On May 13, 2007, at 9:49 AM, cardemaister wrote:
--- In [email protected], Vaj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
>
> Your twisting what he actually said. A decent translation of what
> Patanjali said might be "botananicals" although I would extend that
> to include herbo-mineral preparations, as many preparations
> attributed to Patanjali for siddhis fall in this class.
The word Patañjali uses, seems to be "oSadhi". Its etymology
is according to M-W doubtful:
oSadhi f. (etym. doubtful ; probably fr. %{oSa**} above [below -
C.] , `"
light-containing "' see S3Br. ii , 2 , 4 , 5 Nir. ix , 27) a herb ,
plant , simple , esp. any medicinal herb RV. AV. S3Br. MBh. &c. ; an
annual plant or herb (which dies after becoming ripe) Mn. i , 46 , &c.
Sus3r. i , 4 , 16 ; 18 Ya1jn5. &c. ; a remedy in general Sus3r. i , 4
, 15.
** oSa m. (%{uS***}) , burning , combustion Sus3r. ; (%{oSa4}) mfn.
burning , shining RV. x , 119 , 10 ; (%{a4m}) ind. with ardour or
vehemence , eagerly , quickly AV.
***uS 1 cl. 1. P. (connected with 3. %{vas} q.v.) %{oSati} ,
%{oSAM-cakAra} , and %{uvoSa} (Pa1n2. 3-1 , 38 ; 3. pl. %{USuH} Ka1s3.
on Pa1n2. 6-4 , 78) , %{oSitA} , %{oSiSyati} , %{auSIt} Dha1tup. xvii
, 45: cl. 9. P. (p. %{uSNa4t} RV. ii , 4 , 7) to burn , burn down
(active) RV. AV. S3Br. Mn. iv , 189 S3is3. ; to punish , chastise Mn.
ix , 273: Pass. %{uSyate} , %{oSAM-cakre} , to burn (neuter) Sus3r.
Car. Bhat2t2.
In technical usage, it would typically refer to the range of
botanical and herbo-mineral compounds, but not psychedelics. There
are psychedelics (like those listed in Sasha Shulgin's magnum opus)
which can and do infer samadhi, but they are generally not in
circulation (like XTC/ADAM/MDMA which is quite popular) and deplete
ojas, tejas and/or prana or at least have the potential to strongly
exacerbate their functions.
The subject of yogic pharmacology is nonetheless an interesting one,
esp. the twilight language used to describe the actual herbs or
minerals--this would be fascinating for anyone interest in Sanskrit,
Tamil or Tibetan (or other, even non-spoken, languages).
