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...
This book contains Sanskrit text which you should never take for granted as transcription mistakes are always possible. Always confer with the final source and/or manuscript.
Verse 3.1.17-18
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.1.17-18:
भिन्नवस्त्वाश्रया बुद्धिः संयोगिष्वनुवर्तते ।
समवायिषु भेदस्य ग्रहणं विनिवर्तते ॥ १७ ॥
अतः संयोगिदेशानां गौणत्वं परिकल्प्यते ।
अविवेकात्प्रदेशेभ्यो मुख्यत्वं समवायिनाम् ॥ १८ ॥bhinnavastvāśrayā buddhiḥ saṃyogiṣvanuvartate |
samavāyiṣu bhedasya grahaṇaṃ vinivartate || 17 ||
ataḥ saṃyogideśānāṃ gauṇatvaṃ parikalpyate |
avivekātpradeśebhyo mukhyatvaṃ samavāyinām || 18 ||17-18. The idea of difference persists in the case of objects joined together by the relation called conjunction (saṃyoga) whereas in the case of objects joined together by inherence (samavāya) the perception of difference disappears.
Therefore, the divisions consisting in objects joined together by conjunction are secondary whereas the divisions consisting in objects joined (to the whole) by inherence are primary because (the wholes) so united are not really different from the divisions.
Commentary
The author now states where the divisions (deśa) are primary and where they are secondary, as, unless they are primary somewhere, we cannot speak of them as being secondary elsewhere.
[Read verse 17-18 above]
[When we have the idea of two things being in contact, it is based on a difference between the two things. Even when we see the contact, we continue to see them as different from each other. The two things which come into contact make a kind of whole, but the two things are not essential parts of that whole, because we continue to perceive them as apart from the whole. But when two things are related to each other by inherence, the position is different. When we see a sphere, we do not see it's two halves as distinct from the sphere. They form the very body of that sphere. They are, therefore, real parts of the whole called sphere. The division is a primary one and not a secondary one. But even within the field of things related by saṃyoga or contact, one must make a distinction. When an all-pervasive thing like ākāśa comes into contact with things, it is an invariable contact. The contact between the clothes and the body is not an invariable contact. In the former case, we do divide the all-pervasive substance on the basis of the objects with which it is in contact].
The author now explains the universal according to the Vijñānavādins.