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 1.127
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.127:
प्रविभागे यथा कर्ता तया कार्ये प्रवर्तते ।
अविभागे तथा सैव कार्यत्वेनावतिष्ठते ॥ १२७ ॥pravibhāge yathā kartā tayā kārye pravartate |
avibhāge tathā saiva kāryatvenāvatiṣṭhate || 127 ||127. Just as in the wakeful state (pravibhāge) it is through the word that the agent acts on the objects of all actions, in the same way, in dream (avibhāge), it is the word itself which becomes the object of all actions.
Commentary
The appearances of the Word-Brahman (in the wakeful state) consist of things to be accomplished and the means of accomplishing them. In the wakeful state, the seeds of the divisions of the word, being of the nature of the word, attain modifications like birth etc. through production, modification and reaching and act as objects of action. In the undivided states like sleep, on the other hand, the same word, being deprived of (external) objects but being similar to them, becomes the object of the actions of production, modification and reaching.1 It has been said—
“The Lord of All, the All-Embracing, the Enjoyer, after dividing Himself and after having created many different things, proceeds to sleep.”
Notes
1. See Vāk. III, Sā 45.