Sūtra 3.1.19 (Marks of Inference of other Souls)

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 3.1.19:

यस्माद्विषाणी तस्मादश्वः ॥ ३.१.१६ ॥

yasmādviṣāṇī tasmādaśvaḥ || 3.1.16 ||

pravṛtti-nivṛttī—activity and inactivity, occupation and withdrawal; Ca and. pratyag-ātmani—in the in-going or in-dwelling soul, in one’s own soul; dṛṣṭe—observed; paratra—elsewhere, of other souls; liṅgam—mark.

19. And activity and inactivity, observed in one’s own soul, are the marks of (the existence of) other souls.

Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:

(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)

Having described the inference of one’s own soul, he now shows the inference of other souls:

[Read sūtra 3.1.19 above]

‘Pratyag-ātmani’ means in one’s own soul. ‘Pravṛtti-nivṛtti’ are particular volitions caused by desire and aversion. By them are produced bodily actions, characterised as or muscular motion, of which the objects are the acquisition of the agreeable and the avoidance of the disagreeable. So that, on observing muscular motion in another body, the inference of another soul takes place in the following manner. This muscular motion must have been produced by volition, because it is muscular motion, as is my muscular motion. And that volition, is the product of a soul, or is seated in a soul, because it is volition, as is my volition.—19.

Here ends the first chapter of the third book in the Commentary of Śaṅkara upon the Vaiśeṣika Aphorisms.