Tejabindu - 2
Meditationtime Forum Post
Date: Posted 3 years before Mar 12, 2016
Alfredo 3 years ago
ॐ परमत्मने नमः
|| Om Paramatmane Namaḥ ||
“Om, obeisance is paid to the Highest”.
Om (Aum) is the Naad sound, Pranava, which is heard when the divine light manifests in the bindu at the Kutastha (third eye between the eyebrows).
This light is a reflection of the core-self, from where it ties to the Highest, Paramatma, the Oversoul.
SLOKA 1
तेजबिन्दुः परंध्यानं विश्वतीतंह्रिदि स्थितं
आणुवंशम्भवं शाक्तंस्थूलं सूक्ष्मंपरं चयत्
tejabinduḥ paraṁ dhyānaṁ
viśvatītaṁ hr̥di sthitaṁ
āṇuvaṁ śambhavaṁ śāktaṁ
sthūlaṁ sūkṣmaṁ paraṁ ca yat
tejabinduḥ = Teja and Bindu. A point or source of spiritual light.
paraṁ dhyānaṁ = Supreme meditation.
viśvatītaṁ = One of the names of Lord Shiva, beyond the world.
hr̥di sthitaṁ = Seated in the heart (the psychic, spiritual heart, not the pump organ).
āṇuvaṁ = Atomic manifestation of Brahman, the size of an atom, the core-self.
śambhavaṁ = Kuthasta, Shambavi, between the eyebrows.
śāktaṁ = The creative power in the Anu.
sthūlaṁ = Gross matter.
sūkṣmaṁ = Beyond subtle.
paraṁ ca yat = One behind all, above the qualities.
“The Supreme Meditation should be conducted on the source of spiritual light in the Kuthasta (between the eyebrows) which is beyond the world like Shiva, seated in the Heart, the size of an atom, powerful, both gross and subtle, but also beyond these qualities.”
===============================================================
SLOKA 2
दुःसाध्यं च दुराराध्यं दुष्प्रेक्ष्यं च दुराष्रयं
दुर्लक्षं दुस्तरं ध्यानं मुनीनां च मनीषिणां
duḥsādhyaṁ ca durārādhyaṁ
duṣprekṣyaṁ ca durāṣrayaṁ
durlakṣaṁ dustaraṁ dhyānaṁ
munīnāṁ ca manīṣiṇāṁ
duḥsādhyaṁ = Difficult to attain.
ca = And
durārādhyaṁ = Difficult to worship.
duṣprekṣyaṁ = Terrible to look at.
durāṣrayam = Difficult to practice.
durlakṣaṁ = Difficult to see.
dustaraṁ = Insurmountable.
dhyānaṁ = In meditation.
munīnāṁ = Pertaining to the Sage (Muni).
manīṣiṇāṁ = Extraordinary.
“Difficult to attain and worship, difficult to practice and see, but terrible on sight, insurmountable and extraordinary, is that Being on whom the Sages must meditate.”
Michael:
Added Anusvāra and Visarga. All can be done so far through Translator 2003 if one learns the uses of the capital letters for the uncommon characters. I did not send you files through email not to bother you, was thinking about first translating the whole Upanishad, and then incorporating a short commentary following the format you used in Anu Gita Explained, meaning "Analysis" and "Application".
MiBeloved 3 years ago
I was thinking that a commentary will be necessary but also i want to suggest that you take care with the Sanskrit words and try to break them down, since unlike English, conjoint words are regular which we are not used to in the West.
Many translators take this as a liberty to bulldoze their interpretations of Sanskrit knowing fully well that people even some Indians cannot properly break apart the words.
Avoid this pit fall of fabricated meanings by breaking up the words and showing their conventional and unconventional meanings and then in the commentary you can go into details explaining why you diverted if you have to. This is only fair.
For instance in the last line of the first verse it could be like this (only suggestion and example here, it is your book not mine):
paraṁ - beyond, person who is beyond; ca - and, yet, indeed; yat - which, that which, whatever
so right after that you can do this (paraṁ ca yat - person who is beyond).
Will everyone care to read through all that?
Of course not, but those who read it and those who don't will all benefit from your hard honest work in this way. In manufacturing a useful product, the worker have to do many things which are not shown in the end result but if they did well, then the product will speak for itself about the care that was put into its production.
===================
Don't try to save me any pains. If I can do some service to the book with Itranslator why bar the opportunity. Anyway it is your take.
You translated this:
dhyānaṁ= In meditation
Personally I won’t read any book that does this, even yours. As soon as you do this, I will throw your book away, thinking that you have no idea about samyama and no respect for Patanjali who listed samyama as meditation of three parts of which dhyānaṁ is the second development. So if dhyana is meditation, then what is dharana and what is samadhi. I guess these are all meditation which is so vague that no one can tell us what it is and still people are writing book explaining.
The other honest thing to do in your commentary if you will do this, is to tell the readers that you just don’t know what dhyanam is and that as soon as you get it figured you write to explain it.
The distinction between dharana, dhyana and samadhi should be very clear, just like when you are in Israel and you go across the border to Gaza. It becomes very evident that something is different after you cross the check point. If all this meditation is vague then the whole thing is really a bucket of hogwash.
It would be interesting to go through Yoga Sutras and see if Patanjali says that dhyanam and then he again says that dharana and samadhi are also meditation. What sort of thing would that be? Where would that leave us?
Imagine if I tell you that I am going after the Supreme Truth and then I return and tell you that it is all confusion and I cannot sort it because there is no clarity and distinction there. It is all undifferentiated ignorance passing as oneness.
Then you might out of compassion suggest that I get my head fixed.
==========
Words with prefixes should on occasion be broken as in the case of
durārādhyaṁ= Difficult to worship.
That may be like this
duraradhyam = dur (dus) - difficult + aradhyam - worship
