[Facts] Re: Clarificatio reg he name "Avyukta"
by তন্ময় ভট (guest)
3/3/2007, 7:27 AM
Sorry, I cannot recognize Avyukta. A wiki search says it is appears in the Gaudiya literature, but it does not provide any reference. Without the spelling in an Indian language (or a more precise citation than to a whole body of literature), it is difficult for me to trace it down. I will repost if I find that name.
avyakta arises from the negative prefix a- common to a lot of Indo-european languages + the verbal prefix vi-, probably originally related to the dvi, cognate with English two, and conveying meanings like separate, change, oppose, reciprocal, intensity, etc. + the verbal root anj (the n is the soft palatal variety) meaning to annoint, mark, beautify etc. + the past particple suffix -kta. The combination vi-anj primarily means to thoroughly anoint, colour, provide with identity, beautify, or prepare, but in its medio-passive construction is used to mean to evolve, appear clearly, or manifest. From this root we get the common words for person, consonant, edible preparations, satire, and expressed, etc. vyakta, in particular, means distinct, specific, manifest, or derived, and avyakta refers to the conception of the original unmanifest and unevolved that is an attribute of God. As a word it can therefore also mean invisible and the like, but in the naturilistic school of Ancient India, it was the name for the philosophical concept of the germ of nature: that which embodies the commonality of all nature, and is, hence, itself, quite without properties. The concept is close to the concept of the root cause, and has been used in that fashion as the name of Shiva etc., in addition to that of Vishnu. Slightly closer to the meaning invisible, it has also been used as a name for the god of love and desire.
There is a related word which uses the long open A- (as in the English car) prefix, which primarily gives a duration (from, to, until, forever) and again can be used to intensify a verb. the root Avyakta (A- + vi- + anj + -kta) means understandable and clear.