1.40
परमाणुपरममहत्त्वान्तोऽस्य वशीकारः
paramāṇu-parama-mahattvānto 'sya vaśīkāraḥ
The line
One's mastery then runs from the smallest atom to the greatest magnitude.
नेपालीमा
तब वश सबैभन्दा सानो परमाणुदेखि सबैभन्दा ठूलो परिमाणसम्म पुग्छ।
Where it sits
The vā (वा) series is over. What was practiced as “one principle” is not a small concentration. Its mastery reaches the very small and the very great. 1.41 will say how the mind meets an object once the activities have thinned.
Split: paramāṇu (परमाणु) + parama (परम) + mahattva (महत्त्व) + antaḥ (अन्तः) + asya (अस्य) + vaśīkāraḥ (वशीकारः)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| paramāṇu (परमाणु) | stem | the smallest particle. |
| parama (परम) | stem | the utmost. |
| mahattva (महत्त्व) | stem | greatness, magnitude. |
| antaḥ (अन्तः) | nominative singular, masculine | the end, the limit of the range. |
| asya (अस्य) | genitive singular | of this one. Of the mind that has been steadied. |
| vaśīkāraḥ (वशीकारः) | nominative singular, masculine | mastery. The same word as in the definition of dispassion, 1.15. |
The phrases
paramāṇu-parama-mahattvāntaḥ (परमाणुपरममहत्त्वान्तः) is the range: from the atom to the utmost magnitude. mahattva (महत्त्व) + anta (अन्त) is a (अ) + a (अ) = ā (आ). antaḥ (अन्तः) before asya (अस्य) is recited anto 'sya (अन्तोऽस्य).
asya vaśīkāraḥ (अस्य वशीकारः) is “this one's mastery.” The mastery runs to both ends of size. The line is not yet samāpatti (समापत्ति). It is the reach that the steadied mind now has.
Sanskrit in this line
You know aḥ (अः) + a (अ). Hear it again: antaḥ asya (अन्तः अस्य) is anto 'sya (अन्तोऽस्य). anta (अन्त) at the end of a compound of two limits means “the range whose ends are these.” vaśīkāra (वशीकार) is not a new word. It is the mastery of 1.15, now said of attention rather than of thirst.
Say it back
Say the two ends of the range, then whose mastery: asya vaśīkāraḥ (अस्य वशीकारः).