Verse 2.19

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.19:

अव्यक्तः क्रमवात्र्शब्दः उपांश्वयमधीयते ।
अक्रमस्तु वितत्येव बुद्धिर्यत्रावतिष्ठते ॥ १९ ॥

avyaktaḥ kramavātrśabdaḥ upāṃśvayamadhīyate |
akramastu vitatyeva buddhiryatrāvatiṣṭhate || 19 ||

19. The indistinct word which is uttered in silence appears to have sequence. The intelligence perceives it as having extension (that is, sequence) though it is really without any.

Commentary

[The sentence is really indivisible. But it is manifested by the sounds and it seems to have divisions like the phonemes and individual words. This indivisible Word has an inner and outer aspect. As something existing within the speaker. it is inner. As it is externalised by utterance, it is outer also. It is indivisible and eternal. It is this which is expressive of meaning. All distinctions such as spoken to oneself, spoken slowly, spoken quietly etc., are based on the sounds which manifest it and not its own. When one utters something well within, to be heard by oneself only, it is called upāṃśu. When no utterance takes place, that is, when the prāṇa plays no part but the word is thought of in one’s mind and has assumed divisions and sequence, it is called paramopāṃśu.

As the Vṛtti puts it—

Tatra prāṇavṛttyanugrahe satyeva yatra śabdarūpam parair asaṃvedyaṃ bhavati tadupāṃśu. Antareṇa tu prāṇavṛttyanu-grahaṃ yatra kevalam eva buddhau samāviṣṭarūpo buddhyupādāna eva śabdātmā tat paramopāṃśu.

When the activity of the mind is suspended and the divisionsand sequence are not there but due to their impressions they are superimposed, it is pratisaṃhṛtakramam.]

The next two verses are meant to elucidate the view that the sentence is jātiḥ saṃghātavartinī.