Thursday, September 3, 2009

SAUNDARANANDA 14.2: Evils of Over-eating...

praaN'-aapaanau nigRhNaati
glaani-nidre prayacchati
kRto hy atyartham aahaaro
vihanti ca paraakramam

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14.2
For it depresses in-breath and out-breath,

And brings tiredness and sleepiness,

When food is taken in excess;

It also destroys enterprise.


DUST & FLUFF:
In Canto 12, the Buddha spoke of confidence as the forerunner. In Canto 13, the Buddha spoke of integrity as the foundation. In this canto the Buddha is going to speak of very concrete practical fundamental steps for a practitioner; namely, eating, sleeping, being mindful in all one's actions, and living a solitary life in peace and quiet.

The title of this Canto is aadi-prasthaana. Aadi means beginning. Prasthaana (pra, forward + sthana, standing) means setting out, stepping forward.

The Buddha begins his consideration of first practical steps by dwelling for a remarkably long time on the eating of food. The number of verses devoted to this not very complicated subject seems to underline the Buddha's wish to emphasize the importance of not taking too lightly the matter of eating food.

And so, in beginning this consideration of the most practical of matters, that is, eating food, the Buddha begins by considering the most practical matter within the most practical of matters, that is, breathing.

Some human beings some of the time are optimistic, realistic, humanistic, fatalistic, pessimistic, idealistic, materialistic -- or they are not. But all human beings all of the time breathe -- or else we die.

Very often, it seems to me, a person's adherence to an -ism, is a fundamental cause of him not being as free as he could be in his breathing. That has certainly been true in my own case. But Alexander work is a wonderful antidote to the influence of -isms. To earn one's corn as an Alexander teacher one cannot regard any criterion as more important than a person's breathing. Breathing is the golden criterion, in comparision with which any -ism is just so much dust and fluff.

To breathe fully and freely is not an end that I can gain directly. My best hope is, by indirect and preventive means, to go in that direction. One such means is not to over-eat.

So in this verse the Buddha speaks of the relation between over-eating and breathing.

Guatama Buddha did not, as far as we know, speak in four-line Sanskrit verses each with eight syllables per line. And neither did some great Sanskrit poet called Ashvaghosha take it upon himself to put his own words in the mouth of Gautama Buddha. Rather, some time just less than two thousand years ago, the Buddha decided to give himself a pen-name, so that his verbal teaching might have more chance of being preserved for posterity, and that pen-name was Ashvaghosha.

EH Johnston:
For food taken in excessive quantities impedes the intake and outflow of the breath, induces lassitude and drowsiness and destroys enterprise.

Linda Covill:
Too much food restricts the in-breath and out-breath, brings fatigue and sleepiness, and destroys one's spirit of enterprise.


VOCABULARY:
praaNa: m. breath, air inhaled
apaanau = accusative, dual of apaana: m. (opposed to praaNa) , that of the five vital airs which goes downwards and out at the anus
nigRhNaati = 3rd person singular of ni-√grah: to hold down , lower , depress ; to keep or hold back

glaani: f. exhaustion , fatigue of the body , lassitude , languor , depression of mind , debility
nidre = accusative, dual of nidraa: f. sleep, sleepiness, sloth
prayacchati = 3rd pers. sg. of prayaa: to cause to go, to lead into (acc.)

kRtaH (nom.): done, taken, eaten
hi: for
atyartham mfn. " beyond the proper worth " , exorbitant , excessive ; ind. excessively , exceedingly
aahaaraH (nom.): m. taking food; m. food (e.g. aa-haaraM kR , to take food , eat)

vihanti = 3rd pers. sg. or vi-√han: to strike apart or asunder , disperse , shatter , break , destroy
ca: and
paraakramam (acc.): m. bold advance , attack , heroism , courage , power , strength , energy , exertion , enterprise

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