[Advaita-l] unmanifested

Siva Senani Nori sivasenani at yahoo.com
Fri Jun 2 02:27:11 CDT 2006


 
  Sylvain <elisabeth-sylvain at sympatico.ca> wrote:
   
  Dear ShrI Sastri

Thank you for this message.

In the Capeller's Sanskrit-English Dictionary, a search for the word 
unmanifested result with - avyakta -.

In the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, the same search result with 
aprakaTa -.

Are « thoughts » considered as avyakta or aprakaTa ?


  Ms. Sylvain
   
  I understand that you refer to the state of things before Creation: at that instant the world is unmanifest - avyakta or aprakaTa. Both words can be used here. 
   
  Thoughts, theoretically, could be avyakta or vyakta; or aprakaTa or prakaTa. One useful way is to see what the substantatives avyakta and aprakaTa mean when applied to the word 'thoughts'.
   
  avyakta thoughts = unexpressed thoughts
  aprakaTa thoughts = unpublicised thoughts or thoughts on which no light is thrown
   
  Especially, in the case of feelings (say, love), depending on the wish of the speaker, both can mean secret / unknown / private thoughts. However if one were to acutely differentiate, avyakta thoughts would be those unknown to most people, sometimes not even the thinker; whereas aprakaTa thoughts would be known to the thinker, but not a wide audience. This difference is based not on the roots (as can be seen below), but rather on the usage (rUDhi-artha, established or settled meaning).
   
  Etymologically ayakta = na vyakta (not apparent, expressed); vyakta is the past participle of the root a~nj (=to annoint, decorate, make clear, make appear) with the preposition 'vi' (which is an intensifier on this occasion). On the other hand, prakaTa is held to be 'pra' combined with the affix, kaTa,  and then with the past-participle-affix. Monier Williams is inclined to think that prakaTa is a corruption of pra-krita (forward-made ie. brought forward or made clear).
   
  Regards
  Senani


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