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Sūtra number 17 of the Vibhūti Pāda.
The sūtra is
श॒ब्दार्थप्र॒त्य॒या॒नामि॒त॒रेत॒राध्या॒सात् सङ्करस्तत्प्र॒वि॒भागसं॒य॒मात्सर्वभूतरु॑तज्ञा॒नम् ॥ ३.१७॥
Śabdārtha-pratyayānām itaretarādhyāsāt saṅkaraḥ tat-pravibhāga-samyamāt sarva-bhūta-ruta-jñānam ॥ 3.17 ॥
How beautiful śabdārtha-pratyayānām itaretara-adhyāsāt saṅkaraḥ tat-pravibhāga-samyamāt sarva-bhūta-ruta-jñānam. Means śabda — the word, śabda also has a meaning — sound, word and sound both meanings are there. So śabda is word artha meaning śabdārtha — word meaning or sound meaning, meaning of the word, meaning of the sound śabdārtha, pratyaya — experience - a particular moment, itaretara — one after the other, one upon the other itaretara, adhyāsa — falsely adhyāsa, saṅkara — mixing up, confusion tat — those, pravibhāga vibhāga — separating, pravibhāga — completely and totally separating, samyama — performing, samyamāt — by performing samyama on that, sarva — all, bhūta — living creatures, ruta — sound or language, jñānam — knowledge. The word, the object and the idea appear as one because each coincides with each other samyama over their distinctions pravibhāga comes the knowledge of sounds of all living beings. Means separating the śabda, its artha and the pratyaya, one gets the knowledge of all the creatures’ language. We need to understand quite deep in this. Śabda artha has to be very carefully understood. As the Sanskrit word śabda means not only word it also means sound. Artha is the meaning, meaning of the sound, meaning of the word.
For us, for all of us, for many of us, almost all of the human beings meaning of the sound looks to be not possible but meaning of the word is common to us. Means word meaning is easily understood but sound meaning is not understood carefully. Meaning of a sound is very difficult to understand than the meaning of a word even meaning of the word is very difficult to understand unless one knows the intentions behind the word is used. And the grammatical dimensions of the word which is used and understanding the sound meaning holds very difficult. But for all human beings, for all of us normally in all our day to day activities, when we are talking, when we are communicating, when we are using a particular word to communicate ourselves, when we are using a particular sound to communicate ourselves to others and when we are reasoning when somebody is speaking and when somebody is listening and person who is communicating and who is talking, the person who is speaking and the people who are hearing and listening, please remember all the listeners may not get same meaning may not draw the same meaning because the words used by the speaker are differently interpreted by the listeners as per their abilities, capacities and mental makeups. This is a very important dimension Patañjali is talking here word is same but it is understood in different ways by the listeners based on their understanding and their meaning they have given to it and the speaker also must have been given a particular meaning to it. Based on his understanding and finally What happens? saṅkara happens confusion and a false saṅkara adhyāsa saṅkara it happens and if it is itaretarā one after the word, one after the other words are used it is a big conglomeration of confusion In Vivekacūḍāmaṇi, Ādi Śaṅkarācārya beautifully śabda-jālam mahāraṇyam he calls it śabda-jālam mahāraṇyam it is, śabda, the word or the sound and it is a network jāla and it is a mahāraṇyam. It is very difficult, to separate and discriminate. Patañjali is exactly talking the same thing and when a particular sound and word is used we easily understand. Now let us take up an example somebody says a word called as a peacock. The word peacock when we hear an image is created in our mind of a peacock but that image of the peacock depends upon that peacock which I have seen earlier. But the word peacock spoken by a person and heard by me does not convey all the characteristics and qualities of the peacock, the characteristics and qualities of the peacock are attached to that by me as per my understanding of the peacock, my experience pratyaya it is, of my understanding it is. But the word conveyed by the speaker, by the person of the pratyaya, his experiences, his conveying as peacock, we can stretch it infinite examples. It can be a cat, a dog, an elephant, a lion, a tiger, a snake, a butterfly, a flower, a rose, a lotus. So a sound, a word śabda and the word is taken as it is because the word its meaning and the knowledge connected to that word are closely related by hearer and the speaker. So it is taken for granted that this word means this and this word means this knowledge. That’s why if some words are spoken which we don’t understand the meaning we will not have any knowledge out of it. It becomes just a sound but it was a word. Similarly if some sounds are produced and we do not know what it is, it is a sound for us but may be a word to others, it may be a words to others it may be just sound to us. This clarification is very very important.
Let us take an example once again a peacock, a dog, a frog and a cat making a sound. Let us say a bird is calling its mate. A male bird is calling it’s mate or a female bird is calling it’s mate, Or mother bird calling it’s children. We hear only the sounds of a bird, sound of dog, sound of frog, sound of a parrot …. but that sound is a final expression of a complex process which is happening in that. And that can be decoded only by them. One is the image of it’s mate presenting it’s mind, the peacock has image of his mate, dog has image of his mate. So when the dog is barking there is an image inside the citta of the dog and that is the proof because the other dog responds, the other frog responds, the other peacock responds, the other birds responds. Without both these elements the sounds could not be produced and if anybody could enter the mind of a peacock, mind of a dog, mind of a frog inside the citta sound which is coming and Then one will understand the meaning of those sounds.
Patañjali is exactly saying this particular point, he is hammering this point and once the technique of samyama is mastered and the sādhaka learns to resolve these complex processes which are resulting in the external sounds, he can go through the process almost intentionally and thus know the meaning of the hearing of the sounds. A crow we feel that a crow is just making a sound but the crow is conveying a message and if a yogi, a sadhaka performs samyama on separating the sound and the intention of the sound in the crow and the image of the sound inside the crow and the sound vibrations, it’s meaning and it’s knowledge in the image created by other crows which are hearing it and the samyama is performed of this separation of the sound, word, meaning and the knowledge. Patanjali says you can understand the language of all creatures in the world. Even in human beings a newborn baby cannot talk, a newborn baby can not speak, it may not be able to express it’s emotions, express it’s intensions, express it’s expression, express it’s experiences but the mother knows, mother understands, the mother understands even without the expression of the child, of the baby because the mother’s citta is in tune with that. This is possible, it can be possible if samyama is performed. This is a very important dimension Maharṣi Patañjali is presenting to us. Which we are understand the important expression which there in this particular sutra that many times a cat with its kitten sees a dog coming will don’t know what language the mother conveys, the kitten come closer to the mother, A hen with its chicken will be moving somewhere and the moment the hen perceives a danger it immediately conveys with sounds, we feel these sounds, but in those sounds there is a meaning in that and that meaning has been understood by the chicken and they respond to it. This is called as śabdārtha pratyaya and itaretara adhyāsa saṅkara and this adhyāsa saṅkara confusing has come because of non-separation and if we separate it pravibhāga and on this separation if samyama is performed what is vibhūti? Bhūta ruta jñānam it is, ruta is the language of the creatures and the knowledge of the ruta, language knowledge of the language, knowledge of the sounds, we have umpteen number of examples. Many of the dog owners pets they understand, the sounds of the dog, the dog conveys something to its owner, the cat conveys something to its owner, parrots, the pets convey through sound towards their owners and the owners understand it and the proof of understanding is expression of comfort and happiness by those pets. And if a yogi and if a sādhaka with an effort performs samyama and please let us remember samyama is not that easy then he will get the knowledge of the sounds and the language of the creatures. The talks between two crows will be understood by a human being the communication between two parrots can be understood by a human being, the language and the communication between two dogs can be understood by a human being, between the animals they understand, the language of the birds are understood we feel they are examples, we see that therefore the word is distinct from its letter sounds. That is the words because being grasped by a single idea it produces a pratyaya. Like a lamp and because it is the cause of comprehension of an intended object like a lamp and like the mind. The letter sounds, the words are not the word because they are joined up in a sequence by a single agent and because they are merely instruments and that is why we take it for granted. That is an important dimension of the importance of samyama separating pravibhāga of the word its meaning and its knowledge and the pratyaya. We get the, we can understand the language of all the living creatures. The language of tamilians cannot be understood by a north indian, a language of the african is not understood by else but once you will be able to pierce through interfere between the sounds and the language and the knowledge all sounds, all the meanings conveyed by the sounds will be understood that knowledge comes. The knowledge behind the sound and that is the vibhūti from this particular dimension. Its worth to be wrap up this understanding with swami vivekananda wonderful conclusion. Swami vivekananda says “The word I know is a mixture of three the vibration, the sensation and the reaction. Ordinarily these three are inseparable but by practice the yogi can separate them when a man has attained to this, if he makes a samyama on any sound, he understands the meaning which that sound was intended to express whether it was made by a man or by any other animal. Swami vivekananda says who was just in the recent past. We must accept it and let us pay homage to that great maharishi patanjali in the beautiful sutra he has given us what vibhūti can come out of the samyama on the śabda, artha, pratyaya pravibhāga. Let us see the next vibhūti.
To Be Continued.. ---------------------------------------
These are transcription of session delivered by Vice-President of Vivekananda Rock Memorial & Vivekananda Kendra, Sri M. Hanumantha Rao Ji.
Audio Link - https://youtu.be/KyxiqGa68ME?si=CcFDryWdp2IgIlHK
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मुक्तसंग्ङोऽनहंवादी धृत्युत्साहसमन्वित:।
सिद्धयसिद्धयोर्निर्विकार: कर्ता सात्त्विक उच्यते ॥१८.२६॥
Freed from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with courage and enthusiasm and unperturbed by success or failure, the worker is known as a pure (Sattvika) one. Four outstanding and essential qualities of a worker. - Bhagwad Gita : XVIII-26
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