Isaac Smith

23301785
Term Paper
LING 106 Wed 2pm


Multiple Divisions: Hindu Metaphors for the Nature of the Self
Sri Swami Sivanada, an early 20
th
century physician turned spiritual renunciate, authored
over 300 books and, through his organization the Forest Vedanta Academy of Rishikesh, has
trained nearly 30,000 aspiring yogis. This paper will analyze the use of metaphor for the self
and the modes of human behavior and cognition expressed in his collect essays, Bliss Divine
(Sivananda 1964). It is generally agreed that the specific concepts are the product of an
unbroken student and teacher lineage dating to at earliest the 2nd century BCE, with many
source domain modifications towards contemporary componentry.
Advaita Vedanta (broadly translated as Undivided End of Knowledge) is the particular
philosophy of the Saraswati tradition, but contains many of the same conceptualizations as a
generalized Eastern Philosophy. In a basic sense this Yogic philosophy counterposes two
concepts of self: a physical, temporal phenomena of Mind and Body with an unbounded,
eternal causal self. These juxtaposed conceptions are often colloquially referred to as the
higher self and lower self.
In this Yogic Schema the lower self is a phenomena formed of the needs and desires of
the biological organism interacting with the mental capacities of perception and discernment.
The alternate conceptualization is Self as Atman, a cognitive facility which is aware of the
underlying, indivisible substrate and ceases to perceive the self as a bounded region. This
substrate, Brahman, defies conceptualization and the various metaphoric phrases that attempt
to define it invariable conflict on a fundamental level. As a concept which defies descriptives,
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a unity without qualities or forms, this quintessential abstraction is often voiced as Soham (the
I Am), consciousness with an object. The Taoist conception would exert, The Tao which can
be named is not the Tao.
The illusion, Maya, of temporal existence is the mistaken dependence of the conscious
Self with the biological organism. The organism attaches cognition to sensorial objects of
necessity and pleasure. Perception and cognition of external states are stored in the memory;
future actions are determined within the imaginative framing of current stimuli by previous
stimuli. The impermanence of the temporal self generates anxiety over the inevitable loss of
material objects. This anxiety leads to further desire for material pleasure and constitutes a
cyclical dynamic of desire and fear. Yoga proposes limiting cognition by meditation,
eventually perceiving only non-dualistic unity.
Sivananda is concerned foremost with introducing his concept of consciousness as an
eternal, purposive force that utilizes the temporal body and mind to interact with a perceived
external world. This is similar to what George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, in Philosophy in the
Flesh term the SUBJECT-SELF METAPHOR (Lakoff and Johnson 1999). Through various
knowledge schemas and a novel conception of the Divided Self schema, Sivananda argues
that there is an essential Self of which all other aspects of cognition and phenomena are a
partial set. Below is a general mapping of prominent figurative systems.


In attempting to describe an entirely metaphysical realm, Sivananda relies heavily on
metonymy. The very nature of abstraction in a proposed metaphysical system requires frames
that span across the dual material and non-material dimensions. God, the ultimate abstraction,
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must stand in for the superordinate categories of both realms. God is alternately used as a
frame metonymy for superlative qualities in a physical manifestation perfection,
completeness, essential qualities, rigorous morality- and as the causal and unified force in the
metaphysical realm- the prime mover, the originating source of force and volition, the unified
substructure underlying reality. Likewise states of mind are often used metonymically.
Desirable qualities such as purity and morality operate via category metonymy so that one
desirable characteristic represents the entire range of desirable qualities, as well as the desire
to attain the qualities, and the mental state representing the force component motivated from
those states, likewise emotional states such as fear or anger act as frame metonymy for the
experiential motion itself, a personified behavior exhibiting those qualities, as well as the
causal and perceptual effects which lead to or encourage the development of those states. Eve
Sweetser notes in her forthcoming book, Figurative Language, that the experiential basis for
metonymy lies in the cognitive faculty of pattern completion and has been demonstrated, for
instance by Pavlov, to neurologically link associated frames within an overall schematic
representation. On the most basic level Sweetser notes that in visual perception the ability to
associate a perceived portion of a predator on the basis of a limited view of its form is
necessary to avoid being prey (Dancygier and Sweetser in prep). Similarly, recognizing the
trunk of a fruit bearing tree, taking this portion of sensory information and forming a frame
that includes the fruit aspects of the tree, unseen, is an obvious biologic advantage.
Central to Sivandas argument is the supposition that the very act of perception combined
with the prior content of memory causes frames and categories to form in response to stimulus
from external objects and that the bounds and entailments of those frames can be modified
from incomplete representation to more complete representation, or in his metaphysical
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terminology to begin to comport more with the idealized representation when the foundational
frame of God as a unifying essence is overlaid upon the frames formed by interaction with
objects of the senses.


You have a body but you are not the body, you have a mind but
you are not the mind. Body and mind are your instruments, like the
tools of a carpenter. This body is an instrument or servant of the
soul, and not its prison.

BODY AND MIND ARE INSTRUMENTS
Target Body and Mind Source Instruments
Soul Carpenter
Body Servant
Bounded Entity Prison

Sivanada proposes that the self is comprised of a superordinate entity that is the source of
volition and a subordinate entity that is manipulated by the former. One entailment of the self
contained in the metonymic conception of Soul is that it is timeless and the source of action.
Body and mind are its vehicle for temporal expression but it is not bound by the limitations of
the physical self. That the body is a servant entails a purposive element to action. The
selection highlights the centrality of a proposed essential aspect of humanity and conceals the
experience of human cognition as distinct and unique. It further asserts that the Self-as-Soul is
the most salient representation of the essential nature of reality, colloquially God. God in this
usage is a categorical metonymy for superlative characteristics and eternal duration. Body and
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Mind are both categorical metonymies for individual beings and frame metonymies for the
perception of all spacio-temporal phenomena.

Man is god in disguise who puts on a garment for fun, but quickly
forgets his true identity. Desires drag him down. Discrimination
lifts him up. Truth is not outside you. It is within you. It dwells in
the cave of your heart. Come out of the cage of flesh and roam
about freely.
A PERSON IS GOD OBSCURED
Relies on: GOOD IS UP, PROXIMITY IS SIMILARITY, A PERSON IS A BOUNDED
REGION IN SPACE
Target Human Source God
Partial Disguised
Physical self Garment
Roam Free action
Flesh Cage
Heart Dwelling
Truth Entity
Desire Repulsive Force
Discrimination Attractive Force

This metaphor system further explores the conception of the dual nature of the self. The
salient qualities of a human derive from membership in the category of which the primary
member is God. Here again is the conception of an essence which pervades consciousness and
evaluates authenticity of membership by how closely members exhibit the defining qualities of
the category: discrimination, freedom, truth. When the person comes to realize their eternal
nature they are freed to some extent from the constant biological impulses towards object accrual
and consumption.

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Just as you will have to take back with care your cloth that is fallen
on a thorny plant by removing the thorns one by one slowly, so
also, you will have to collect back with care and exertion the
dissipated rays of the mind that are thrown over the sensual objects
for very many years. He who practices concentration will possess
very clear mental vision. What was cloudy and hazy before
becomes clear and definite now.
COGNITION IS AN OBJECT, COGNITION IS A LIGHT SOURCE
Input Cognition Input Object Input Light Source Input Force
1
Perception Cloth Light rays Enablement
Thoughts Thorns Sensual objects Compulsion
Concentration Removing thorns Focus Removal of
Restraint
Indiscernment Haze/cloud Obscuring medium Blockage

1
(M. Johnson 1987.)
By depicting cognition as an object the passage highlights the aspect of consciousness as
a directed medium. Just as one can manipulate an object, grasping it, possessing it, and placing it
in desired locations, the metaphor proposes that consciousness is manipulable. This fact entails
an external force doing the directing. Concentration is seen as an activity that can be augmented
through repetition. As perception becomes aware of certain categories of sensorial stimuli,
unproductive thoughts become attached to the faculty of cognition and only through a purposeful
redirecting of the objects of cognition can one train the metal energy on cognitive states
conducive to productive thought. The input forces listed are based in Mark Johnsons work on
Force gestalts, discussed further below.

Just as you close your door or gate when a dog or an ass tries to
come in, close your mind before any evil thoughts can enter.
Thoughts are like the waves of the ocean. They are countless.
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Useful thoughts are the stepping stones to spiritual growth and
progress. Do not allow the mind to run into the old grooves.
Whenever the mind hisses to get back the objects of desire, raise
the rod of viveka (discernement). It will lower its hood. It will keep
quiet. Do not let the mind wander here and there like a strolling
dog. Swim like a fish against the mental current.
MIND IS A BOUNDED ENTITY, THOUGHT IS A SUBSTANCE/OBJECT
Input Mind Input Bounded Entity Input General
Thought Animal Erratic
Consciousness Internal Portal
Thoughts Waves Ocean
Useful thoughts Stepping stones Prescribed path
Repetitive thought Grooves Constricted path
Material Desires Cobra Libidinous Urge
Discernment Rod Barrier to Action

The Hindu conception of Samskara, grooves which direct the flow of future action, are
closely related schematically to cognitive frames. Both define the context by which new
sensorial input is interpreted and acted upon. By purposeful action one can begin to reframe the
residual memory inputs and developed new, alternate cognitive determinations towards future
action. The passage highlights the tendency for the mind and body to seek material resource
rather than to seek contemplation and a larger, healthier set of mental states. This broadening of
schema is consistent with the concept of neural plasticity.
Conscience is the light of the soul that is burning within the
chambers of your hearts. It is the little spark of celestial fire which
makes known to you the presence of the Indweller, the author of
the divine laws of truth and holiness. Conscience is the voice of the
Self Conscience is the internal monitor. It is a sensitive balance
to weigh actions. It is a guiding voice, like a silent teacher. It is a
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delicate instrument. It is the inner voice without sound that shows
you the path of virtue and godliness.
THE SELF IS A DIVIDED ENTITY
Input Self Input Divided Entity
Physical Conceptual
Mind/body Soul
Voice/Instrument Conscience
Perception of action Monitor
Balance Qualitative evaluation
Weight Quantitative evaluation
Teacher Moderating force
Path Attractive force
Temporal Eternal
Bounded Unbounded

Sivananda imagines God, the Indweller, as a concurrent occupant of the individuals
cognition. As author and moral accountant, God, via language, transmits discrete symbols
corresponding to appropriate actions. This communication relies on The Conduit Metaphor
(Reddy 1976), specifically LINGUISTIC EXCHANGE IS OBJECT EXCHANGE where
thought-containers are compelled into mind. Here MIND IS A BOUNDED REGION and the
thought is sent into it, perhaps unbidden. In the converse direction, the conscience monitors the
thought and activity of the self, adjudicating moral evaluation.
George Lakoffs MULTIPLE SELVES METAPHOR, with the various selves roles
denoting distinct personal aspects, demonstrates a hierarchical relationship within a special case
of the metaphor, THE ESSENTIAL SELF METAPHOR. Lakoff equates the conception of
essential here as that quality which represents the most authentic representation of an individual
and that which makes her unique. Lower selves (in his mapping order) fit in the higher self, with
lesser degrees of representativeness, or with highlighted negative aspects as based on the value
system of the superordinate self (Lakoff and Johnson 1999). Sivananda conversely sees the
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essential self as a unifying impulse from which emanates the prototypical consciousness and thus
entails an outward moral behavior in comport with a superordinate inward moral standard.
Because what is essential constitutes the common fundamental cognitive state of all beings,
outward behavior or communication is indistinguishable, at the fundamental level, from
receiving the same behavior or thought objects into the subjective cognition- Do unto others.
Mark Johnson explicates this universal system as the categorical patterns imposed by the
transcendental structure of human consciousness. Johnson terms this structure the productive
function of imagination, the cognitive process of creating coherent frames from data in the
memory and present stimuli (M. Johnson 1987).

By telling lies, you pollute your conscience, and infect your
subconscious mind. If you allow one sin to enter and dwell in your
conscience, you certainly pave the way for the entry of 1000 sins.
If a chaste man begins to visit for the first time a house of ill-fame,
his conscience pricks; His conscience quivers and trembles. If he
frequently visits, his conscience becomes blunt.

THE CONSCIENCE IS A CONTAINER/SUBSTANCE/OBJECT/LOCATION
Source Conscience Source Container Source Substance/Object Source
Location/Motion
Cognition House Physical Medium Paved Path
Terminus
Lies Bounded Region Pollutant Entering
Immorality Man Quivering Jello Brothel
Sin Discrete Action Entity Enablement
Pricks Self Sharp Pin Poking
Repeat Digression Self Blunt Pin Poking

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The cognitive faculty may become attenuated by poor behavior. Each subsequent
immoral action is portrayed as have a force of attraction for the next, facilitating further sin. That
the subconscious can be infected entails that the infection can be spread to like hosts. Sin
becomes resident within the cognitive schema, influencing the perception of each following
moral evaluation towards action. The conscience can be stifled, its potency diminished by repeat
neglect. A physiological sensation is implied. Social cognitive apparatus is largely geared
towards eusocial behavior and it is plausible that anti-social behavior should adversely effect the
dopaminergic, pleasure-pain neurologic structures.

All objects are coated with a little imaginary pleasure. It is like a
thin electro gold plating. In reality, life here is all tinsel and
shadow. Behind the sugar coating, there is bitter quinine. Behind
the electrogoldplating, it is all brass. Behind the so-called
pleasures, there is pain, misery and suffering. Life here is full of
fears, attachments and tribulations.
REALNESS IS CENTRALITY
Input Real/Central Input Unreal/Peripheral
Shadow Tinsel
Brass Gold Plate
Quinine Sugar
Pleasure Suffering

Here the metaphor separates objects into categories based on their durable characteristics,
with the central less likely to be dissected from the whole, the superficial more likely to be
separated off. Sivananda contrasts peace-of-mind with pleasure seeking, asserting that sensorial
satisfaction comes at the expense of durable contentment. It is important to recognize the dire
poverty Sivanada witnessed in his day. In Freudian terms, the superficial pleasures would be the
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energy emanating from the Id as it is cathected to external objects. A healthy ego, a developed
capacity for concentration, would moderate these urges, rescuing nutrition from the grasp of
gluttony, love from lust, assertiveness from violence.

Just as milk is changed into curd, so also, desire becomes changed
into anger. The root cause of anger is ignorance and egoism, it
lurks in the mind. A brahmachari (renunciate) always keeps a
balanced mind. He has a cool brain at all times. Passion is the root,
and anger is the stem. Anger begets injustice. You will have to
destroy the root, passion, first. Then the stem, anger, will die by
itself.
Cultivates this virtue, serenity. Serenity is like a rock; waves of
irritation break on it, but cannot affect it.
Love is warmth. Love is the golden tie which binds heart to heart,
soul to soul. It binds you to this earth. It is hatred that separates
man from man, nation from nation.

EMOTION IS A SUBSTANCE/OBJECT
Target Emotion Source Substance/Object
Desire Milk
Anger Curd
Catalyst Acid
Serenity Rock
Irritation/Fear Wave
Memory Horse
Hatred Barrier
Love Tie



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EMOTION IS A PLANT
Target Emotion Source Plant
Passion/Ignorance/Egoism Root
Anger Stem
Augment Cultivate
Progenitive Force Seeds
Mind Growth Medium
Courage Plant

EMOTION IS TEMPERATURE
Target Emotion Source Temperature
Calm Cool
Love Warm
Anger Hot

Sivananda sees specific cognitive states as a necessary outcome of pre-conditioned
previous states. A core conception in yoga, as well as neuroscience, is that cognitive activity
precedes motor activity. The initial portion of the Causal Schema is found in the biological,
sensual categorization of objects. That which nourishes and sustains is necessarily attractive, this
attraction is perceived as pleasure. This sensation of derived pleasure forms the category of
object-of-desire. These objects are beyond the scope of intrinsic need, objects to which we are
attached simply as a reaction to fear of loss. This fear manifests as anger and perverts subsequent
thought and action.

If the wick within the lamp is very small, the lights also will be
small. If the wick is very big, the light also will be powerful. (One
who meditates) Will radiate a big light. If he is impure he will be
like a burnt up charcoal. The greater the wick, the greater the light.

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SPIRITUAL PRACTICE IS A LIGHT SOURCE, KNOWING IS SEEING
Meditation Wick
Mind Lamp
Increased practice Increased foot-candles
Sensorial pleasure/material concern Charcoal residue
Purposive cognition Burning
Cognitive faculty oil

Similar to the previous passage the capacity for concentration is a frame metonymy for
ones ability to direct perception and discernment towards cognitive states conducive to
happiness, the frame contains the activity of concentration and the agent of action and the choice
of object. In that EXTRANEOUS THOUGHTS ARE A BARRIER TO EFFECTIVE
COGNITION, the practice of meditation, the act of augmenting concentration, minimizes
unproductive cogitation and opens the path for the force of illumination which operates via the
metaphor AID TO KNOWING IS A LIGHT SOURCE.

Every soul is like a husbandman who has got a plot of land. The
acreage, the nature of the soil, the conditions of weather are all
predetermined. But the husbandman is quite at liberty to till the
earth, manure it and get good crops, or to allow it to remain as a
wasteland.
A SOUL IS A PERSONS PROFESSION
Target Soul Source Profession
Soul Farmer
Spiritual practice Tilling soil
Education/Nourishment Manure
Self-realization Crops
Worldly pursuit Wasteland


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The data here reinforces the aspect of the role of agency in self-realization, or the
refinement of productive cognition. A Causal Schema is modeled on a Plant Life Cycle Schema
in order to highlight the nature of force cascade from one activity into the next. Freewill is
intrinsic to this conception as one may or may not choose an initial set of actions that instantiate
specific outcomes.

Life is a voyage in the infinite ocean of time, where scenes are
perpetually changing. Life is a journey from impurity to purity,
from hatred to cosmic love, from death to immortality. We are here
as passing pilgims. Our destination is God. Our quest is for the lost
inheritance, the forgotten heritage.

ACHIEVING A PURPOSE IS REACHING A DESTINATION, STATES ARE LOCATIONS
Input Purpose Input Location
Spiritual Progress Purity
Emotional Progress Love
Fear Immortality
Self-realization God

A change of state from less prototypical to more prototypical is conceived as a journey
from one location to another. Progress is defined as purposive motion from a partial or dilute
cognitive state to the complete or concentrated state. This metaphor system entails a volitional
component and is dependent on the PURPOSEFUL ACTION IS SELF-PROPELLED MOTION
TO A DESTINATION metaphor.

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Death is not the opposite of life. It is only a phase of life. Life
flows on ceaselessly. The fruit parishes, but the seed is the cause of
life. The seed dies, but a huge tree grows out of the seed. The tree
parishes, but it becomes coal which has a rich life. Water
disappears, but it becomes the invisible steam which contains the
seed of a new life. The stone disappears, but it becomes lime which
is full of new life. The physical sheath only is thrown, but life
persists.
CYCLE OF EXISTANCE SCHEMA
This dynamic is similar to the Cycle of Existence Schema elaborated in UC Berkeleys
Framenet but with multiple cycles proposed. Where the framenet definition includes An Entity
comes into being, exists for some time, and ceases to be, the schema proposed by Sivananda is
repetitive with some salient or essential characteristic of the extant being remaining existent
through the portion of the cycle where the physical entity is deconstituted (ICSI Framenet).

My analysis rests on a number of primary metaphors. The metaphor CATEGORIES ARE
BOUNDED REGIONS provides the basis for discriminating the extent of a category. The degree
to which a component exhibits canonical qualities of the category is shown by the metaphor
SIMILARITY IS PROXIMITY (ICSI Metaphor Database).
Additionally, all change is predicated on the conception of a transmission of force
between a causal facility and a receptive entity. This concept relies on the work of Mark Johnson
via his system of Force Gestalts. He notes that our dailey reality is one massive series of
forceful causal sequences. This perception of causality is rooted in our primary experience of
natural forces; gravity, drag resistance, neurologic signals for rising biologic imperatives such as
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hunger or thirst. Johnsons core features for force include: experienced through interaction,
directionality, a path of motion, origins, directablity, intensity, and sequenciality. Johnson posits
these experiential characteristics as a general Gestalt Structure of Force (M. Johnson 1987).
Sivananda believes that it is possible for consciousness to be aware of itself sans any
categorical limitations defining the experience. Indeed, the practice of meditation has as its goal
the shedding of thought until the only object of perception is the subjective experience of
indefinite consciousness. Lakoff and Johnson argue that this is an impossible state from a
neurologic point of view: We cannot, as some meditative traditions suggest, get beyond our
categories and have a purely uncategorized and conceptualized experience. Neural beings cannot
do that. (Lakoff and Johnson 1999). While it is beyond this humble investigator to argue contra
these intellectual behemoths, I believe there are gradations to the experience of cognition. While
an amnesiac may retain the schema which allow him to anticipate his physical interaction with
natural forces and yet not be subject to the familiar categories of past self or past action, similarly
a brain under extreme duress can lose its power of agency, wandering in a fugue state bereft of
purposive force. Patients in a deep coma for many years can reawaken and recall a sensation of
timeless, enduring light. MRI scans of these patients can show but the faintest cortical activity in
regions associated with higher cognition. Renunciates who spend a lifetime examining and
modifying the thoughts that arise in the mental space while actively releasing those thoughts
recount extend experiences of unbounded form, of being a member of a category with no bounds.
Though I could not espouse it as a proper theory, I choose to ascribe to the Folk theory that,
though perhaps impossible for the human creature to authentically experience, what with its
gross organs of sense pre-tuned to transmit specific neural patterns in response to common
stimuli, it is possible to inhabit briefly a transcendental state, a member of the category of
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sentient beings but free from the reactive cognition of material states; a consciousness in the
world but not of the world.
Whether there is an experiential pole of consciousness that is pure and separate from its
objects or not, the perspective gained by contemplation on this serene and liberating attitude is
certainly a worthy endeavor. As Sivananda muses:
When you become angry with your servant when he fails to supply
your usual milk on a day, raise a question within your self: why
should I be a slave to milk?
















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Works Cited
"Cycle_of_existence_scenario." ICIS Framenet2. UC Berkeley, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
<https://framenet2.icsi.berkeley.edu>.
Dancygier, Barbara, and Eve Sweetser. Figurative Language. N.p.: Cambridge U, 2014. Print.
Johnson, Mark. The Body in the Mind. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1987. Print.
Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: U. Chicago, 1980. Print.
- - -. Philosophy in the Flesh. New York: Basic, 1999. Print.
Reddy, Michael J. "The Conduit Metaphor- A Case of Frame Conflict." Metaphor and Thought 2:
284-324. Print.
Swami Sivanada. Bliss Divine. 8th ed. Shivanandanagar: Divine Life Society, 1964. Print.
Sweetser, Eve. English Metaphors for Language: Motivations, Conventions, and Creativity. N.p.:
Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics, 1992. Print. Poetics Today 13:4.
"Various." ICIS Framenet2. UC Berkeley, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
<https://metaphor.icsi.berkeley.edu>.