Rock on, Grammarians
Posted in ashtanga yoga, poetry on 06/22/2008 09:02 am by karen
From Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies: The Philosophy of the Grammarians:
Abhinavagupta recognized the similarity between aesthetic experience and the mystical experience, but points out the boundary line that separates the two. The mystical experience of the ultimate reality is total and complete, and the yogin is far beyond any form of discursive thought. Aesthetic experience gives bliss only temporarily and cannot be considered supreme bliss, though it is superior to the worldly joys.
Later Jagannatha Panditaraja, aithor of the Rasagangadhara, states that rasa (aesthetic pleasure) is identical with consciousness or Brahman, and aesthetic experience, in its truest sense, is the realization of that consciousness by the removal of the veils covering it.
06/22/2008 at 10:22 am
So? In what sense can these quotes help you… you or anybody else? Who cares what does Abhinavagupta recognizes or what former or later Jagannatha said.
Come on Karen, lets use your intellect: “The mystical experience of the ultimate reality is total and complete”… Ultimate reality is NOT an experience. Experience meaning what? Experiencer (a subject), the experienced (an object) and the process of experiencing. (space and time)… but we can always blame the Sanskrit translation…
Consciousness or Brahman is your “I AM” sense. It is not YOU but your fourth (Existence-Knowledge-Bliss) body. It has no boundaries, it is all pervading, formless etc. etc.. However it is also a main Illusion (Moola Maya-Primordial Illusion). It is existence that does not exist, but I would like to call it: LOVE. The love of nothing in particular, just love…we can describe it as the love TO BE.
What are the veils covering this LOVE? It is the veil of “ME”. It is everything that you’ve put on the right side of your blog… everything that you are interested in, all that you like as well as all that you don’t like, everything that makes you…”you” – a personal, separate and unique human being.
Can you remove yourself as a person in order to BE… the universal, is the real question. Forget the quotes and books… it is so simple.
06/22/2008 at 11:57 am
Sublimity!!!
This makes me happy. All of it.
06/22/2008 at 1:47 pm
Uh oh, Zee is off his meds again.
Karen, I’ll check into finding a copy of that book. It looks interesting. I looked for translations of Abhinavagupta’s Tantraloka because so many authors refer to him. Ironically, he admonished people not to get too caught up in studying texts but he himself produced his Light on Tantra, which is a collection of large volumes. Word on the street is that an Indian family is translating Tantraloka and it will become available here.
06/22/2008 at 3:39 pm
Hi everyone! Zee, I was just thinking of you the other day. And yes, Owl, sublimity all around. Carl, if you can’t find the book, let me know. I’ll share my copy.
06/26/2008 at 7:19 pm
hi dzm! i love the drawing, it sends shivers up my susumna. what is it? i am old and cannot make out even the expanded version’s text.
06/26/2008 at 9:25 pm
It’s “Untitled,” by Cy Twombly — my all-time favorite painter.
And yes, it definitely plays with the nervous system!