अथ- Atha
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Blog author Jayaraman Mahadevan
अथ - Atha
Etymology
अर्थ + ड = अथ
atha = artha + ḍa
· In this word artha is the root. The meaning of the root is yācñā - to beg
· The suffix is ḍa.
· This suffix is added to the root based on the rule of Vārttika on Sage Paṇini’s Sūtra - anyeṣvapi dṛśyate (3.2.101) – the ‘r’ in the root gets deleted in the process of adding the suffix. “atha” is the resultant form. In this case, the addition of suffix to this root only gives a grammatically valid word form. The meaning of atha does not emerge from this process. The conventional usage of the term which is documented in the lexicons and such other sources throw light on the meaning of the term.
Lexicon
The amarakośa has the following entry on the term –
मङ्गलानन्तरारम्भप्रश्नकार्त्स्न्येष्वथो अथ
maṅgalānantarārambhapraśnakārtsnyeṣvatho atha (3.3.247)
The words atha and atho are used to indicate the following meanings -
maṅgala (auspicious), anantara (after), ārambha(beginning), praśna(question), kārtsnya (entirety).
Atha is an indeclinable(avyaya). The avyaya-kośa (lexicon of indeclinables) gives the following entry in this regard –
अथ मङ्गलानन्तरारम्भप्रश्नकार्त्स्न्याधिकारप्रतिज्ञासमुच्चयवितर्कविकल्पेषु
atha maṅgalānantarārambhapraśna-kārtsnyādhikārapratijñāsamuccayavitarkavikalpeṣu (Entry 17, p.9)
To the five meaning given in amarakośa this lexicon adds five more meanings. They are adhikāra(the subject matter), pratijñā(vow), samuccaya(conjunction), vitarka(doubt), vikalpa(option).
The usage of all the ten meanings that emerge from the above to references have been shown in avyaya-kośa (pg.9,10).[1]
Textual occurrences - Yogic texts
Yogasūtra
Atha is the very first word of Yogasūtra and it appears just once in the text.
अथ योगानुशासनम्
atha yogānuśāsanam ॥1.1॥
Putting together the views of 15 traditional yogasūtra saṃskṛta commentaries, three meanings of atha of are – adhikāra (subject matter) - Vyāsa, maṅgala (auspiciousness) - Bhoja, ārambha (commencement) - sadāśivabrahmendra.
While these are the meanings associated with the word Atha textually and traditionally, it is very perplexing to note that atha is translated as now. And it is discussed that as refers to now – Yoga speaks of the now and here and so on.[2] . It can be noted that most Sanskrit to English dictionaries give the meaning now, but traditional lexicons and Yoga texts do not give this meaning.
Bhagavadgītā
In the Gītā we find the word atha being used in 8 occasions.
The meanings of the word (based on the commentary of śrīśaṅkarācārya, if not available śrīrāmānujācārya’s & śrī-vedāntadeśika’s views are mentioned. If views are not available in any of the three commentaries, contextual meaning is presented. The occurrences are as follows -
1. अथ व्यवस्थितान्दृष्ट्वा… atha vyavasthitāndṛṣṭvā… । 1.20 ॥ (none of the three commentators give any specific meaning – we can see that this is just to indicate anantara – afterwards – after the blowing of the conches on both the sides)
2. …पितॄनथ पितामहान्..pitṝnatha pitāmahān ।1.26 ॥(though none of the three commentators give any specific meaning, by looking at the verse above we can see that the word atha is used just as a conjunction/connecting word)
3. अथ चैनं नित्यजातं…atha cainaṁ nityajātaṁ… । 2.26 ॥ (atha here indicates agreeing for argument’s sake - abhyupagamārthaḥ - śrīśaṅkarācārya)
4. अथ चेत्त्वमिमं धर्म्यं…atha cettvamimaṁ dharmyaṁ… । 2.33॥ (though the three commentators do not mention any meaning for atha in this verse– going by the 18.58 reference below from śrīśaṅkarācārya ‘s commentary atha with cet can be taken to mean yadi – if)
5. अथ केन प्रयुक्तोऽयं …atha kena prayukto'yaṁ …। 3.36॥ (atha here indicates a question - praśnārthakaḥ - śrī-vedāntadeśika)
6. अथ चित्तं समाधातुं …atha cittaṁ samādhātuṁ …। 12.9 ॥ (atha here indicates evaṃ - in this manner - śrīśaṅkarācārya)
7. अथैतदप्यशक्तोऽसि …athaitadapyaśakto'si …। 12.11 ॥ (atha here indicates punaḥ - again - śrīśaṅkarācārya)
8. अथ चेत्त्वमहङ्कारात् …atha cettvamahaṅkārāt …॥ 18.58 ॥ (Here the words atha cet – means yadi – if - śrīśaṅkarācārya)
It is interesting to note that in the Gītā we find the occurrences of atha in meanings that have not be collected in the lexicons – like punaḥ (again), abhyupagama etc. We can observe here that atha is an indeclinable which is used conveniently to describe various moods and senses according to the context.
Haṭhayogapradīpikā
There are just two occurrences of the term in this text. They are as follows –
· The first occurrence - अथ नादानुसन्धनम् …atha nādānusandhanam ..1.56 ॥ - In this context the jyotsnā commentary clarifies the meaning as anantaram – after. (athaitattrayānuṣṭhānānantaraṃ - atha - After the practices of āsanaṁ kumbhakaṁ and mudra – comes nādānusandhanam).
· The second occurrence - अथासने दृढे योगी …athāsane dṛḍhe yogī - 2.1 - in this verse also the word atha refers to after – anantara according to - jyotsnā commentary athāsanopadeśānantaraṃ…
O Observation
It can be seen from the discussions that atha has very wide connotations . But from a Yogasūtra perspective only three meanings are agreeable to traditional commentators - adhikāra (subject matter), maṅgala (auspiciousness), ārambha (commencement). Staying with these three traditionally acceptable meanings might suffice to explain the intent of the word. Straying beyond these three might be a distraction that leads us away from Yogasādhāna.
OOOOOOO
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