Vakyapadiya of Bhartrihari
by K. A. Subramania Iyer | 1965 | 391,768 words
The English translation of the Vakyapadiya by Bhartrihari including commentary extracts and notes. The Vakyapadiya is an ancient Sanskrit text dealing with the philosophy of language. Bhartrhari authored this book in three parts and propounds his theory of Sphotavada (sphota-vada) which understands language as consisting of bursts of sounds conveyi...
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Verse 1.37
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.37:
आविर्भूतप्रकाशानामनुपप्लुतचेतसाम् ।
अतीतानागतज्ञानं प्रत्यक्षान्न विशिष्यते ॥ ३७ ॥āvirbhūtaprakāśānāmanupaplutacetasām |
atītānāgatajñānaṃ pratyakṣānna viśiṣyate || 37 ||37. The knowledge of the past and the future of those whose insight has manifested itself and whose mind is in no way tainted differs in no way from perception.
Commentary
According to the view that the effect is a totally new product (asatkāryavāda) it is, before its creation, without a basis, without a form, without an essence, something in regard to which the causal power of something cannot be determined nor specified. How then can it be understood? According to the other view (satkāryavāda) its specific form (before creation) is not manifest, it is unknown for the purpose of worldly transactions, it is as good as totally non-existent. But cultured persons, whose impurities have been burnt away by austerities, whose cognitions are free from all limitations, see everything vividly reflected in their cognitions.1
Notes
1. Vṛ. points out that the purpose of this Kārikā is to state that in addition to ordinary perception, there exists another. Only those whose impurities have been washed away have it. It is the result of their good deeds in previous births. Through that, they can see the past and the present.
While explaining the expression: adṛṣṭāpratiniyatakāraṇaśaktiparigraham, Vṛ. points out that the different kinds of inference: pūrvavat, śeṣavat and sāmānyatodṛṣṭa, cannot enable us to determine what has causal power in regard to which effect, no matter what view of causality we adopt, whether it be asatkāryavāda or satkāryavāda.