, when they

may assist.

 

So, in our practice of mind control, through watching the breath, or whatever

other sadhana we may use , japa, etc. we need to abandon this slavery to random

associations which pop up aimlssly. This is my interpretation, but I am open to

question, in the sense that I am not absolutely certain, and someone else may

interpret the verse differently or agree with me . I trust someone else will

give their opinion .

 

Thanks for raisin the question.

 

All best wishes and regards,

 

Alan

 

--- On Thu, 9/10/08, Soul <soulyoginima wrote:

 

Soul <soulyoginima

Re: Vasanas 4 Continued

 

Thursday, 9 October, 2008, 1:42 AM

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you Alan,

 

Can someone explain 92 in other words?

Does it mean vasanas are identification, as another word

for " association " ?

 

Namaste,

Soul

 

, Alan Jacobs

<alanadamsjacobs@ ...> wrote:

>

> VASANAS 4 from Padamalai- P.248 Continued

>

> 89 Destroy the worldly vasanas. Sow the vasana of chidakasa [the

expanse of consciousness] in your Heart.

>

> 90 Expelling the accumulation of evil vasanas from your Heart,

garner in copious quantities the wealth of God [which is grace].

>

> 91 Through the momentum gained by the practice of bhakti yoga,

which is loving Isvara, attain the destruction of vasanas in your

Heart.

>

> 92 Truly, vasanas are association [sanga]. You should therefore

know that their extinction is the total abandonment of all

association.

>

[Guest guest]

Alan Jacobs <alanadamsjacobs wrote:

>

> 92 Truly, vasanas are association [sanga]. You should therefore

> know that their extinction is the total abandonment of all

> association.

 

> Dear Soul,

> This is my interpretation, but I am open to question, in the sense

that I am not absolutely certain, and someone else may interpret the

verse differently or agree with me . I trust someone else will give

their opinion .

 

 

Dear Alan and Soul,

 

I don't feel like offering an interpretation of the verse, but I will

add to this verse some of the writing that follows it, apparently the

problem being the use of the word " sanga " .

 

In " Padamalai " (translated by David Godan, TV Venkatasubramaniam and

Robert Butler), it follows:

 

" Guru Vachaka Kovai, verse 912, Pozhippurai (means prose renderings of

the verse): Only the collection of vasanas present in the Heart

deserves to be despised and discarded by the wise as an association

[sanga] that constitues the obstacle to Self-abidance. If one

initially remains in solitutde, patiently practising Self-abidance,

and consequently gets the mind to subside completely, then, whtever

environment the one who possesses the eminence of a vasana-free mind

may happen to live on account of his prarabdha, no blemish will accrue

to him.

Vilakkam (means commentary on the verse): Unless the vasanas, the

inner attachments, are already present, the outer attachments cannot

pull the mind, making it wander here and there, preventing it from

getting established in Self-Abidance. THrefore, those who ossess the

greatness of a stilled mind donot incur any blemish irrespective of

the environment they may reside in. The implication is: only inner

attachment is truly attachment; outer attachment is not the problem. "

 

And then, verse in Guru Vachaka Kolai translated by Sadhu OM, reads

like this:

912. The tendencies [vasanas] in the heart are the real attachment

[sangam] which should be discarded. Therefore, in whatever society

[sangam] they may live, no harm will befall those great ones who have

complete control over the deceitful mind [having destroyed all their

vasanas and having thereby achieved manonasa].

 

There is a slight difference of translation between the two verses

912. As we can see, maybe sanga could be attributed both to

association as attachment and also association with people.

Another translation itch...

 

Yours in Bhagavan,

Mouna