Simhabhūpāla commented on SR stating that the order should be known as sūksma, atisūksma etc., while affirming BrD's order
"Simhabhūpāla, commenting on the above passage of
SR has said that the order should be known as sūksma, atisūksma etc. alone,
although SR has reversed the order."
155
VIMARŠA
3. The instrument of the navel, heart, throat,
Reaching the mouth
cerebrum and the cavity
process of hearing in the
cavity, the air manifests
speaker himself has of the mouth.
the varnas.
been explained as being
comprised of the
consciousness of the
filling of the different
points in the vocal
organism (with air).
Thus one and the same
sound appears to be
different.
The following apparent differences are obvious in the above chart -
(a) 'Atman' is used in Pā Ši and SR, but BrD uses the word puruşa.
(b) In Pā Śi and SR the first step starts with the will of the ātman, but in
BrD the combination of 'fire' and 'air' is spoken of as the first step, without the
mention of any activating agent. The purusa is mentioned in the second stage
as the agent in propelling the air upwards.
(c) In Pā Ši, buddhi (intellect) is mentioned as an agent in the
'gathering' of the content of speech. This is absent in BrD and SR; the reason
could perhaps be that in musical sound the differentiation of the form and
content ( meaning ) of sound is not pertinent.
(d) In BrD mind has not been mentioned at all. The mention of
pratyaya (assured consciousness), however, does bring in the mind, but it is
related to the process of hearing in the speaker ( see note 3 on puruşa ).
3. Puruşa is a very important word in Indian philosophy; it has a double
derivation viz. 'one who sleeps in the pura, castle or city and one who fills'. The
primordial being in the form of 'Man' is the primary meaning of this word.
The use of this word in our text seems to be inspired by Ayurveda -
बुद्धीन्द्रियाणि मनोऽर्धा एवा योगधर परम् ।
(Car Sam śanrasthana I, 35)
चतुर्विंगतिको होष राशि पुरुषसज्ञकः ॥
'Puruşa' is the name of the collection of twentyfour ( elements ) viz. buddhi
( sixfold perception as associated with the five sense-organs and mind ), the ten
indriyas (viz. five sensory and five motor organs), mind, the six objects of
perception and the ultimate repository of the above twenty-three elements (i.e.
ātman ).
Thus when purusa is said to impel the air in the vocal 'path', the separate
mention of mind may not be held to be essential. The only thing that still poses
a slight deviation of our text from the accepted tradition is that the combination
of 'fire' and 'air' has been mentioned here in the beginning without any
reference to an impelling agent.
4. This passage ascribed to Viśvāvasu has attracted the attention of later
authors. For example, antara-śruti has been interpreted by Kallinātha (Kalā on
SRI, 3.10-16) as the śrutis situated in vikṛta svaras which term is coventionally
accepted for antara (gāndhāra) and kākalī (niṣāda).
