[Advaita-l] tri-guNa-Atmaka

[Shrinivas Gadkari]

Namaste.

First of all thanks for your responses (Anupam and Michel).

I will dig further into the Thanj pratyaya.

Based on your responses and some analysis from my side here are
some more thoughts:

As you note ka suffix denotes "constructed by" or "made of".
However, sometimes it also means "maker of", "creator of",
"constructor of". 

And this is where I would like some help from list members.

Example: 
preraka - one who is cause of or catalyst of preraNA (inspiration)
ghAtaka - one who is cause of or catalyst of ghAta (disaster)

On similar lines:
should we interpret sAtvika as (a) made of sattva guNa, 
or (b) "maker" of sattva guNa,

and coming to the word Atmaka as in triguNAtmaka do we
interpret it as (a) made of self of three guNa-s or (b) "maker"
of self of three guNa-s.

Can someone confirm if we can take meaning (a) or (b) or both.

In this context another word that is used is triguNamaya.
This certainly means "made of three guNa-s"

Regards,
Shrinivas
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As Sri Michel ji said, atmaka means meaning 'of the nature of -- the Self'.
trigunaAtmaka is an adjective for something else.  You may have to let
me know so that I can explain the meaning of the same.  For example,
in Vedanta Saara, there is one definition for ajnana.  It goes like
this.
"ajnaanam tu sadasadbhyam anirvachaniiyam triguNaatmakam jnanavirodhi......"
Here, triguNaatmakam is used to qualify or define or suggest what ajnana is.
ajnana is "of the nature of" three gunas. That is the meaning.
Gramatical:
atma + Thanj pratyaya = atmaka
There are many many taddhita pratyayas.  One such is Thanj.  These
taddhita pratyayas, when added with other nouns, give some special
meaning.  The Special meaning conferred by Thanj pratyaya is
"constructed by" or "made of".
Other examples are:
satva + Thanj = saatvika

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Dear Sri Srinivas,
For  your convenience, I am giving you the Panini Sutra for the Thanj Pratyaya.
It is tena nirvrutam (There are two same sutras.  Please consult the
later one.)  I dont know the number of the sutra, as I dont have the
book with me now.
With regards,
Anupam.

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