Friday, March 09, 2007

Four levels of speech in Bhāgavat confirmed

In a letter today, my friend Kṛṣṇadās provided authoritative comments on the Bhāgavata that prove the four levels of speech (discussed in my blog of February 28) are actually meant in the Bhāgavata verses quoted to me earlier by Satya-nārāyan Prabhu, though they are not literally mentioned there:

SB 11.12.17: sa eva jīvo vivara-prasutiḥ prāṇena ghoṣena guhaṁ praviṣṭaḥ manomayaṁ sūkṣmam upetya rūpaṁ mātra svaro varṇa iti - "According to the ṭīkā of Śrīdhara Swāmī, ghoṣena refers to parākhya vāk, manomayam to paśyanti, sūkṣma to madhyama and words mātra, svara and varṇa to vaikhari."

Śrīdhara Swāmī comments to SB 11.21.36: prathamam prāṇa-mayaṁ parākhyaṁ tato manomayam paśyantyākhyam, tata indriyamayaṁ madhyamākhyam – “Prāṇa refers to the supreme sound of parā, then comes the mental level of paśyantī and then the sensual madhyama.”

The texts, along with the Haribhakti Vilāsa verses on pramāda japa mentioned earlier on my blog (January 31), are added to my essay 'The art of japa' on www.madangopal.com (linktab 'Articles')

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