प्रणिधानम्- praṇidhāna
प्रणिधानम्- praṇidhāna
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Blog author Jayaraman Mahadevan
Etymology
प्र + नि + धा + ल्युट् = प्रणिधानम्
pra + ni + dhā + lyuṭ = praṇidhānam
· The Prefixes here are pra and ni – that means respectively. Pra refers to प्रकर्ष – prakarṣa - clearly/explicitly[1] ni – नितराम् – nitarām completely[2]
· The root is dhā to mean - धारण-पोषणयोः dhāraṇa-poṣaṇayoḥ - to hold and to noursih
· The suffx is lyut which is added by the grammatical rule ल्युट् च lyuṭ ca ( aṣṭādhyāyī 3.3.115) . The meaning brought in by adding the suffix is the – भाव - the act.
Hence the derivation of the term would be – प्रणिधीयते इति प्रणिधनम् – praṇidhīyate iti praṇidhanam- the act of placing clearly and completely/ surrendering.
Lexicon
There is one reference to the word in amarakośa. It is as follows -
अवधानं समाधानं प्रणिधानं तथैव च - 1.5.2
avadhānaṃ samādhānaṃ praṇidhānaṃ tathaiva ca
avadhāna, samādhāna and praṇidhāna are used to indicate the meaning fixing the mind.
(It is to be noted that this verse is not found in certain versions of Amarakośa. The source of this reference is Amara aupasana[3])
Textual Occurrences
Yogasūtra
There are four occurences of the term in this text. Once in the first pāda and thrice in second pāda of the text. These sūtras have all been explained as part of the previous entry – īśvara (śabdayoga 11.4).
ईश्वरप्रणिधानाद्वा ॥ १.२३ ॥
तपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि क्रियायोगः ॥ २.१ ॥
शौचसंतोषतपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि नियमाः ॥ २.३२ ॥
समाधिसिद्विरीश्वरप्रणिधानात् ॥ २.४५ ॥
īśvarapraṇidhānādvā .. 1.23 ..
tapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni kriyāyogaḥ .. 2.1 ..
śaucasaṃtoṣatapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni niyamāḥ .. 2.32 ..
samādhisidvirīśvarapraṇidhānāt .. 2.45 ..
But it is interesting to note the meaning of the word Praṇidhāna given in the Yogasūtra commentaries. The following are unique descriptions to the word Praṇidhāna (Sūtra 1.30) - found in the commentaries –
1) Vyāsa- bhāṣyam - प्रणिधानाद् - भक्तिविशेषात् - - praṇidhānād - bhaktiviśeṣāt – It is special devotion
2) Bhoja-vṛtti - विषयसुखादिकं फलमनिच्छन् सर्वाः क्रियास्तस्मिन्परमगुरावर्पयति तत् प्रणिधानम् - - viṣayasukhādikaṃ phalamanicchan sarvāḥ kriyāstasminparamagurāvarpayati tat praṇidhānam – Not desiring results, surrendering all actions in the ultimate Guru is called as Praṇidhānam
3) Yoga-vārttika - ब्रह्मात्मना चिन्तरूपतया प्रेमलक्षणभक्तिरूपाद् (प्रणिधानाद् )
- brahmātmanā cintarūpatayā premalakṣaṇabhaktirūpād (praṇidhānād ) – Meditating upon oneself as the Brahman and also being endowed with the devotion in the form of love (for the divinity)
4) Bhāsvatī - सर्वकर्मापणपूर्वं भावनारूपं प्रणिधानं न तु कर्मार्पणमात्रम्
- sarvakarmāpaṇapūrvaṃ bhāvanārūpaṃ praṇidhānaṃ na tu karmārpaṇamātram
It is in the form of surrendering all actions and also meditating (upon the divinity) and not mere surrendering of actions
5) Yoga-siddhānta-candrikā - प्रणिधीयते तदेकमात्रनिष्ठं मनः क्रियतेऽनेनेति पुनःपुनारूपं प्रेम तत्साधनमन्त्रजपाराध्यत्वज्ञानादिरूपाद्वक्ष्यमाणाद् भक्तियोगाद् –- praṇidhīyate tadekamātraniṣṭhaṃ manaḥ kriyate'neneti punaḥpunārūpaṃ prema tatsādhanamantrajapārādhyatvajñānādirūpādvakṣyamāṇād bhaktiyogād - Praṇidhāna refers to making the mind single-pointed by again and again doing various practices that are instrumental to that end – in the fomr of japa of the mantras, worshipping etc
6) Nāgojī-bhaṭṭa-vṛtti - प्रणिधानं ’तज्जपस्तदर्थभावनम्’ इति वक्ष्यमाणम्
nāgojībhaṭṭavṛttiḥ - praṇidhānaṃ ’tajjapastadarthabhāvanam’ iti vakṣyamāṇam – Praṇidhāna is stated as – “repeating (the Praṇava) and visualizing its meaning”.
7) Yogavallī - अहरहः प्रणिपतनमेव प्रणिधानशब्दार्थः - aharahaḥ praṇipatanameva praṇidhānaśabdārthaḥ - Every day saluting/prostrating (to the divinity) is the meaning of the word Praṇidhāna.
Thus the commentaries give a range of mutually inclusive meanings towards facilitating the practice of Praṇidhāna of īśvara. This is an indicative collection of the meaning of the term Praṇidhāna on just one occurrence of the term in the Sūtra 1.30. The commentary literature may offer many meanings of the term in the other occurrences of Praṇidhāna in the other three Sūtras. For fear of being elaborate – just meanings of one occurrence also has been discussed.
Bhagavadgītā
There is just one occurence of a related term to Praṇidhāna in this text. It is as follows -
तस्मात्प्रणम्य प्रणिधाय कायं
प्रसादये त्वामहमीशमीड्यम् ।
पितेव पुत्रस्य सखेव सख्युः प्रियः प्रियायार्हसि देव सोढुम् ॥ 11. 44 ॥
tasmātpraṇamya praṇidhāya kāyaṃ prasādaye tvāmahamīśamīḍyam .
piteva putrasya sakheva sakhyuḥ priyaḥ priyāyārhasi deva soḍhum .. 11. 44 ..
This verse occurs in the 11th chapter Viśvarūpa-darśana – where Arjuna sees the cosmic form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. One being astonished and awe inspired by the cosmic form - Arjuna states – I salute and lay my body down (in prostration) and please you. Here - praṇidhāya - lay the body down – in prostration –is used.
Haṭha-yoga-pradīpikā – There are no usages of the term in this text.
Tabulation of Textual References 11.5
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Praṇidhāna |
Yogasūtra 4 Reference |
Bhagavadgītā 1 references |
Haṭhayogapradīpikā - |
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Chapter 1 Sūtra 23 Chapter 2 Sūtra 1 Chapter 2 Sūtra 32 Chapter 2 Sūtra 45
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Chapter 11 verse 44 |
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Summary and Observations
It could be observed that the word Praṇidhāna is a unique expression found in the Yogasūtras.
But it should be noted that though Bhagavadgītā does not use the word Praṇidhāna - the word Bhakti is profusely used and an entire chapter (chapter 12) is devoted to Bhakti yoga which indicated by the term Praṇidhāna.
And interestingly in Haṭhayoga neither has any major discussion or practice based on Praṇidhāna or Bhakti – indicating its focus more on the practices related to the body, breath. In Haṭhayoga even in the realm of the mind - more than the emotional dimension of human psyche (Bhakti)- the focus is more on training the mind the be fixed and focused on the various cakras and the Nāda.
In the Yogasūtra – as could be seen above – based on the views of the commentators’ - approaches to the practice of Praṇidhāna can be enumerated as follows for easy comprehension –
1) Praṇidhāna is devotion
2) It involves surrendering all actions to the supreme guru
3) It involves relinquishing desire for the results of actions
4) It is in the form of love – prema – on the supreme being
5) It includes physically prostrating to the divinity
6) It is in the form of repetition of Praṇava and meditating upon its meaning
7) It also includes the worship of the divinity
8) In the process of expression of devotion – the fixing or focusing of the mind on the divinity is essential
9) Praṇidhāna is not a onetime action – it involves repetition of expression of devotion
10) Praṇidhāna culminates in the visualizing of oneself as the Brahman
Thus these are the ideas and insights that could be gained by analyzing the term Praṇidhāna following the Śabdayoga methodology.
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