Notes
the term bhāva signifies both the concepts of “emotion, empathy” and “mental creation /imagination”: the precise performance of the ritual with all the mantras and visualizations is ineffective without the additional imagination/mental creation (bhāva [nā]) of “emotion, empathy” (bhāva). Or to put it in a different way, bhāva includes three elements: first, the mental creation, in general, by effort of something which is not normally present in the mind; second, more specifically, the vivid visualization of a predefined object; and third, an empathic, emotional attitude toward the created mental object or a total self-identification with it. That bhāva basically means “imagination” or “visualization” is evident from the following verses of the pat ִala on Inner Worship (antararcana), i.e., rites performed mentally: pūjayed gandhapus ִpādyair yogī bhāvamayaih ִ śubhaih ִ | s ִad ִādhāres ִu vidhivad dvādaśānte viśes ִatah ִ ||8.3|| 8.3: the yogin should worship [Śiva] with auspicious (śubha) imaginary (bhāvamaya) scents, flowers and so on in the six Abodes (ādhāra) following the rules [and] especially in the Dvādaśānta. MaSam ִ 8.30–69 abound in further occurences of bhāva (avibhedena bhāvena, bhāvapus ִpaih ִ, bhāvasudhayā, naivedyair bhāvasādhitaih ִ, bhāvajvalitapāvake, bhāvacarun ִā, saparyais ִā bhāvasādhanī, bhāvapus ִpāmr ִtādibhih ִ, havibhir bhāvasādhibhih ִ, bhāvasiddhena balinā, bhāvākhyacarun ִā, bhāvagamyam, bhāvamātren ִa, bhāvasādhanaih ִ, bhāvakusumaih ִ), which befits a chapter devoted to inner—i.e., imaginary ,—rituals. Sometimes, bhāva is to be performed on a real visual object such as a man ִd ִala to imagine parts of it that are difficult to actually draw (see 10.29–30). On the other hand, there are some occurences of bhāva that cannot be translated as “empathic imagination” (1.26a, 104c; 11.18, 22; 55.33, [38]), which thus perhaps belong to a different layer of the text. Having said all this, bhāva is sometimes perhaps to be simply taken as a synonym of dhyāna. This is what the commentary Tattvapradīpikā ad Siddhāntaśikhāman ִi 16.21 (a Vīraśaiva text from Maharashtra) suggests (note its similarity to MaSam ִ 2.64cd–65ab quoted above): bhāvaśuddhena manasā pūjayet parames ִt ִhinam | bhāvahīnā na gr ִhn ִāti pūjā sumahatīm api || [comm.:] bhāvaśuddhena dhyānaśuddhenety arthah ִ | He should worship Śiva with his mind purified by bhāva. If [the worship] lacks bhāva, [Śiva will] not accept the worship even if it is grandiose. 160 CSABA KISS [comm.:] “purified by bhāva:’’ it means “purified by visualization/meditation (dhyāna).” I am not fully convinced that this simplification of the terminus technicus bhāva is fruitful at all, but it is undeniable that the meanings of bhāva and dhyāna are quite close and sometimes overlap. The chief aim of the yogic teaching of the MaSam ִ , as I have noted above, is to enable the yogin, through rigorous practice of bhāva/dhyāna, to create mentally the vision of a private reality whenever he pleases, one that is absolutely independent of the pains of everyday life and can give him absolute mental freedom. MaSam ִ 7.81 is a startlingly explicit assertion on this: samyak samādhau sam ִ siddhe yogī yogena caks ִus ִā | yad yat smarati vai rūpam ִ tat tat paśyati niścitam ||7.81|| 7.81 When Samādhi is properly mastered, the yogin will see exactly (niścitam ) that vision (rūpa) with his yogic-eyes (yogena caks ִus ִā) which he recalls (smarati).75 That is, when the yogin has mastered the technique of visualization (dhyāna), or “empathic imagination” (bhāva), for which a prerequisite is evidently the everyday practice of dehaśuddhi, āsanas, and the other aṅgas (prān ִāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāran ִā), he can remember (smarati) a vision, and it will appear before his mental eyes. One fundamental, if slightly moralizing, question about this technique of visualizing /creating a different kind of reality is: is it a kind of escapism in the extreme, which tries to ignore everyday reality and requires one to find refuge in an artificially created dream world? Or is it a refined and ingenious mental technique that requires extreme efforts and bestows complete control over one’s mental activities? Another basic question would be: is it possible at all? Or is it...
OR
Buy This Book in Print