That's it! Why read more when you can play with the word sphere!
English Vocabulary via Greek and Latin Root Word Origins
- Magister Brunner
- I have long been fascinated by Greek and Roman mythology, and the Greek and Latin roots of English vocabulary words; their infusion within the English language respectively forms the core of cultural literacy and English vocabulary. Learning a vast array of English vocabulary words can help people write more powerfully, speak clearly and confidently, and read with a much deeper appreciation for great literature, not to mention perform well on college and graduate school entrance examinations, such as the SAT and GRE. Other than intense reading itself, there is no better way of learning and, most importantly, remembering English vocabulary words than by learning Greek and Latin root words. My own love for reading and subsequent keen interest in English vocabulary began with the B.A. (hon) degree in English I received from UW Madison, and continued with the M.A. in English I earned from the University of Virginia; I currently teach Latin and Greek and Roman mythology at Tandem Friends School in Charlottesville, VA, farm organically, am Executive Editor of Membean.com, and practice yoga and dhyana on a daily basis (qigong when clement!).
Monday, February 6, 2012
SAT and GRE Vocabulary Word Sphere
Here is a simply enchanting way of learning your SAT and GRE English vocabulary. Take a look at this fun word world, or word sphere, and change the way you learn!
That's it! Why read more when you can play with the word sphere!
That's it! Why read more when you can play with the word sphere!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easter, Food, and Cancer
Welcome back, fans of Latin and Greek root words as they pertain to English vocabulary! Happy Easter to all! The word Easter derives from the Celtic goddess Eostre, the goddess of the dawn. Easter, of course, is all about new beginnings and new life: consider the fecund rabbit that loves to have so many little bunnies; consider the dyeing of eggs, the former which remind us of the beautiful flowers of the vernal season, the latter which is of course another ultimate symbol of animal life. Just as daylight is resurrected each and every day, just as Dionysus was torn apart by the Maenads each and every year only to be reborn every successive spring, so too do the flowers and plants regain life each and every spring, all wonderful symbols of the resurgence of life.
Easter, too, is a time to eat brightly colored, well, candy. Milk chocolate rabbits. Brightly colored Cadbury creme eggs. Jelly beans of every hue. All permutations of sugar, sugar, and more sugar. Not necessarily a bad thing, if eaten as rarely as Dionysus rising from oblivion each year. Really bad if eaten every day.
Etymology moment:
Cancer: comes from the Latin root word cancer: crab, tumor, malignant disease.
Carcinogen: come from the Greek root word karkinos: cancer, crab. Root of such words as carcinogen ("gen" simply means "engenders"), carcinoma (cancer body), carcinogenesis (producing cancer), and teratocarcinoma (a "monster" cancerous tumor).
And, unfortunately, what with processed foods, which contain all kinds of high fructose corn syrup and every other HGI (high glyemic index--meaning--too much sugar) sweetener, all of which are conveniently located in the center aisles of mass chain monolithic grocery institutions (highly profitable, I might add, because of a long shelf life and very cheap to produce), Americans eat them all the way to contracting cancer. Recent research has suggested that cancer tumors (we ALL have them--it's just a matter of whether they metastasize or not) feed on sugar. It's their favorite food, by far. The human tongue, unfortunately, loves sugar. The problem is is that most humans do not have enough discipline to not eat sugar, ignore obsesity or signs of ill health, and then when they contract cancer they blame it on elements beyond their control.
Pretty convenient. Just like processed foods.
OK, I know it's impossible for most people to give up processed foods, to give up candy, to give up sugar. But what can one do to combat the types of things ingested (hate to call processed food, well food, 'cause it's not)? To stop that food from feeding tumors (through angiogenesis)? It's actually quite simple, and does NOT require a trip to the doctor's office.
I recently read a fabulous book entitled Foods to Fight Cancer. In it, the authors make the startling claim that it's not what you are exposed to in the outside environment, but it's rather what you eat that can put a halt to tumor growth for good. And be cancer free. Imagine eating what you want (within Apollonian moderation, while at the same time occasionally enjoying Dionysian wantonness) while still retaining the ability for your body to fight off cancer generation. All you have to do is eat the following foods (and these are actual foods):
1. Dark Chocolate. Make it dark: 70% or more.
2. Red Wine. Note that this is Red wine. Organic preferred.
3. Turmeric. Mix the turmeric with ground pepper (our human bodies cannot process turmeric very efficiently without piperine, a constituent of pepper). Ever wonder why there's a very low rate of cancer in India? Curry!
4. Garlic, garlic, and more garlic. Don't cook it, or lightly cook it. It's easy to grow. OG not necessary. Chew it raw, mix it with your favorite food. This is the most anti-carcinogenic substance known to humankind to date. Did I mention you should eat garlic? Onions too.
5. Blueberries. Blueberries. Blueberries.
6. Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage.
7. Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. But you have to cook them to release the lycopene. Pasta sauce, anyone? With garlic ... a sure winner.
8. Oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary.
9. Oranges and grapefruit.
10. Were you paying attention to numbers 1 and 2???????????
So, enjoy your Easter candy. It's an important part of life. Enjoy your dessert, moderately. But eat that which stops cancer from forming--it's NOT beyond your control, and some might lead you to believe. Rather, it's all about what you eat. Think of it as pre-cancer therapy. As a way of injecting your body each and every day with cures for cancer. Yes, cures for cancer before it manifests. Doesn't have to come from a drug company, who stands to make billions from an artificial cure. Ingestion. Read the book for more information.
And watch what you put into your digestive system.
Especially that sugar. (try LGI: Agave syrup, coconut nectar, wild honey--better).
Namaste.
Studying for the verbal section of either the SAT or GRE? Need to learn all that English vocabulary? Don't want to go through 100s and 100s of flashcards, and try to rememorize the ones you can't remember? Want something to keep track of this for you, and teach you in a way that you won't forget? Check out membean.com ... its Memory Engine will help you with all the SAT and GRE vocabulary you need, and you'll remember it too!
Easter, too, is a time to eat brightly colored, well, candy. Milk chocolate rabbits. Brightly colored Cadbury creme eggs. Jelly beans of every hue. All permutations of sugar, sugar, and more sugar. Not necessarily a bad thing, if eaten as rarely as Dionysus rising from oblivion each year. Really bad if eaten every day.
Etymology moment:
Cancer: comes from the Latin root word cancer: crab, tumor, malignant disease.
Carcinogen: come from the Greek root word karkinos: cancer, crab. Root of such words as carcinogen ("gen" simply means "engenders"), carcinoma (cancer body), carcinogenesis (producing cancer), and teratocarcinoma (a "monster" cancerous tumor).
And, unfortunately, what with processed foods, which contain all kinds of high fructose corn syrup and every other HGI (high glyemic index--meaning--too much sugar) sweetener, all of which are conveniently located in the center aisles of mass chain monolithic grocery institutions (highly profitable, I might add, because of a long shelf life and very cheap to produce), Americans eat them all the way to contracting cancer. Recent research has suggested that cancer tumors (we ALL have them--it's just a matter of whether they metastasize or not) feed on sugar. It's their favorite food, by far. The human tongue, unfortunately, loves sugar. The problem is is that most humans do not have enough discipline to not eat sugar, ignore obsesity or signs of ill health, and then when they contract cancer they blame it on elements beyond their control.
Pretty convenient. Just like processed foods.
OK, I know it's impossible for most people to give up processed foods, to give up candy, to give up sugar. But what can one do to combat the types of things ingested (hate to call processed food, well food, 'cause it's not)? To stop that food from feeding tumors (through angiogenesis)? It's actually quite simple, and does NOT require a trip to the doctor's office.
I recently read a fabulous book entitled Foods to Fight Cancer. In it, the authors make the startling claim that it's not what you are exposed to in the outside environment, but it's rather what you eat that can put a halt to tumor growth for good. And be cancer free. Imagine eating what you want (within Apollonian moderation, while at the same time occasionally enjoying Dionysian wantonness) while still retaining the ability for your body to fight off cancer generation. All you have to do is eat the following foods (and these are actual foods):
1. Dark Chocolate. Make it dark: 70% or more.
2. Red Wine. Note that this is Red wine. Organic preferred.
3. Turmeric. Mix the turmeric with ground pepper (our human bodies cannot process turmeric very efficiently without piperine, a constituent of pepper). Ever wonder why there's a very low rate of cancer in India? Curry!
4. Garlic, garlic, and more garlic. Don't cook it, or lightly cook it. It's easy to grow. OG not necessary. Chew it raw, mix it with your favorite food. This is the most anti-carcinogenic substance known to humankind to date. Did I mention you should eat garlic? Onions too.
5. Blueberries. Blueberries. Blueberries.
6. Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage.
7. Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. But you have to cook them to release the lycopene. Pasta sauce, anyone? With garlic ... a sure winner.
8. Oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary.
9. Oranges and grapefruit.
10. Were you paying attention to numbers 1 and 2???????????
So, enjoy your Easter candy. It's an important part of life. Enjoy your dessert, moderately. But eat that which stops cancer from forming--it's NOT beyond your control, and some might lead you to believe. Rather, it's all about what you eat. Think of it as pre-cancer therapy. As a way of injecting your body each and every day with cures for cancer. Yes, cures for cancer before it manifests. Doesn't have to come from a drug company, who stands to make billions from an artificial cure. Ingestion. Read the book for more information.
And watch what you put into your digestive system.
Especially that sugar. (try LGI: Agave syrup, coconut nectar, wild honey--better).
Namaste.
Studying for the verbal section of either the SAT or GRE? Need to learn all that English vocabulary? Don't want to go through 100s and 100s of flashcards, and try to rememorize the ones you can't remember? Want something to keep track of this for you, and teach you in a way that you won't forget? Check out membean.com ... its Memory Engine will help you with all the SAT and GRE vocabulary you need, and you'll remember it too!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
The Bhagavad Gita's Primary Message
Welcome back, fans of Latin and Greek root words as they pertain to English vocabulary! I and my colleagues in Portland, OR have just finished putting out our SAT and GRE vocabulary online learning system that has been a labor of love. Hence, I have a few moments to discuss yet another amazing text that I've just perused, The Bhagavad Gita as translated by Eknath Easwaran. This Hindu/Yoga text, probably the most enlightening religious text I have yet to learn from, has one primary message in it that supersedes all others: The Freedom That Comes from Renunciation. Let's first take a quick look at the Latin roots of the word "renunciation:"
re-: from the Latin root "re" meaning "back, again."
nunciat: from the Latin root word nuntio, nuntiare, nuntiavi, nuntiatus: "announce, report, send a message." Thus, renunciation is the taking in of something, and sending it back out into the world, or not acquiring the desire for the "message" you want in the first place. SAT and GRE English vocabulary words that come from this root include: renounce, denounce, denunciation, enunciatem and annunciation.
The freedom that comes from renunciation is a simple concept, and it works like this. In chapter two of the Bhagavad Gita, we find the following verse:
You have the right to work, but never to the
fruit of work. You should never engage in action
for the sake of reward, nor should you long for
inaction.
This, to me, is almost the meaning of life itself. Imagine that, if you were to do work with no selfish thoughts of what you were going to get out of it; that is, you renounce all results of the work, all that which you hope to gain from the work, such as material success, power, wealth, etc. This would bring about a state of moksha, or freedom. One would never have to worry again, scheme again, be disappointed again when things didn't work out.
In point of fact, Krishna, the Lord of Yoga in The Bhagavad Gita, tells Arjuna, his disciple, that those who do not desire or hanker for the fruit of their actions, the desired results, attain spiritual perfection, and in fact get everything they want. Whereas those who strive and think only about what's in it for them gain, in the end, nothing but disappointment. This renunciation of the fruit of action (note this is not giving up the action itself!) is, in Sanskrit, tyaga. Imagine working selflessly. And thereby freeing yourself from the bondage and pain that comes from lack of success (or sometimes even from success itself, which often brings about unintended entanglements in the swirling mass that is maya).
Namaste.
Interested in learning SAT or GRE English vocabulary that is taught to you so that you won't forget it? Is that even possible? It is through a fabulous Adaptive Memory Engine that is only available at membean.com. Try it out for free ... you won't be sorry. And it's fun! Or, if your more into learning the Greek and Latin root words of English, check out www.wordempire.com for the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today.
re-: from the Latin root "re" meaning "back, again."
nunciat: from the Latin root word nuntio, nuntiare, nuntiavi, nuntiatus: "announce, report, send a message." Thus, renunciation is the taking in of something, and sending it back out into the world, or not acquiring the desire for the "message" you want in the first place. SAT and GRE English vocabulary words that come from this root include: renounce, denounce, denunciation, enunciatem and annunciation.
The freedom that comes from renunciation is a simple concept, and it works like this. In chapter two of the Bhagavad Gita, we find the following verse:
You have the right to work, but never to the
fruit of work. You should never engage in action
for the sake of reward, nor should you long for
inaction.
This, to me, is almost the meaning of life itself. Imagine that, if you were to do work with no selfish thoughts of what you were going to get out of it; that is, you renounce all results of the work, all that which you hope to gain from the work, such as material success, power, wealth, etc. This would bring about a state of moksha, or freedom. One would never have to worry again, scheme again, be disappointed again when things didn't work out.
In point of fact, Krishna, the Lord of Yoga in The Bhagavad Gita, tells Arjuna, his disciple, that those who do not desire or hanker for the fruit of their actions, the desired results, attain spiritual perfection, and in fact get everything they want. Whereas those who strive and think only about what's in it for them gain, in the end, nothing but disappointment. This renunciation of the fruit of action (note this is not giving up the action itself!) is, in Sanskrit, tyaga. Imagine working selflessly. And thereby freeing yourself from the bondage and pain that comes from lack of success (or sometimes even from success itself, which often brings about unintended entanglements in the swirling mass that is maya).
Namaste.
Interested in learning SAT or GRE English vocabulary that is taught to you so that you won't forget it? Is that even possible? It is through a fabulous Adaptive Memory Engine that is only available at membean.com. Try it out for free ... you won't be sorry. And it's fun! Or, if your more into learning the Greek and Latin root words of English, check out www.wordempire.com for the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Greek Root Words of Autobiography of a Yogi
Welcome back, fans of Latin and Greek root words as they pertain to English vocabulary! I and my colleagues in Portland, OR have just finished putting out our SAT and GRE vocabulary online learning system that has been a labor of love. Hence, I have a few moments to discuss a truly amazing book that I've just perused, the Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. Being true to this English vocabulary blog's mission, to fully analyze the Greek and Latin roots of the English translation of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, rest assured that I shall return to that labor of love in my next post. But this cannot wait.
First, let's discuss two words in the title:
autobiography: This word is comprised of the prefix auto-, which comes from the Greek root word autos, which means "self." A few GRE (and more difficult) words that come from this prolific prefix include autochthonous, automaton, autodidactic, and autonomous. From the stem, or primary morpheme, of this word, which derives from the Greek root word bios, "life," comes multiplicitous English vocabulary words: biology, biome, biochemistry, bioethics, bionic, and bioengineering. And lastly, the suffix -graphy, derived from the Greek root word graphein , "to write", come a whole host of English vocabulary words, such as: geography, paleography, cartography, selenography, and epigraphy. Can you see what each of these has to do with writing?
yogi: This word comes from a Sanskrit word meaning "to join." It is a yogi's and yogini's task to "join" with the Self, not to be confused with the phenomenal self, thereby recognizing her or his own true divinity. This word is cognate with the Latin root word iungo, iungere, iunxi, iunctum, "to join," whence: junction, adjunct, conjunction, conjunctivitis, juncture, adjoin, etc. Interested in more English derivatives that come from the aforementioned Greek and Latin roots? Check out www.wordempire.com, the most exhaustive etymological dictionary in terms of visually displaying the power of Greek and Latin vocabulary as the foundation of the English language.
Now, on to the phenomenal and I dare stay outstanding Autobiography of a Yogi. If you have ever "done" yoga, or been interested in a modern-day experience and/or life of a fully accomplished yogi, this book sheds a great deal of light on those very topics. Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship in California, engagingly and eruditely covers his variegated and colorful life from his origin in India, his days of schooling there (not a model student, I might add, but certainly a most interesting one), his apprenticeship in Yoga under Sri Yukteswar, and his eventual coming to the United States to bring the message of Kriya Yoga here. Many yogis that Yogananda met in his travels are fully discussed, such as the ageless Babaji, The "Perfume Saint," the Levitating Saint, The Sleepless Saint, Giri Bala (a yogini who never eats), etc. etc. He also discusses bilocation, a particular interest of mine. Patanjali discusses various mystic powers of a yogi that are derived from the path of Yoga, most of which were shown to be physically possible from the people that Yogananda met and so eloquently speaks of. I must admit that this book was a true eye opener, and has added dimensions to my own yoga practice that I had not even considered prior to its reading. It's almost a modern-day corroboration of the seemingly far-removed expostulations and aphoristic conundrums of Patanjali, giving us all hope in this crazy modern-day world of a better way, possible for each and every human being on this planet.
Even if you only have a small interest in yoga, read this book anyway. Its verbiage uses exalted levels of English vocabulary, and it's a highly entertaining and informational read. It's probably the best non-fiction work that I've ever perused.
Namaste.
Interested in learning SAT or GRE English vocabulary that is taught to you so that you won't forget it? Is that even possible? It is through a fabulous Adaptive Memory Engine that is only available at membean.com. Try it out for free ... you won't be sorry.
First, let's discuss two words in the title:
autobiography: This word is comprised of the prefix auto-, which comes from the Greek root word autos, which means "self." A few GRE (and more difficult) words that come from this prolific prefix include autochthonous, automaton, autodidactic, and autonomous. From the stem, or primary morpheme, of this word, which derives from the Greek root word bios, "life," comes multiplicitous English vocabulary words: biology, biome, biochemistry, bioethics, bionic, and bioengineering. And lastly, the suffix -graphy, derived from the Greek root word graphein , "to write", come a whole host of English vocabulary words, such as: geography, paleography, cartography, selenography, and epigraphy. Can you see what each of these has to do with writing?
yogi: This word comes from a Sanskrit word meaning "to join." It is a yogi's and yogini's task to "join" with the Self, not to be confused with the phenomenal self, thereby recognizing her or his own true divinity. This word is cognate with the Latin root word iungo, iungere, iunxi, iunctum, "to join," whence: junction, adjunct, conjunction, conjunctivitis, juncture, adjoin, etc. Interested in more English derivatives that come from the aforementioned Greek and Latin roots? Check out www.wordempire.com, the most exhaustive etymological dictionary in terms of visually displaying the power of Greek and Latin vocabulary as the foundation of the English language.
Now, on to the phenomenal and I dare stay outstanding Autobiography of a Yogi. If you have ever "done" yoga, or been interested in a modern-day experience and/or life of a fully accomplished yogi, this book sheds a great deal of light on those very topics. Paramahansa Yogananda, founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship in California, engagingly and eruditely covers his variegated and colorful life from his origin in India, his days of schooling there (not a model student, I might add, but certainly a most interesting one), his apprenticeship in Yoga under Sri Yukteswar, and his eventual coming to the United States to bring the message of Kriya Yoga here. Many yogis that Yogananda met in his travels are fully discussed, such as the ageless Babaji, The "Perfume Saint," the Levitating Saint, The Sleepless Saint, Giri Bala (a yogini who never eats), etc. etc. He also discusses bilocation, a particular interest of mine. Patanjali discusses various mystic powers of a yogi that are derived from the path of Yoga, most of which were shown to be physically possible from the people that Yogananda met and so eloquently speaks of. I must admit that this book was a true eye opener, and has added dimensions to my own yoga practice that I had not even considered prior to its reading. It's almost a modern-day corroboration of the seemingly far-removed expostulations and aphoristic conundrums of Patanjali, giving us all hope in this crazy modern-day world of a better way, possible for each and every human being on this planet.
Even if you only have a small interest in yoga, read this book anyway. Its verbiage uses exalted levels of English vocabulary, and it's a highly entertaining and informational read. It's probably the best non-fiction work that I've ever perused.
Namaste.
Interested in learning SAT or GRE English vocabulary that is taught to you so that you won't forget it? Is that even possible? It is through a fabulous Adaptive Memory Engine that is only available at membean.com. Try it out for free ... you won't be sorry.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Latin and Greek Roots of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali--Aphorism 19, Chapter 1
Welcome back fans of Greek and Latin roots as they relate to English vocabulary words! I apologize for my rather lengthy absence ... I've been very hard at work on an online vocabulary teaching system where you can learn SAT and GRE vocabulary words--and NOT FORGET THEM. Recently I have been focusing this SAT and GRE English vocabulary blog on analyzing the Greek and Latin root words of the aphorisms that comprise Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, translated by Chip Hartranft. To help in this considerable and profound endeavor, I am mining the wisdom of both Swami Satchidananda (I live near Yogaville, of which he is the founder) and Edwin G. Bryant's rabbinical and I dare say canonical exegesis of these profound sutras (the commentary on each and every one of the sutras is both classically diachronic and most enlightening). I have found the aphoristic style of these sutras (sutra means "aphorism") to be not only engaging, but also deeply profound; in them, Patanjali discusses the considerable spiritual, mental, and physical rewards that one can derive from the continuous practice of Yoga, which is much, much more than the usually held Western conception of Yoga as just the asanas, or physical postures/poses.
The purpose behind Yoga, according to Patanjali, is seeing things as they really are, not as our minds construct them to be; to do this, the ultimate goal or teleology of Yogic practice is to cease the fluctuations of the mind, that is, to calm the sem, that part of our minds that generates on average an annoying and astounding 60,000 random thoughts per day (vrittis), and while doing so mostly misperceiving samsara (the manifestations of prakrti, or worldly phenomenology), thereby leading us down paths of irreality, making the self we create seem more real than our eternal Self, (purusa or atman). This calming of the mind's thoughts causes suffering to cease, the ultimate goal of what Yoga can do for us. Life is, after all, what you think it is, and how you nonreact to all its myriad evolutes (some of which can be so very enticing!).
Before I begin commentary on Aphorism 19, let's check out the Latin root words of some of the English vocabulary present in the aphorism:
Latent: From the Latin root word lateo, latere: to lie hidden, lurk. A "latent" impression "lies hidden" until being spurred to reappear, in this case in a later life. Note that the "-ent" suffix is nothing more than a present active participle ending, hence "latent" is "lying hidden." Latency is another key derivative, simply the substantive form of "latent."
impression: From the Latin root word premo, premere, pressi, pressum: press, crush, overpower, exert force upon. An "impression" is simply that which is "exerted upon" something else, in this case, the experiences of one's life being "pressed upon" one's memory. This Latin root word is prolific, to wit: compression, suppress, oppressive, impressionable, repressive, irrepressible, etc. A complete list of over 100 derivatives from this root word can be found via Word Empire III: Clarity, the most comprehensive Greek and Roots etymology dictionary available today.
incline: This word is derived from the Greek root word klinein: to lean. If one is "inclined" to do something, one "leans on" that choice, or "leans towards" it. Of course, one "leans" on a bed in a "clinic," where a "clinician" might take a look at you before a doctor arrives, who may either "decline" or "lean away from" treating you because you're really not sick, or put you into a "recliner" so that you can "lean back" for a more thorough look into your malady. This Greek root has given us a number of SAT and GRE words: inclination, anticlimax (via the Greek root word klimax: ladder, which "leans" against a building), declination, climax, and disinclination.
dissolve: From the Latin verb solvo, solvere, solvi, solutus: untie, loosen, destroy. When a problem is "solved," it is untied. When a substance is "dissolved" into water, its atoms are "thoroughly loosened" or broken down so as to disappear, appearing to have been "destroyed." A "solution" to a problem is its "untying," or the "loosening" of the knot of the problem. Some nice SAT derivatives that come from this Latin root word are: solvent, irresolute, absolve, resolution, dissolute, and resolve.
nature: From the Latin root word nascor, nasci, natus sum: to be born. "Nature" is that power which causes life to "be born" into the world. Many, many SAT and GRE vocabulary words come from this root word, including but not limited to: nascent, innate, naive, renaissance, naive, cognate, supernatural, and preternatural. Note that the Latin word "natura" means "power which gives birth to the world."
Now, on to Aphorism 19: These latent impressions incline one to be reborn after one leaves the body at death and is dissolved in nature.
The latent impressions that Patanjali is referring to include all the past experiences that we've had that are lying hidden within the mind that must be dealt with in either this or a later lifetime. One can only deal with so much during one phase of life ... how hard it is to work through just one flaw, much less all of one's personality issues! Imagine dealing with not only all of one's errors one has made in this lifetime, but also in past lifetimes as well! These latent impressions, or samskaras, however, must be dealt with, for they form our karmic deposits that arise at different times during each of our different lives, and must be burned away before we can be released to go beyond the samsaric circle (cycle of life and death) with which we all must deal. Our task is to burn away these samskaras by creating what are known as restraining samskaras, that is, a bulwark or bastion that not only helps to keep at bay the creation of more samskaras (remember that impressions are created anew by the manas, or mind, each and every day) but also helps to settle and burn away the seeds of latent samskaras that form the architecture that comes with us from one life to another. If you've made great errors in previous lives, they have to be dealt with (yes, no one ever really gets away with anything from a karmic standpoint) in future incarnations where you get a new body, but have the same purusa which carries along one's challenges from lifetime to lifetime.
So, what is the best way to deal with these latent impressions? There are eight steps in the highly pragmatic and utilitarian system called Yoga. Most of the people in the West tend to think of Yoga as only the third limb, or Yogasana, that is, the physical positions. However, Yoga is much more than that, rather comprising a system of 8 steps, or 8 limbs (much more on this as we continue to study the sutras):
1. yamas: ethical practices (including ahimsa, non-violence; aparigraha, non-possessiveness; asteya: non-theft; bramacharya--sexual self-restraint; and asteya--truthfulness)
2. niyamas: internal tasks (including cleanliness; restraint; devotion to Isvara, or Lord; contentment; and study of religious texts)
3. asana (the typical western notion of yoga, or the postures. The postures create a hardened yet supple body that can endure the rigors of the later stages of the 8-limbed path, especially sitting for long periods of time in dhyana, or meditation)
4. Pranayama: regulated inflow and outflow of the breath
5. Pratyahara: non-focus on the senses but rather beginning to travel inwards
6. Dharana: concentration within
7. Dhyana: meditation (the next step up from dharana)
8. Samadhi (enlightenment, or the vision of the Purusa, or unchanging Self: the soul, atman)
Yogic metaphysics is predicated upon Sankhyan metaphysics, which stated, in a nutshell, the following:
1. Each and every person is divine, and possesses an individual Purusa, that is, an atman, soul, or unchanging Witness who is the true Self.
2. Each and every person, instead of identifying with the Purusa, instead identifies with the self, yet another manifestation of prakrti, that matrix that creates, perpetually, all that is around us, including our minds. The self is what we all pay attention to, but is not Reality; rather, the purusa, or Self, is. The purusa, unfortunately, has become so colored by the prakrtic self that it, too, does not fathom its divinity, immutability, and eternal immanence, and so we believe ourselves to be the collection of thoughts, beliefs, attributes that make our prakrtic selves, but have nothing to do with who We really are.
How do we realize the Self? That is where Yoga comes in. Yoga is a system whereby one is led, through a series of steps, ever increasing in difficulty, to the ultimate stage of samadhi, where we apprehend the purusa, the true Self, untainted by the prakrtic self. But it's tough. In order to stop creating more and more latent impressions, however, and deal with the existing ones, and to stop being reborn over and over again (via the samsaric process of reincarnation or metempsychosis), one can follow the very practical system of Yoga. As Patanjali states, this may take many lifetimes, but restraining samskaras transfer from life to life.
What I do: I have been practicing yogasana now for four years. I have become a vegetarian, hence fulfilling ahimsa (at least in part). Every day, or as much as I can, I practice 40 minutes of dhyana, during which time I focus upon an alambana, a bronze sculpture of Visnu, and repeat the Universal sound, AUM (which helps to quiet the mind, leading myself to mySelf--Patanjali assures us that this is the "quickest" way to access samadhi). As I focus upon Isvara Vishnu (Vishnu and Shiva are both manifestations of Isvara, the ultimate Purusa; Krishna is, in turn, a manifestation or inflection of Vishnu), I also focus upon my third eye (between the eyes and a little up towards the crown) and my heart center. I refocus, again and again and again, as thoughts continue to be generated; I simultaneously practice pranayama, the gentle but controlled and even luxurious inbreath to outbreath, retain, inbreath to outbreath, retain, all the way from the belly to the top of the rib cage, focusing not only on length, but also breadth.
I also practice qigong, an ancient Chinese art of healing that was highly influenced by Yoga, facing the north in a copse of pine trees. More on that later.
Stay tuned for my next post, which will focus on Aphorism 20, Chapter 1.
Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from such Latin root words as premo, premere and solvo, solvere? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed--lexicoaesthetic! There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.
Or, do you want to be taught SAT and GRE vocabulary words with an online learning system? Check out Membean.com --the newest and completely online vocabulary teaching system that is not only revolutionary in helping you remember SAT and GRE vocabulary, but also is fun! Try it--you'll like it!
The purpose behind Yoga, according to Patanjali, is seeing things as they really are, not as our minds construct them to be; to do this, the ultimate goal or teleology of Yogic practice is to cease the fluctuations of the mind, that is, to calm the sem, that part of our minds that generates on average an annoying and astounding 60,000 random thoughts per day (vrittis), and while doing so mostly misperceiving samsara (the manifestations of prakrti, or worldly phenomenology), thereby leading us down paths of irreality, making the self we create seem more real than our eternal Self, (purusa or atman). This calming of the mind's thoughts causes suffering to cease, the ultimate goal of what Yoga can do for us. Life is, after all, what you think it is, and how you nonreact to all its myriad evolutes (some of which can be so very enticing!).
During the next three years, I will devote myself to writing about each of Patanjali's sutras, sequentially, contained in his remarkable 2nd-century BCE text, with a focus on analyzing the text in terms of its classical Greek and Latin roots of the fine English translation, and then providing an individual's exegesis of the text itself, based upon my own wonderful experience with Yoga (and also qigong, which was highly influenced by Yoga) thus far. It has been said that memorizing the Sanskrit text of the Yoga-Sutra in and of itself can re-pattern the mind; I am most curious to see if this phenomenon is also metalinguistic, that is, can English and its root words via Greek and Latin effect (hence, a tri-lingual, diachronic linguistic heritage) the same transformation?
Last post I focused on the Latin roots of the Yoga-Sutra: Chapter 1: Aphorism 18: Later, after one practices steadily to bring all thought to a standstill, these four kinds of cognition fall away, leaving only a store of latent impressions in the depth memory. This post I move on to: Aphorism 19: These latent impressions incline one to be reborn after one leaves the body at death and is dissolved in nature.
Before I begin commentary on Aphorism 19, let's check out the Latin root words of some of the English vocabulary present in the aphorism:
Latent: From the Latin root word lateo, latere: to lie hidden, lurk. A "latent" impression "lies hidden" until being spurred to reappear, in this case in a later life. Note that the "-ent" suffix is nothing more than a present active participle ending, hence "latent" is "lying hidden." Latency is another key derivative, simply the substantive form of "latent."
impression: From the Latin root word premo, premere, pressi, pressum: press, crush, overpower, exert force upon. An "impression" is simply that which is "exerted upon" something else, in this case, the experiences of one's life being "pressed upon" one's memory. This Latin root word is prolific, to wit: compression, suppress, oppressive, impressionable, repressive, irrepressible, etc. A complete list of over 100 derivatives from this root word can be found via Word Empire III: Clarity, the most comprehensive Greek and Roots etymology dictionary available today.
incline: This word is derived from the Greek root word klinein: to lean. If one is "inclined" to do something, one "leans on" that choice, or "leans towards" it. Of course, one "leans" on a bed in a "clinic," where a "clinician" might take a look at you before a doctor arrives, who may either "decline" or "lean away from" treating you because you're really not sick, or put you into a "recliner" so that you can "lean back" for a more thorough look into your malady. This Greek root has given us a number of SAT and GRE words: inclination, anticlimax (via the Greek root word klimax: ladder, which "leans" against a building), declination, climax, and disinclination.
dissolve: From the Latin verb solvo, solvere, solvi, solutus: untie, loosen, destroy. When a problem is "solved," it is untied. When a substance is "dissolved" into water, its atoms are "thoroughly loosened" or broken down so as to disappear, appearing to have been "destroyed." A "solution" to a problem is its "untying," or the "loosening" of the knot of the problem. Some nice SAT derivatives that come from this Latin root word are: solvent, irresolute, absolve, resolution, dissolute, and resolve.
nature: From the Latin root word nascor, nasci, natus sum: to be born. "Nature" is that power which causes life to "be born" into the world. Many, many SAT and GRE vocabulary words come from this root word, including but not limited to: nascent, innate, naive, renaissance, naive, cognate, supernatural, and preternatural. Note that the Latin word "natura" means "power which gives birth to the world."
Now, on to Aphorism 19: These latent impressions incline one to be reborn after one leaves the body at death and is dissolved in nature.
The latent impressions that Patanjali is referring to include all the past experiences that we've had that are lying hidden within the mind that must be dealt with in either this or a later lifetime. One can only deal with so much during one phase of life ... how hard it is to work through just one flaw, much less all of one's personality issues! Imagine dealing with not only all of one's errors one has made in this lifetime, but also in past lifetimes as well! These latent impressions, or samskaras, however, must be dealt with, for they form our karmic deposits that arise at different times during each of our different lives, and must be burned away before we can be released to go beyond the samsaric circle (cycle of life and death) with which we all must deal. Our task is to burn away these samskaras by creating what are known as restraining samskaras, that is, a bulwark or bastion that not only helps to keep at bay the creation of more samskaras (remember that impressions are created anew by the manas, or mind, each and every day) but also helps to settle and burn away the seeds of latent samskaras that form the architecture that comes with us from one life to another. If you've made great errors in previous lives, they have to be dealt with (yes, no one ever really gets away with anything from a karmic standpoint) in future incarnations where you get a new body, but have the same purusa which carries along one's challenges from lifetime to lifetime.
So, what is the best way to deal with these latent impressions? There are eight steps in the highly pragmatic and utilitarian system called Yoga. Most of the people in the West tend to think of Yoga as only the third limb, or Yogasana, that is, the physical positions. However, Yoga is much more than that, rather comprising a system of 8 steps, or 8 limbs (much more on this as we continue to study the sutras):
1. yamas: ethical practices (including ahimsa, non-violence; aparigraha, non-possessiveness; asteya: non-theft; bramacharya--sexual self-restraint; and asteya--truthfulness)
2. niyamas: internal tasks (including cleanliness; restraint; devotion to Isvara, or Lord; contentment; and study of religious texts)
3. asana (the typical western notion of yoga, or the postures. The postures create a hardened yet supple body that can endure the rigors of the later stages of the 8-limbed path, especially sitting for long periods of time in dhyana, or meditation)
4. Pranayama: regulated inflow and outflow of the breath
5. Pratyahara: non-focus on the senses but rather beginning to travel inwards
6. Dharana: concentration within
7. Dhyana: meditation (the next step up from dharana)
8. Samadhi (enlightenment, or the vision of the Purusa, or unchanging Self: the soul, atman)
Yogic metaphysics is predicated upon Sankhyan metaphysics, which stated, in a nutshell, the following:
1. Each and every person is divine, and possesses an individual Purusa, that is, an atman, soul, or unchanging Witness who is the true Self.
2. Each and every person, instead of identifying with the Purusa, instead identifies with the self, yet another manifestation of prakrti, that matrix that creates, perpetually, all that is around us, including our minds. The self is what we all pay attention to, but is not Reality; rather, the purusa, or Self, is. The purusa, unfortunately, has become so colored by the prakrtic self that it, too, does not fathom its divinity, immutability, and eternal immanence, and so we believe ourselves to be the collection of thoughts, beliefs, attributes that make our prakrtic selves, but have nothing to do with who We really are.
How do we realize the Self? That is where Yoga comes in. Yoga is a system whereby one is led, through a series of steps, ever increasing in difficulty, to the ultimate stage of samadhi, where we apprehend the purusa, the true Self, untainted by the prakrtic self. But it's tough. In order to stop creating more and more latent impressions, however, and deal with the existing ones, and to stop being reborn over and over again (via the samsaric process of reincarnation or metempsychosis), one can follow the very practical system of Yoga. As Patanjali states, this may take many lifetimes, but restraining samskaras transfer from life to life.
What I do: I have been practicing yogasana now for four years. I have become a vegetarian, hence fulfilling ahimsa (at least in part). Every day, or as much as I can, I practice 40 minutes of dhyana, during which time I focus upon an alambana, a bronze sculpture of Visnu, and repeat the Universal sound, AUM (which helps to quiet the mind, leading myself to mySelf--Patanjali assures us that this is the "quickest" way to access samadhi). As I focus upon Isvara Vishnu (Vishnu and Shiva are both manifestations of Isvara, the ultimate Purusa; Krishna is, in turn, a manifestation or inflection of Vishnu), I also focus upon my third eye (between the eyes and a little up towards the crown) and my heart center. I refocus, again and again and again, as thoughts continue to be generated; I simultaneously practice pranayama, the gentle but controlled and even luxurious inbreath to outbreath, retain, inbreath to outbreath, retain, all the way from the belly to the top of the rib cage, focusing not only on length, but also breadth.
I also practice qigong, an ancient Chinese art of healing that was highly influenced by Yoga, facing the north in a copse of pine trees. More on that later.
Stay tuned for my next post, which will focus on Aphorism 20, Chapter 1.
Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from such Latin root words as premo, premere and solvo, solvere? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed--lexicoaesthetic! There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.
Or, do you want to be taught SAT and GRE vocabulary words with an online learning system? Check out Membean.com --the newest and completely online vocabulary teaching system that is not only revolutionary in helping you remember SAT and GRE vocabulary, but also is fun! Try it--you'll like it!
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Latin and Greek Roots of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali--Aphorism 18, Chapter 1
Welcome back fans of Greek and Latin roots as they relate to English vocabulary words! Recently I have been focusing this SAT and GRE English vocabulary blog on analyzing the Greek and Latin root words of titles of great works of literature, and then discussing why those works are nonpareil. I am currently perusing Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, translated by Chip Hartranft. To help in this considerable and profound endeavor, I am mining the wisdom of both Swami Satchidananda (I live near Yogaville, of which he is the founder) and Edwin G. Bryant's rabbinical and I dare say canonical exegesis of these profound sutras (the commentary on each and every one of the sutras is both classically diachronic and most enlightening). I have found the aphoristic style of the these sutras (sutra means "aphorism") to be not only engaging, but also deeply profound; in them, Patanjali discusses the considerable spiritual, mental, and physical rewards that one can derive from the continuous practice of Yoga, which is much, much more than the usually held Western conception of Yoga as just the asanas, or physical postures/poses.
Let's first take a look at a couple of the most important Latin and Greek root words of this sutra:
Practices: From the Greek root word praktikos: active, fit for action, business-like,which is related to pragma, pragmatos: deed, act. Practice is nothing more than doing; praxis is a fancier word for the same idea. Numerous SAT and GRE derivatives come via this word, such as impracticality, pragmatic, pragmatism, malpractice, and practiced (adj.).
Cognition: From the Latin root word cognosco, cognoscere, cognovi, cognitum: to learn, know. Cognition is the act of learning or knowing (in an extremely broad sense). Other fine SAT and GRE derivatives that come from this root include cognitive, incognito, quaint, reconnaissance, reconnoiter, cognoscenti, and prognosis.
Latent: From the Latin root word lateo, latere: to lie hidden, lurk. A "latent" impression "lies hidden" until being spurred to reappear, in this case in a later life. Note that the "-ent" suffix is nothing more than a present active participle ending, hence "latent" is "lying hidden." Latency is another key derivative, simply the substantive form of "latent."
Impressions: From the Latin root word premo, premere, pressi, pressum: press, crush, overpower, exert force upon. An "impression" is simply that which is "exerted upon" something else, in this case, the experiences of one's life being "pressed upon" one's memory. This Latin root word is prolific, to wit: compression, suppress, oppressive, impressionable, repressive, irrepressible, etc. A complete list of over 100 derivatives can be found via Word Empire III: Clarity, the most comprehensive Greek and Roots etymology dictionary available today.
Memory: Via the Latin root word memoro, memorare: to recall to mind; to remind. Memory is the ability to recall something to mind, which intimates that all impressions are there in the mind of past experiences or objects perceived, but it's the power of the memory that enables one to retrieve those perceptions. Other SAT and GRE level vocabulary from this includes: memorial, commemorate, memoir, memorandum, immemorial, and memorabilia.
Now let's move on to Aphorism 18: Later, after one practices steadily to bring all thought to a standstill, these four kinds of cognition fall away, leaving only a store of latent impressions in the depth memory.
The idea behind Yoga is to still the fluctuations of the mind, clearing it in order to be able to attain samadhi, or enlightenment, which brings true joy and a vision of things as they really are. When one is no longer plagued by the four forms of cognition, or analytical thinking, insight, bliss, and feeling like a self, they do not disappear, but remain lying dormant, as it were, ready at any moment to pop back up again, either during this lifetime or future reincarnations. That is why it is of paramount importance to practice Yoga each and every day, for cognition is very strong, and the cause truly of all worldly woes. It has always been curious to me that the mind, which can bring us so much, can also take away so much; that is, there are as many different worlds of the mind as there are people on this one planet, and clearly they cannot all be "right," but merely see one version of a mind-clouded truth. Yoga stipulates that each and every one of us has divinity immanent in ourselves; that is, we each have a purusa, a transcendent power that is capable, according to Yoga, of omnipotence and omniscience, equal almost in grandeur to Isvara (taking the various forms of Vishnu or Shiva), the One Purusa, the only difference being that Isvara can create worlds, whereas a particulated, unique purusa cannot. So we are all divine, as it were, capable of immense greatness, but this mind that impedes our progress must be dealt with first, and recognized for what it is.
But why? Why the game? Prakrti, the matrix of all evolutes, that which creates all phenomenology, that which forms constantly changing states of matter all about us, is there for purusa, for its entertainment, as it were. The problem is is that our minds take those prakrtic manifestations as reality with a capital "R," which fools the purusa into thinking that it, too, is a part of prakrti, when it, in fact, is not. The mind or citta dupes it, as it were, causing purusa to think that the mind and all its craziness and the world of manifestation is ultimate Reality. Once purusa becomes tired of the never-ending dance of forms (which may takes thousands of lifetimes), it will eventually realize its true self, and all forms of cognition will be seen as what they are, simply yet another form of prakrti. The discipline (and a hard discipline it is) of Yoga speeds along that process, allowing purusa to shine forth more quickly, to gain samadhi more rapidly, to burn the samskaras more quickly, so that purusa may ultimately be liberated, no longer bound by the chains of cognition, no longer chained by duhkha, suffering. Freed to claim its own birthright: omnipotence and omniscience, and ultimately kaivalya, ultimate enlightenment (comparable to the nirvana of Buddhism). The mystic powers of the yogi are hard to conceive of, which Patanjali fully addresses in Book III. Things like teleportation, polymorphing, invisibility, levitation, elephantine strength, moving at the speed of thought, omniscience, and omnipotence. Wow. Unlimited human potential through the taming, and ironically then the harnessing, of the mind. But only through recognition of prakrti for what it is, a long and difficult process. Nihil sine magno labore. Nothing without great effort. Ad astra per aspera. To the stars through hard work. Wouldn't Nietzsche be enthralled vis-a-vis his concept of the Ubermensch, or Overman, concocted in his most well-known brilliant work, Thus Spake Zarathustra?
Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from the Latin root words cedo, cedere, and gnosco, gnoscere? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed--lexicoaesthetic! There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.
The purpose behind Yoga, according to Patanjali, is seeing things as they really are, not as our minds construct them to be; to do this, the ultimate goal or teleology of Yogic practice is to cease the fluctuations of the mind, to calm the sem, that part of our minds that generates an annoying 60,000 random thoughts per day (vrittis) and mostly misperceives samsara (the manifestations of prakrti, or worldly phenomenology), and can lead us down paths of irreality. This calming of the mind's thoughts causes suffering to cease, the ultimate goal of what Yoga can do for us. Life is, after all, what you think it is, and how you nonreact to all its myriad evolutes (which are all so very interesting!).
During the next three years, I will devote myself to writing about each of Patanjali's sutras, sequentially, contained in his remarkable 2nd-century BCE text, with a focus on analyzing the text in terms of its classical Greek and Latin roots of the fine English translation, and then providing an individual's exegesis of the text itself, based upon my own wonderful experience with Yoga (and also qigong) thus far. It has been said that memorizing the Sanskrit text of the Yoga-Sutra in and of itself can re-pattern the mind; I am most curious to see if this phenomenon is also metalinguistic, that is, can English and its root words via Greek and Latin effect (hence, a tri-lingual, diachronic linguistic heritage) the same transformation?
Last post I focused on the Latin roots of the Yoga-Sutra: Chapter 1: Aphorism 17: At first the stilling process is accompanied by four kinds of cognition: analytical thinking, insight, bliss, and feeling like a self. This post I move on to: Aphorism 18: Later, after one practices steadily to bring all thought to a standstill, these four kinds of cognition fall away, leaving only a store of latent impressions in the depth memory.
Let's first take a look at a couple of the most important Latin and Greek root words of this sutra:
Practices: From the Greek root word praktikos: active, fit for action, business-like,which is related to pragma, pragmatos: deed, act. Practice is nothing more than doing; praxis is a fancier word for the same idea. Numerous SAT and GRE derivatives come via this word, such as impracticality, pragmatic, pragmatism, malpractice, and practiced (adj.).
Cognition: From the Latin root word cognosco, cognoscere, cognovi, cognitum: to learn, know. Cognition is the act of learning or knowing (in an extremely broad sense). Other fine SAT and GRE derivatives that come from this root include cognitive, incognito, quaint, reconnaissance, reconnoiter, cognoscenti, and prognosis.
Latent: From the Latin root word lateo, latere: to lie hidden, lurk. A "latent" impression "lies hidden" until being spurred to reappear, in this case in a later life. Note that the "-ent" suffix is nothing more than a present active participle ending, hence "latent" is "lying hidden." Latency is another key derivative, simply the substantive form of "latent."
Impressions: From the Latin root word premo, premere, pressi, pressum: press, crush, overpower, exert force upon. An "impression" is simply that which is "exerted upon" something else, in this case, the experiences of one's life being "pressed upon" one's memory. This Latin root word is prolific, to wit: compression, suppress, oppressive, impressionable, repressive, irrepressible, etc. A complete list of over 100 derivatives can be found via Word Empire III: Clarity, the most comprehensive Greek and Roots etymology dictionary available today.
Memory: Via the Latin root word memoro, memorare: to recall to mind; to remind. Memory is the ability to recall something to mind, which intimates that all impressions are there in the mind of past experiences or objects perceived, but it's the power of the memory that enables one to retrieve those perceptions. Other SAT and GRE level vocabulary from this includes: memorial, commemorate, memoir, memorandum, immemorial, and memorabilia.
Now let's move on to Aphorism 18: Later, after one practices steadily to bring all thought to a standstill, these four kinds of cognition fall away, leaving only a store of latent impressions in the depth memory.
The idea behind Yoga is to still the fluctuations of the mind, clearing it in order to be able to attain samadhi, or enlightenment, which brings true joy and a vision of things as they really are. When one is no longer plagued by the four forms of cognition, or analytical thinking, insight, bliss, and feeling like a self, they do not disappear, but remain lying dormant, as it were, ready at any moment to pop back up again, either during this lifetime or future reincarnations. That is why it is of paramount importance to practice Yoga each and every day, for cognition is very strong, and the cause truly of all worldly woes. It has always been curious to me that the mind, which can bring us so much, can also take away so much; that is, there are as many different worlds of the mind as there are people on this one planet, and clearly they cannot all be "right," but merely see one version of a mind-clouded truth. Yoga stipulates that each and every one of us has divinity immanent in ourselves; that is, we each have a purusa, a transcendent power that is capable, according to Yoga, of omnipotence and omniscience, equal almost in grandeur to Isvara (taking the various forms of Vishnu or Shiva), the One Purusa, the only difference being that Isvara can create worlds, whereas a particulated, unique purusa cannot. So we are all divine, as it were, capable of immense greatness, but this mind that impedes our progress must be dealt with first, and recognized for what it is.
But why? Why the game? Prakrti, the matrix of all evolutes, that which creates all phenomenology, that which forms constantly changing states of matter all about us, is there for purusa, for its entertainment, as it were. The problem is is that our minds take those prakrtic manifestations as reality with a capital "R," which fools the purusa into thinking that it, too, is a part of prakrti, when it, in fact, is not. The mind or citta dupes it, as it were, causing purusa to think that the mind and all its craziness and the world of manifestation is ultimate Reality. Once purusa becomes tired of the never-ending dance of forms (which may takes thousands of lifetimes), it will eventually realize its true self, and all forms of cognition will be seen as what they are, simply yet another form of prakrti. The discipline (and a hard discipline it is) of Yoga speeds along that process, allowing purusa to shine forth more quickly, to gain samadhi more rapidly, to burn the samskaras more quickly, so that purusa may ultimately be liberated, no longer bound by the chains of cognition, no longer chained by duhkha, suffering. Freed to claim its own birthright: omnipotence and omniscience, and ultimately kaivalya, ultimate enlightenment (comparable to the nirvana of Buddhism). The mystic powers of the yogi are hard to conceive of, which Patanjali fully addresses in Book III. Things like teleportation, polymorphing, invisibility, levitation, elephantine strength, moving at the speed of thought, omniscience, and omnipotence. Wow. Unlimited human potential through the taming, and ironically then the harnessing, of the mind. But only through recognition of prakrti for what it is, a long and difficult process. Nihil sine magno labore. Nothing without great effort. Ad astra per aspera. To the stars through hard work. Wouldn't Nietzsche be enthralled vis-a-vis his concept of the Ubermensch, or Overman, concocted in his most well-known brilliant work, Thus Spake Zarathustra?
Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from the Latin root words cedo, cedere, and gnosco, gnoscere? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed--lexicoaesthetic! There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Latin Roots of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali--Chapter 1--Aphorism 17
Welcome back fans of Greek and Latin roots as they relate to English vocabulary words! Recently I have been focusing this SAT and GRE English vocabulary blog on analyzing the Greek and Latin root words of titles of great works of literature, and then discussing why those works are nonpareil. I am currently perusing Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, translated by Chip Hartranft. To help in this considerable and profound endeavor, I am mining the wisdom of both Swami Satchidananda (I live near Yogaville, of which he is the founder) and Edwin G. Bryant's rabbinical and I dare say canonical exegesis of these profound sutras (the commentary on each and every one of the sutras is both diachronic and most enlightening). I have found the aphoristic style of the these sutras (sutra means "aphorism") to be not only engaging, but also deeply profound; in them, Patanjali discusses the considerable spiritual, mental, and physical rewards that one can derive from the continuous practice of Yoga, which is much, much more than the usually held Western conception of Yoga as just the asanas, or physical postures/poses.
process: From the Latin root word cedo, cedere, cessi, cessus: move, give in, give way, yield, and the Latin preposition pro: forward, forth. Therefore, a process is simply a "moving forth" with some activity. The verb cedo, cedere has a legion of GRE and SAT derivatives, including: antecedent, cede, precedent, accede, incessant, unprecedented, and recession. Want many more? Check out www.wordempire.com where you can find a Greek and Latin roots based dictionary in full color that has a full listing of English words derived not only from this root, but 1170 others, a complete distillation of the English language in terms of its Greek and Latin roots.
accompanied: The primary stem of the word "accompany" comes from the Latin root word panis, "bread." Looking at the two prefixes (ac--to, towards, near, at, com--with together), we see that "company" is etymologically the people that we share "bread with;" to "accompany," then, is a going "towards" or being "near or at" those with whom one "shares bread." Panis, of course, is the root word behind the French word for bread, pain, and the Spanish, "pan;" note that Spanish and French are evolved forms of Latin (to the tune of about 90% root representation). One of my favorite English words is "paneity," "the state or condition of being bread." Huge. Do you know anyone whose brain appears sometimes afflicted by "paneity," or perhaps is in a permanent state of?
cognition: From the Latin root word cognosco, cognoscere, cognovi, cognitum: to learn, know. Cognition is the act of learning or knowing (in an extremely broad sense). Other fine SAT and GRE derivatives that come from this root include cognitive, incognito, quaint, reconnaissance, reconnoiter, and prognosis.
analytical: From the Greek root word lyein: loosen, destroy, dissolve. When one analyzes something, one is able to "loosen" any secrets from it, whereas if one is begin analytical, one is "loosening" or "destroying" any obstacles that prevent one from full knowledge of something. Other SAT and GRE vocabulary words that come from this root include: catalyst and palsy. Many, many medical terms derive from this root as well, such as: dialysis, hemolysis, electrolysis, paralysis, etc. Check out Word Empire III: Clarity for a full listing of these medical terms, as well as those involved with chemistry and biochemistry.
Now, with these key words and roots in mind, let's take a look at Aphorism 17, Chapter 1: At first the stilling process is accompanied by four kinds of cognition: analytical thinking, insight, bliss, and feeling like a self.
Patanjali now lists what happens when a yogi becomes nonreactive or attempts to cease the fluctuations of the mind, the vrittis, stilling the violent reactions of the mind in favor of ceasing the never ending flow of the citta. As per the style of Patanjali, much will be said in future sutras about these four types of cognition. I would like to bring in my own experience at this point to discuss these four types of thinking.
Japa is the way of meditation, that is, the focusing upon an alambana, or object of concentration, exclusive of all else, the intense focus stills the mind, creates restraining samskaras, and thereby helps circumscribe the multitudinous outgoing samskaras that plague us all so. Patanjali states that the fastest way to enlightenment is through the help of a divinity, most notably Vishnu or Shiva, but that the second fastest way to enlightenment is the repetition of the sacred syllable OM (which encompasses the Universe) over a course of many years, which brings one closer to Vishnu or Shiva, who then grants samadhi, or the realization that one is not prakrtic in nature at all, but that one is one's purusa, or atman, or soul, and that the body and all its various accoutrements that it brings (job, family, career, that is, identity) is not you, but is yet another manifestation of prakrti, there for purusa to experience, but, when all is said and done, as illusory and evanescent as any other manifestation that prakrti brings for purusa to witness. Getting there, of course, is way difficult, so difficult, in fact, that it requires many, many lifetimes to get there. Thanks to Isvara, the Lord of the Yogis, for metempsychosis, for reincarnation. Indeed, this process of clearing the mind is a multi-lifetime process.
The problem is thought. Thinking, thinking, thinking and always thinking. Sem, sem, sem, sem, sem. The mind, the citta, is whorled continuously by the vrittis; the yogi's task, by doing japa (Iyengar nicely melds japa with yogasana so that one can physically flow and meditate concurrently) is to build up what are called restraining samskaras, which are by and large small fortifications against the outgoing samskaras, those latent impressions in the mind that are continuously popping up, leading to thought upon thought upon thought (ad nauseam). A samskara can be there from yesterday (dwelling upon events in one's life that are currently troubling), or a samskara can be from childhood, or even feelings that arise from a previous life. Samskaras seem limitless! How one is to build enough restraining samskaras to stop the outflow of the outgoing samskaras has seemed like a huge task to me. The other day I spoke with one of my friends who has been meditating for over 30 years; he told me that his mind is more quiet now during japa, but certainly the vrittis still whorl, egged on by those ever appearing and disappearing samskaras.
I wonder if, as I analyze, analyze, analyze (you'd think we'd all get bored of this neverending thought and worrying that is, after all, just inflections of the very same thing day after day after day), if the restraining samskaras might perhaps be not a one-to-one correspondence with the outgoing samskaras, but if, rather, one restraining samskara might be able to defend, against, say, 100 outgoing samskaras? I feel as if I am outmatched, as it were; the outgoing team is going to beat the restraining team, and right now the outgoing is winless. If samskaras are measured by time, I'm going to be around for a very, very long time.
However, despite the 90% frustration level, the restraining samskaras are building. As I look upon my bronze statue of Shiva, candle glowing from behind, darkness of pre-dawn reigning, there are moments of pure concentration, when my citta is held at bay, when the restraining samskaras are multiplying. Perhaps by the thousands; they must be time-independent, for if they weren't, no one would ever get out of the cycle of rebirth. Sometimes at yoga I will experience the bliss of samadhi, realizing that it's all there, it's all true, it's all right beyond the onionskin. The other day, while practicing japa, I felt a conscious shift in my brain, almost as if an entire layer of something peeled away. I'm not sure what it was, but I know it was something to do with burning up those outgoing samskaras. My mind has been calmer lately. Even amongst the vicissitudes and vagaries of teaching Latin in middle school.
These epiphanic moments are what encourage the yogi to continue, even through the ardor of sitting (yes, that sounds like an oxymoron, but it is most certainly not).
Patanjali will deal later with "feeling like a self." The idea here is that the prakrtic self is not who we are; we are not a body, our thoughts, our experiences, our prakrtic evolute. Rather, we ARE our purusa. If we could but realize that, all of the vicissitudes of our prakrtic, phenomenological self could be seen as what they are: illusory. I realize that I stated that already in this post, but perhaps you had forgotten?
Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from the Latin root words cedo, cedere, and gnosco, gnoscere? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed--lexicoaesthetic! There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.
The purpose behind Yoga, according to Patanjali, is seeing things as they really are, not as our minds construct them to be; to do this, the ultimate goal or teleology of Yogic practice is to cease the fluctuations of the mind, to calm the sem, that part of our minds that generates an annoying 60,000 random thoughts per day (vrittis) and mostly misperceives samsara (the manifestations of prakrti, or worldly phenomenology), and can lead us down paths of irreality. This calming of the mind's thoughts causes suffering to cease, the ultimate goal of what Yoga can do for us. Life is, after all, what you think it is, and how you nonreact to all its myriad evolutes (which are all so very interesting!).
During the next three years, I will devote myself to writing about each of Patanjali's sutras, sequentially, contained in his remarkable 2nd-century BCE text, with a focus on analyzing the text in terms of its classical Greek and Latin roots of the fine English translation, and then providing an individual's exegesis of the text itself, based upon my own wonderful experience with Yoga (and also qigong) thus far. It has been said that memorizing the Sanskrit text of the Yoga-Sutra in and of itself can re-pattern the mind; I am most curious to see if this phenomenon is also metalinguistic, that is, can English and its root words via Greek and Latin effect (hence, a tri-lingual, diachronic linguistic heritage) the same transformation?
Last post I focused on the Latin roots of the Yoga-Sutra: Chapter 1: Aphorism 16: When the ultimate level of nonreaction has been reached, pure awareness can clearly see itself as independent from the fundamental qualities of nature This post I move on to: Aphorism 17: At first the stilling process is accompanied by four kinds of cognition: analytical thinking, insight, bliss, and feeling like a self.
Let's first take a look at a couple of the most important Latin and Greek root words of this sutra:
Let's first take a look at a couple of the most important Latin and Greek root words of this sutra:
process: From the Latin root word cedo, cedere, cessi, cessus: move, give in, give way, yield, and the Latin preposition pro: forward, forth. Therefore, a process is simply a "moving forth" with some activity. The verb cedo, cedere has a legion of GRE and SAT derivatives, including: antecedent, cede, precedent, accede, incessant, unprecedented, and recession. Want many more? Check out www.wordempire.com where you can find a Greek and Latin roots based dictionary in full color that has a full listing of English words derived not only from this root, but 1170 others, a complete distillation of the English language in terms of its Greek and Latin roots.
accompanied: The primary stem of the word "accompany" comes from the Latin root word panis, "bread." Looking at the two prefixes (ac--to, towards, near, at, com--with together), we see that "company" is etymologically the people that we share "bread with;" to "accompany," then, is a going "towards" or being "near or at" those with whom one "shares bread." Panis, of course, is the root word behind the French word for bread, pain, and the Spanish, "pan;" note that Spanish and French are evolved forms of Latin (to the tune of about 90% root representation). One of my favorite English words is "paneity," "the state or condition of being bread." Huge. Do you know anyone whose brain appears sometimes afflicted by "paneity," or perhaps is in a permanent state of?
cognition: From the Latin root word cognosco, cognoscere, cognovi, cognitum: to learn, know. Cognition is the act of learning or knowing (in an extremely broad sense). Other fine SAT and GRE derivatives that come from this root include cognitive, incognito, quaint, reconnaissance, reconnoiter, and prognosis.
analytical: From the Greek root word lyein: loosen, destroy, dissolve. When one analyzes something, one is able to "loosen" any secrets from it, whereas if one is begin analytical, one is "loosening" or "destroying" any obstacles that prevent one from full knowledge of something. Other SAT and GRE vocabulary words that come from this root include: catalyst and palsy. Many, many medical terms derive from this root as well, such as: dialysis, hemolysis, electrolysis, paralysis, etc. Check out Word Empire III: Clarity for a full listing of these medical terms, as well as those involved with chemistry and biochemistry.
Now, with these key words and roots in mind, let's take a look at Aphorism 17, Chapter 1: At first the stilling process is accompanied by four kinds of cognition: analytical thinking, insight, bliss, and feeling like a self.
Patanjali now lists what happens when a yogi becomes nonreactive or attempts to cease the fluctuations of the mind, the vrittis, stilling the violent reactions of the mind in favor of ceasing the never ending flow of the citta. As per the style of Patanjali, much will be said in future sutras about these four types of cognition. I would like to bring in my own experience at this point to discuss these four types of thinking.
Japa is the way of meditation, that is, the focusing upon an alambana, or object of concentration, exclusive of all else, the intense focus stills the mind, creates restraining samskaras, and thereby helps circumscribe the multitudinous outgoing samskaras that plague us all so. Patanjali states that the fastest way to enlightenment is through the help of a divinity, most notably Vishnu or Shiva, but that the second fastest way to enlightenment is the repetition of the sacred syllable OM (which encompasses the Universe) over a course of many years, which brings one closer to Vishnu or Shiva, who then grants samadhi, or the realization that one is not prakrtic in nature at all, but that one is one's purusa, or atman, or soul, and that the body and all its various accoutrements that it brings (job, family, career, that is, identity) is not you, but is yet another manifestation of prakrti, there for purusa to experience, but, when all is said and done, as illusory and evanescent as any other manifestation that prakrti brings for purusa to witness. Getting there, of course, is way difficult, so difficult, in fact, that it requires many, many lifetimes to get there. Thanks to Isvara, the Lord of the Yogis, for metempsychosis, for reincarnation. Indeed, this process of clearing the mind is a multi-lifetime process.
The problem is thought. Thinking, thinking, thinking and always thinking. Sem, sem, sem, sem, sem. The mind, the citta, is whorled continuously by the vrittis; the yogi's task, by doing japa (Iyengar nicely melds japa with yogasana so that one can physically flow and meditate concurrently) is to build up what are called restraining samskaras, which are by and large small fortifications against the outgoing samskaras, those latent impressions in the mind that are continuously popping up, leading to thought upon thought upon thought (ad nauseam). A samskara can be there from yesterday (dwelling upon events in one's life that are currently troubling), or a samskara can be from childhood, or even feelings that arise from a previous life. Samskaras seem limitless! How one is to build enough restraining samskaras to stop the outflow of the outgoing samskaras has seemed like a huge task to me. The other day I spoke with one of my friends who has been meditating for over 30 years; he told me that his mind is more quiet now during japa, but certainly the vrittis still whorl, egged on by those ever appearing and disappearing samskaras.
I wonder if, as I analyze, analyze, analyze (you'd think we'd all get bored of this neverending thought and worrying that is, after all, just inflections of the very same thing day after day after day), if the restraining samskaras might perhaps be not a one-to-one correspondence with the outgoing samskaras, but if, rather, one restraining samskara might be able to defend, against, say, 100 outgoing samskaras? I feel as if I am outmatched, as it were; the outgoing team is going to beat the restraining team, and right now the outgoing is winless. If samskaras are measured by time, I'm going to be around for a very, very long time.
However, despite the 90% frustration level, the restraining samskaras are building. As I look upon my bronze statue of Shiva, candle glowing from behind, darkness of pre-dawn reigning, there are moments of pure concentration, when my citta is held at bay, when the restraining samskaras are multiplying. Perhaps by the thousands; they must be time-independent, for if they weren't, no one would ever get out of the cycle of rebirth. Sometimes at yoga I will experience the bliss of samadhi, realizing that it's all there, it's all true, it's all right beyond the onionskin. The other day, while practicing japa, I felt a conscious shift in my brain, almost as if an entire layer of something peeled away. I'm not sure what it was, but I know it was something to do with burning up those outgoing samskaras. My mind has been calmer lately. Even amongst the vicissitudes and vagaries of teaching Latin in middle school.
These epiphanic moments are what encourage the yogi to continue, even through the ardor of sitting (yes, that sounds like an oxymoron, but it is most certainly not).
Patanjali will deal later with "feeling like a self." The idea here is that the prakrtic self is not who we are; we are not a body, our thoughts, our experiences, our prakrtic evolute. Rather, we ARE our purusa. If we could but realize that, all of the vicissitudes of our prakrtic, phenomenological self could be seen as what they are: illusory. I realize that I stated that already in this post, but perhaps you had forgotten?
Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from the Latin root words cedo, cedere, and gnosco, gnoscere? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed--lexicoaesthetic! There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Latin Roots of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali--Chapter 1--Aphorism 16
Welcome back fans of Greek and Latin roots as they relate to English vocabulary words! Recently I have been focusing this SAT and GRE English vocabulary blog on analyzing the Greek and Latin root words of titles of great works of literature, and then discussing why those works are nonpareil. I am currently perusing Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, translated by Chip Hartranft. To help in this considerable and profound endeavor, I am mining the wisdom of both Swami Satchidananda (I live near Yogaville, of which he is the founder) and Edwin G. Bryant's rabbinical and I dare say canonical exegesis of these profound sutras (the commentary on each and every one of the sutras is both diachronic and most enlightening). I have found the aphoristic style of the these sutras (sutra means "aphorism") to be not only engaging, but also deeply profound; in them, Patanjali discusses the considerable spiritual, mental, and physical rewards that one can derive from the continuous practice of Yoga, which is much, much more than the usually held Western conception of Yoga as just the asanas, or physical postures/poses.
Pure: From the Latin purus: clean, spotless. Words like impurity and purity come via this, but also the SAT-level vocabulary words puritanical, expurgate, and purge (the last two directly via purgo, purgare: to clean or cleanse).
Independent: Primarily from the Latin root word pendeo, pendere: to hang, weigh. An "independent" person "is in the condition of not hanging from" anything else. A huge number of words come via this root word, including many SAT and GRE level words--a small sampling follows: expend, suspend, append, compensate, recompense, stipend, pendulous, poise, penchant, and pensive. Interested in learning all of the words that come from this highly prolific root word? Check out www.wordempire.com , where you'll discover the most comprehensive and colorful Greek and Latin roots etymology dictionary available today.
Fundamental: Via the Latin root word fundus: bottom, depths, basis. Something "fundamental" forms the underpinning or "basis" from which other things arise. It is kind of like an infrastructure upon which more things can be built. For example, one must know the "basis" of knowledge of a certain area, or "basic" facts, or the "fundamental" facts of mathematics before one can truly understand the more abstract variable system. Other great English vocabulary words that come from this root include: profound, founder (of course, a ship that "founders" sinks to the "bottom" of the sea), found, fund, and flounder.
Quality: From the Latin adjective qualis: of which sort, or which kind, in what state. The quality of one's work describes "of what kind or sort of substance" it is composed. Is it of a poor kind? Of a good sort? Other SAT-level vocabulary words that stem from this root of good quality include: qualitative, qualifier, and kickshaw (via French quelque chose).
Now, with these key words and roots in mind, let's take a look at Chapter 1, Aphorism 16:
When the ultimate level of nonreaction has been reached, pure awareness can clearly see itself as independent from the fundamental qualities of nature.
In this sutra, Patanjali tells us that our soul, purusa or the atman, mistakes itself for being a part of nature, since the citta, that part of our mind that engages with the world, imagines that it is the only reality and truth. Since the citta, however, is also a manifestation of prakrti (prakrti again is the matrix of phenomenology, that is, it is the creative force that creates all phenomena around us in this physical world, including, and most importantly, the citta, or mind), it tricks the purusa into thinking that it too is bound up within prakrti as it conceives of it. This holds true as well for the buddhi part of the citta, which lies closest to purusa, and acts as a mirror which shines back to it, enabling it to behold itself. "Pure awareness," or unsullied consciousness of the purusa is not possible with any sort of reaction, because the purusa itself is, by definition, reactionless; it, in and of itself, cannot react to anything because it is not of the nature of prakrti, but transcendent to it; it is beyond the world of opposites, beyond any phenomenology: it is transcendent (and hence a piece of the divine dwells immanent within us all, making us all equal, making us all ineffable). It is only the citta, the mind, which can thus react. The ultimate purpose of prakrti once again is to provide experience for purusa, and once purusa deems that it is indeed not of prakrti, and becomes disengaged from it, or disinterested, only then will enlightenment be possible. This process of the falling away of interest of those things prakrtic (yes, that was tautological all you cavilers) ultimately consummates in total nonreaction because of the realization that prakrti is nothing but an ever-changing show, irreal, but nevertheless necessary for purusa to at long last divine that it, and only it, that is, one Pure Witness, or Pure Awareness, can have any lasting "reality" in the samsaric mokestrom. The "fundamental qualities of nature" simply refers to the creative matrix of prakrti.
And so, it seems that we can practice (it's oh so interesting that "praxis" takes place amongst the productions of "prakrti") nonreaction to the ongoing show. Why be oh-so-invested by reacting negatively or harshly to one's neighbor, when, in truth, it it nothing but yet another guise of prakrti that will all too soon evanish, as all of prakrti is evanescent (at best, or at worst)? My wonderful, wonderful good friend Ruth Frederick used to say "This too shall pass." And so it shall. The nature of prakrti is Heraclitean; Heraclitus had many wonderful aphorisms about change: a few follow:
Everything flows, nothing stays still.
The sun is new each day.
You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing on.
There is nothing permanent except change.
We could view this as highly disenchanting, since, after all, we cling to the unclingable. We yearn to keep the unkeepable. But, Yoga tells us that we do, each and every one of us, possess a unique purusa, all of "our" own, that is unchangeable, that is divinely immanent, and that is not influenced whatsoever by the ever changing flow of objects and images that is the phenomenology of this world, this training ground. We should take very great comfort and solace from that. That notion could form the very core of our inner calm abiding. Let us remember, in the thick of it, that this too shall pass.
We can count on that.
One last thought: have you ever looked through old photo albums from your family or extended family, and wonder just who those people were in the black and white photographs? Sometimes we're lucky if we even get a name, much less anything about them. Recall that one day, you, too, will be part of a similar black and white photograph. This can allow us to pause, and regard the samsaric onslaught of prakrti with perspective and equanimity.
With nonreaction. Because, at heart, it is all equivalent, and equally illusory.
Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from the Latin root words ago, agere, and pendeo, pendere? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed--lexicoaesthetic! There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.
Interested in Greek and Roman mythology? Check out Mr. Brunner's Greek mythology!
The purpose behind Yoga, according to Patanjali, is seeing things as they really are, not as our minds construct them to be; to do this, the ultimate goal or teleology of Yogic practice is to cease the fluctuations of the mind, to calm the sem, that part of our minds that generates an annoying 60,000 random thoughts per day (vrittis) and mostly misperceives samsara, and can lead us down paths of irreality. This calming of the mind's thoughts causes suffering to cease, the ultimate goal of what Yoga can do for us. Life is, after all, what you think it is, and how you nonreact to all its myriad manifestations.
During the next three years, I will devote myself to writing about each of Patanjali's sutras, sequentially, contained in his remarkable 2nd-century BCE text, with a focus on analyzing the text in terms of its classical Greek and Latin roots of the fine English translation, and then providing an individual's exegesis of the text itself, based upon my own wonderful experience with Yoga (and also qigong) thus far. It has been said that memorizing the Sanskrit text of the Yoga-Sutra in and of itself can re-pattern the mind; I am most curious to see if this phenomenon is also metalinguistic, that is, can English and its root words via Greek and Latin effect the same transformation?
Last post I focused on the Latin roots of the Yoga-Sutra: Chapter 1: Aphorism 15: As for nonreaction, one can recognize that it has been fully achieved when no attachment arises in regard to anything at all, whether perceived directly or learned. This post I move on to:
Yoga-Sutra, Chapter 1: Aphorism 16: When the ultimate level of nonreaction has been reached, pure awareness can clearly see itself as independent from the fundamental qualities of nature.
Yoga-Sutra, Chapter 1: Aphorism 16: When the ultimate level of nonreaction has been reached, pure awareness can clearly see itself as independent from the fundamental qualities of nature.
Let's first take a look at a couple of the most important Latin and Greek root words of this sutra:
ultimate: From the Latin root word ultimus: last, farthest away. Good English derivatives that flow from this root include ultimate, penultimate ("almost" last; "pen" comes from paene, "almost;" source of words like peninsula .... "almost" an island and penumbra), antepenultimate (the 3rd to last syllable), preantepenultimate (the 4th to last syllable, that is, the "before the before the second to last") and Ultimate Thule.
non-re-act-ion: Via the Latin root words non: "not;" the prefix re-: "back, again;" act: from ago, agere, egi, actum: do, drive; and the suffix -ion "act, state, or result of doing something." So, etymologically, "nonreaction" is "the state of not doing (something) back" when something is done to you. Of these root words, hundreds of English words are derived from ago, agere, egi, actum; some SAT and GRE words include: exacting, ambiguous, prodigal, mitigate, exigent, and exiguous. Wanting more? Check out the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today.
Pure: From the Latin purus: clean, spotless. Words like impurity and purity come via this, but also the SAT-level vocabulary words puritanical, expurgate, and purge (the last two directly via purgo, purgare: to clean or cleanse).
Independent: Primarily from the Latin root word pendeo, pendere: to hang, weigh. An "independent" person "is in the condition of not hanging from" anything else. A huge number of words come via this root word, including many SAT and GRE level words--a small sampling follows: expend, suspend, append, compensate, recompense, stipend, pendulous, poise, penchant, and pensive. Interested in learning all of the words that come from this highly prolific root word? Check out www.wordempire.com , where you'll discover the most comprehensive and colorful Greek and Latin roots etymology dictionary available today.
Fundamental: Via the Latin root word fundus: bottom, depths, basis. Something "fundamental" forms the underpinning or "basis" from which other things arise. It is kind of like an infrastructure upon which more things can be built. For example, one must know the "basis" of knowledge of a certain area, or "basic" facts, or the "fundamental" facts of mathematics before one can truly understand the more abstract variable system. Other great English vocabulary words that come from this root include: profound, founder (of course, a ship that "founders" sinks to the "bottom" of the sea), found, fund, and flounder.
Quality: From the Latin adjective qualis: of which sort, or which kind, in what state. The quality of one's work describes "of what kind or sort of substance" it is composed. Is it of a poor kind? Of a good sort? Other SAT-level vocabulary words that stem from this root of good quality include: qualitative, qualifier, and kickshaw (via French quelque chose).
Now, with these key words and roots in mind, let's take a look at Chapter 1, Aphorism 16:
When the ultimate level of nonreaction has been reached, pure awareness can clearly see itself as independent from the fundamental qualities of nature.
In this sutra, Patanjali tells us that our soul, purusa or the atman, mistakes itself for being a part of nature, since the citta, that part of our mind that engages with the world, imagines that it is the only reality and truth. Since the citta, however, is also a manifestation of prakrti (prakrti again is the matrix of phenomenology, that is, it is the creative force that creates all phenomena around us in this physical world, including, and most importantly, the citta, or mind), it tricks the purusa into thinking that it too is bound up within prakrti as it conceives of it. This holds true as well for the buddhi part of the citta, which lies closest to purusa, and acts as a mirror which shines back to it, enabling it to behold itself. "Pure awareness," or unsullied consciousness of the purusa is not possible with any sort of reaction, because the purusa itself is, by definition, reactionless; it, in and of itself, cannot react to anything because it is not of the nature of prakrti, but transcendent to it; it is beyond the world of opposites, beyond any phenomenology: it is transcendent (and hence a piece of the divine dwells immanent within us all, making us all equal, making us all ineffable). It is only the citta, the mind, which can thus react. The ultimate purpose of prakrti once again is to provide experience for purusa, and once purusa deems that it is indeed not of prakrti, and becomes disengaged from it, or disinterested, only then will enlightenment be possible. This process of the falling away of interest of those things prakrtic (yes, that was tautological all you cavilers) ultimately consummates in total nonreaction because of the realization that prakrti is nothing but an ever-changing show, irreal, but nevertheless necessary for purusa to at long last divine that it, and only it, that is, one Pure Witness, or Pure Awareness, can have any lasting "reality" in the samsaric mokestrom. The "fundamental qualities of nature" simply refers to the creative matrix of prakrti.
And so, it seems that we can practice (it's oh so interesting that "praxis" takes place amongst the productions of "prakrti") nonreaction to the ongoing show. Why be oh-so-invested by reacting negatively or harshly to one's neighbor, when, in truth, it it nothing but yet another guise of prakrti that will all too soon evanish, as all of prakrti is evanescent (at best, or at worst)? My wonderful, wonderful good friend Ruth Frederick used to say "This too shall pass." And so it shall. The nature of prakrti is Heraclitean; Heraclitus had many wonderful aphorisms about change: a few follow:
Everything flows, nothing stays still.
The sun is new each day.
You cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are continually flowing on.
There is nothing permanent except change.
We could view this as highly disenchanting, since, after all, we cling to the unclingable. We yearn to keep the unkeepable. But, Yoga tells us that we do, each and every one of us, possess a unique purusa, all of "our" own, that is unchangeable, that is divinely immanent, and that is not influenced whatsoever by the ever changing flow of objects and images that is the phenomenology of this world, this training ground. We should take very great comfort and solace from that. That notion could form the very core of our inner calm abiding. Let us remember, in the thick of it, that this too shall pass.
We can count on that.
One last thought: have you ever looked through old photo albums from your family or extended family, and wonder just who those people were in the black and white photographs? Sometimes we're lucky if we even get a name, much less anything about them. Recall that one day, you, too, will be part of a similar black and white photograph. This can allow us to pause, and regard the samsaric onslaught of prakrti with perspective and equanimity.
With nonreaction. Because, at heart, it is all equivalent, and equally illusory.
Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from the Latin root words ago, agere, and pendeo, pendere? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed--lexicoaesthetic! There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.
Interested in Greek and Roman mythology? Check out Mr. Brunner's Greek mythology!
Friday, September 10, 2010
Latin Roots of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali--Chapter 1--Aphorism 15
Welcome back fans of Greek and Latin roots as they relate to English vocabulary words! Recently I have been focusing this SAT and GRE English vocabulary blog on analyzing the Greek and Latin root words of titles of great works of literature, and then discussing why those works are nonpareil. I am currently perusing Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, translated by Chip Hartranft (found in the fascinating and life-transforming book The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seeker's Guide to Extraordinary Living by Stephen Cope), and also those translations of Swami Satchidananda, Edwin Bryant, and Christopher Chapple. I have found the aphoristic style of the these sutras (sutra means "aphorism") to be not only engaging, but also deeply profound; in them, Patanjali discusses the considerable spiritual, mental, and physical rewards that one can derive from the continuous practice of Yoga, which is much, much more than the usually held western conception of Yoga as just the asanas, or physical postures/poses.
The purpose behind Yoga, according to Patanjali, is seeing things as they really are, not as our minds construct them to be; to do this, the ultimate goal or teleology of yogic practice is to cease the fluctuations of the mind, to calm the sem, that part of our minds that generates an annoying 60,000 random thoughts per day (vrittis) and mostly misperceives samsara, and can lead us down paths of irreality. This calming of the mind's thoughts causes suffering to cease, the ultimate goal of what Yoga can do for us. Life is, after all, what you think it is, and how you nonreact to it.
During the next three years, I will devote myself to writing about each of Patanjali's sutras, sequentially, contained in his remarkable 2nd-century BCE text, with a focus on analyzing the text in terms of its classical Greek and Latin roots of the fine English translation, and then providing an individual's exegesis of the text itself, based upon my own wonderful experience with Yoga (and also qigong) thus far. It has been said that memorizing the Sanskrit text of the Yoga-Sutra in and of itself can re-pattern the mind; I am most curious to see if this phenomenon is also metalinguistic, that is, can English and its root words via Greek and Latin effect the same transformation?
Last post I focused on the Latin roots of the Yoga-Sutra: Chapter 1: Aphorism 14: This practice becomes firmly rooted when it is cultivated skillfully and continuously for a long time. This post I move on to:
Yoga-Sutra, Chapter 1: Aphorism 15: As for nonreaction, one can recognize that it has been fully achieved when no attachment arises in regard to anything at all, whether perceived directly or learned.
Yoga-Sutra, Chapter 1: Aphorism 15: As for nonreaction, one can recognize that it has been fully achieved when no attachment arises in regard to anything at all, whether perceived directly or learned.
Let's first take a look at a couple of the most important Latin and Greek root words of this sutra:
non-re-act-ion: Via the Latin root words non: "not;" the prefix re-: "back, again;" act: from ago, agere, egi, actum: do, drive; and the suffix -ion "act, state, or result of doing something." So, etymologically, "nonreaction" is "the state of not doing (something) back" when something is done to you. Of these root words, hundreds of English words are derived from ago, agere, egi, actum; some SAT and GRE words include: exacting, ambiguous, prodigal, mitigate, exigent, and exiguous. Wanting more? Check out the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today.
recognize: via cognosco, cognoscere, cognovi, cognitum: learn, know, get to know (conn, quaint). Here is a short paragraph utilizing English vocabulary words derived from this prolific word root:
When Billy recognized Morgan after not seeing her for many years, he ‘got to know’ her ‘again’. After this recognition had occurred, he really wanted to reacquaint himself with her bubbling effervescent personality (note the funny spelling change of this Latin root from "cognit" to "quaint:" Old French is the culprit; French has certainly added a great deal of color to our language, and is a major contributor to difficult Scripps National Spelling Bee words!), so he decided to invite her on a date to a quaint (the adjective "quaint" can mean ‘cunningly made’ by someone who has ‘learned’ a skill, but has also evolved into meaning ‘strange’ and ‘odd’ in an old-fashioned sort of way) French restaurant so as to make the soiree a highly memorable rendezvous.
Billy must have possessed some sort of oracular precognition, or foreknowledge, because Morgan had, over the years, become quite the cognoscente of French cuisine, "having learned" all the ins and outs of haute cuisine. Billy, certainly no connoisseur whatsoever of food, "knowing" little of its art, therefore decided to reconnoiter the restaurant to "learn" a little about it beforehand in order to impress his hoped-for new beloved, so he went, incognito (or name "unknown"), to the place itself, pretending to be one of those magazine food tasters that would later report on the sumptuousness, or lack thereof, of the offered bill of fare. Displaying a tad bit of cognitive dissonance in his new role, he ordered biftec, and pronounced it a veritable miracle (grass fed, hugged, kissed, and all). Raving about his successful reconnaissance mission in which he "learned" everything he needed to "know" so he could report "back" to others, he felt fully prepared for his restaurant revel, ready to drop linguistic tidbits upon the lift of the fork, until he discovered, later on the next evening, that Morgan had gone incognita as well and was going for none of his obsequious culinary cognition (and who herself was a vegetarian anyway).
Billy must have possessed some sort of oracular precognition, or foreknowledge, because Morgan had, over the years, become quite the cognoscente of French cuisine, "having learned" all the ins and outs of haute cuisine. Billy, certainly no connoisseur whatsoever of food, "knowing" little of its art, therefore decided to reconnoiter the restaurant to "learn" a little about it beforehand in order to impress his hoped-for new beloved, so he went, incognito (or name "unknown"), to the place itself, pretending to be one of those magazine food tasters that would later report on the sumptuousness, or lack thereof, of the offered bill of fare. Displaying a tad bit of cognitive dissonance in his new role, he ordered biftec, and pronounced it a veritable miracle (grass fed, hugged, kissed, and all). Raving about his successful reconnaissance mission in which he "learned" everything he needed to "know" so he could report "back" to others, he felt fully prepared for his restaurant revel, ready to drop linguistic tidbits upon the lift of the fork, until he discovered, later on the next evening, that Morgan had gone incognita as well and was going for none of his obsequious culinary cognition (and who herself was a vegetarian anyway).
perceive: from the Latin verb capio, capere, cepi, captum: "take, capture, seize." "Perception," etymologically, is the "thorough seizing or capturing" by the mind of experience, or of the world that the mind "perceives." Note that the prefix "per" in this case acts as an intensive prefix, adding emphasis to the main stem "cept." ("pre" in the word "prefix," on the other hand, means "before, in front of," as "prefixes" are those words that are "fastened in front of a word"). The suffix "-ion" means "act, state, or result of doing something." Hence, etymologically, "perception" is the "act of thoroughly capturing or seizing" the world around one, through the mind, or to "perceive" is to "thoroughly capture" that which is around you (limited, of course, by the strictures of the human mind). Capio, capere gives us many English SAT and GRE words, including but certainly not limited to: inception, encapsulate, incipient, susceptibility, captious, capacious, cater, conceit, and recuperate. Want more? Check out www.wordempire.com.
As for nonreaction, one can recognize that it has been fully achieved when no attachment arises in regard to anything at all, whether perceived directly or learned.
Nonreaction, or dispassion for those objects of the world, or for those niggling, annoying, and troublesome events that happen to us all, is perhaps one of the toughest lessons that we all must learn; for all of us, it will take many lifetimes. How many people that we all know try to convince us of their opinions? How many try to win arguments to feed their own ego? How many of us need the next thing, the next smart phone, the next flat screen TV, the next version of the iPod? One of each item doesn't seem to be enough in this day and age, as companies continue to focus on growth. Yoga teaches us the freeing discipline of aparigraha, or non-possessiveness. This leads towards freedom, and limits our involvement with prakrti, that unending matrix of phenomenology that is continuously being created anew, forever beguiling the vrittis, or fluctuations of the mind, into focusing upon it. Much like the Schopenhauerian Will.
People will always "get our goat." I remember my father saying that there is always a rotten apple in the barrel, which I took to mean that there are always going to be some people who will annoy us, irritate us, downright make us furious. Say, for instance, that a co-worker speaks to you sharply one day, over a seemingly trivial event. Most people's minds will latch onto that, and the whole process of endless cycles of thought will begin: Why did he do that? Whom does he think he is anyway? I'm going to tell him off! Maybe there is something wrong with me! I really need to call a meeting with just my boss and that jerk to get even. You know how it goes; endless mental energy is spent, taking precious time; your days are filled with something that is, in reality, no more. Yoga teaches us to live in the moment, and in the moment only. Charlotte Joko Beck, in her wonderful book Living Everyday Zen, speaks a wonderful truth. She describes an argument that a wife has with a husband. The wife stews about it for weeks on end, making it live and come alive into the present. Beck asks her, "Where is that? Show me the argument." Of course, it is not there at all. It's now nothing but a fluctuation of the mind. She also states, that when thoughts arise, simply label them. "Here's a thought about my ridiculous neighbor." "Here's a thought about why I'm not quite getting it." Reality is not the citta, the mind, with all its silliness. Label, and the thought will eventually disappear. Even if it takes 1000 labels.
Many of us crave simplicity. Aparigraha is a wonderful concept of Yoga that simplifies our lives because it allows us to chip away at our reactivity, at our need to have more and more, and realize that what is important is not stuff, it's stilling the mind, which does lead to peace and happiness (really!). One of my friends and I used to go to sports card shows in Chicago; we would go about the merchants and desire rookie cards, old cards, cards of superstars, mostly because we'd think that those cards would be worth double the money in future years, maybe even tomorrow!. We wouldn't want to pass up the remarkable opportunities present, and in this haze of buying frenzy we'd load up, sure that we'd strike it rich. On the way home we'd gloat and guzzle over our newfound treasures ... but in another year we'd have completely forgotten about those cards because now there were even more that we just had to have! I soon realized that all of that was just a mirage ... it was just another version of the endless permutations of prakrti that luckily I soon became wise to. Prakrti just got me in other ways after that.
One of the gifts of Yoga is a becoming nonreactive to both things and the things that people do in our lives. We must remain in the present, and the present moment only. Where is that new smart phone right now? Where is that 50th pair of shoes right now? What is wrong with right now giving this moment its due? What is wrong with giving each and every moment its due? We live our lives not so much day to day or year to year, but moment to moment. Yoga, the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind, the vrittis, is a deceptively simple task, but is vastly difficult; but over time it becomes easier. We realize, as we appreciate each and every moment of nowness, that all snippets of time are worthy of being snooped out, of being attended to. That our day should not be predicated upon wishing the day be past so that we can head to that sale to get more stuff. Which will only make us crave more stuff. Increasing the vrittis. Do you see the insidiousness?
There is nothing wrong with this moment.
There is nothing wrong with this moment.
There is nothing wrong with this moment.
Image this mantra in your life.
And imagine a life of nonreactivity.
Wow.
Fascinated with English vocabulary words? Want to pick them apart into their constituent Greek and Latin roots? Want to know even more SAT and GRE words that come from the Latin root words teneo, tenere; colo, colere, and firmus? Studying hard for the SAT or GRE verbal section, and just can't get a handle on all of those vocabulary words, which are truly legion? Check out the Greek and Latin roots site Word Empire, where you will find the most comprehensive Greek and Latin roots dictionary available today, and also the most beautiful ... it's in full color, and artistically designed. There's even a Greek and Latin roots poster available, which nicely illustrates the full power of what Greek and Latin root words can do for you.
Interested in Greek and Roman mythology? Check out Mr. Brunner's Greek mythology!
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