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 3.1.103
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.1.103:
ज्ञेयस्थमेव सामान्यं ज्ञानानामुपकारकम् ।
न जातु ज्ञेयवज्ज्ञानं पररूपेण रूप्यते ॥ १०३ ॥jñeyasthameva sāmānyaṃ jñānānāmupakārakam |
na jātu jñeyavajjñānaṃ pararūpeṇa rūpyate || 103 ||103. The universal which exists in the object serves the cognitions also. Cognition is not determined, like the object, by something which is external.
Commentary
The following is another view current in the same circles.
[Read verse 103 above]
[Just as the object is given a form by the universal which is different from it, in the same way, one cannot say that cognition also is given a form by the universal which is different from it. Cognition never becomes an object. If one seems to perceive a universal in the cognitions, it is only due to the universal in the objects. Therefore, cognitions are endowed with a form (sākārāḥ), self-illuminating (svaprakāśāḥ) and devoid of universal (niḥsāmānyāḥ).]
How is cognition not determined by something external?—[Read next verse]