ŚABDA-YOGA The Language of Yoga demystified – 8.3 (Satkāraḥ)

Introduction

In this series, Yogic terminologies will be taken up and their -

1. Etymological analysis,
2. Lexical descriptions and
3. Textual occurrences in Yogic literature and their commentaries, as available, will be presented. And finally observations will be made on the references.

Three texts - Yogasūtra, Haṭha-yoga-pradīpikā and Bhagavad-gītā are consulted for textual occurrences portion.  Śabda-yoga is intended to help students, teachers, and professionals of Yoga to develop a sound grammatical, contextual, and thereby an authentic and immersive understanding of Yoga terminologies.

8.3 Satkāraḥ

From the among the five words for this unit 8, this part discusses the third word Satkāra.

Etymology

सत्+कृ+घञ् = सत्कारः

sat+kṛ+ghañ = satkāraḥ

• The prefix is सत् sat that means to be present/respect
• कृ kṛ is the root that means करण karaṇa – to do
• घञ् ghañ is the suffix that means the act/action this suffix is added based on the grammatical rule भावे  Bhāve (aṣṭādhyāyī  3.18)

Based on the etymology the derivate statement would be - सत्क्रियते इति सत्कारः satkriyate iti satkāraḥ - the act of doing respectfully.

Lexicon

There are no entries for the term in Amarakośa.

Textual Occurrences

Yogasūtra

There is just one entry of the term in the Yogasūtra. It is as follows -

स तु दीर्घकालनैरन्तर्यसत्कारासेवितो दृढभूमिः ॥ १.१४ ॥

sa tu dīrghakālanairantaryasatkārāsevito dṛḍhabhūmiḥ .. 1.14 ..

In the Sutra it could be seen that the word Satkāra is used as quality of Abhyāsa. The Abhyāsa of Yoga should have Satkāra – a sense of respect. The Saṃskṛta Commentaries add the following views about Satkāra -

• *tapasā brahmacaryeṇa vidyayā śraddhayā ca saṃpāditaḥ satkāravāndṛḍhabhūmirbhavati.
• **ādarātiśayena ca sevyamāno
• ^ bhaktiśraddhādirūpasatkāreṇa sevito
• ^^ satkārapūrvakaṃ sevitaścet pūjyabuddhisevitaścet ādarapūrvakaṃ sevitaścet premasahitaṃ sevitaścet

Bhagavadgītā

In this text also there is a solitary reference to the word satkāra. It is as follows -

सत्कारमानपूजार्थं तपो दम्भेन चैव यत् ।

क्रियते तदिह प्रोक्तं राजसं चलमध्रुवम् ॥ १७.१८ ॥

satkāramānapūjārthaṃ tapo dambhena caiva yat .

kriyate tadiha proktaṃ rājasaṃ calamadhruvam .. 17.18 ..

Rajasic Tapas is delineated in this verse. As it is evident from the verse, Tapas which done by the practitioner expecting others to respect (Satkāra) becomes Rajasic. Ācārya Śaṅkara Bhagavatpāda commenting upon this word states - साधुकारः ‘साधुः अयं तपस्वी ब्राह्मणः’ इत्येवमर्थम् - sādhukāraḥ ‘sādhuḥ ayaṃ tapasvī brāhmaṇaḥ’ ityevamartham – (that Tapas which is done to elicit the view that) this Tapasvī, Brahmin is a very pious person” to this end.

Haṭhayogapradīpikā - Satkāra is not found in this text

Tabulation of Textual References 8.3

Observations:

Though very important, there is scant references in the three Texts consulted for the term Satkāra.

• But in the two texts that yielded a reference each - the word Satkāra is used in contrasting contexts. In the Yogasūtra context – Satkāra is a virtue that a practitioner should possess about his Yogic practice. While Bhagavadgītā clarifies that – Tapas and other activities should not be done expecting Satkāra for oneself from others. Reflecting upon these - it becomes clear that one should have a great regard for his practice and should not expect that he himself is regarded as great by the practice.

• Further– the idea that Satkāra in the context of Yogasūtra and yoga practice is not mere notion of reverence about Yoga. This emerges from the commentaries for the text. It has components such as Tapas, Śraddhā, Brahmacarya and Devotion.

Such are the important insights on the term Satkāra  revealed by this exercise of śabdayoga.

Useful Links:

Archive of previous Śabdayoga Entries - https://yoga-words-demystified.blogspot.com/2022/01/sabda-yoga-language-of-yoga-demystified.html

Video Explanation of Śabdayoga (Playlist) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHwsf77PLjWvmryW-f0z2hLAHmzaRbKnX

References:

1. Advaitaśāradā - https://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/
2. Amarakoṣasampat - http://amara.aupasana.com/
3. Aṣṭādhyāyī - https://ashtadhyayi.com/
4. Aksharamukha - https://aksharamukha.appspot.com/
5. Avyayakośaḥ, śrīśrīvatsāṅkācāryaḥ, saṃskṛtavidyāsamitiḥ, chennai, 2004
6. Gītā Supersite - https://www.Gītāsupersite.iitk.ac.in/
7. Nāmaliṅgānuśāsana alias amarakoṣa of amarasiṃha with the commentary vyākhyāsudhā or rāmāśramī by bhānuji dīkṣita, Edited with notes by M.M.Pandit Shivadatta Dadimatha, Chaukhamba Saṃskṛta Prathisthan, Delhi, Reprint 2002
8. śabdārthakaustubha, cakravartī śrīnivāsagopālācārya, Vol 4, Bappco Publication, Bengaluru, Reprint 2009
9. Yoga-vaiśāradī - https://kymyogavaisharadi.org/