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 3.3.43
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.3.43:
आत्मलाभस्य जन्माख्या सत्ता लभ्यं च लभ्यते ।
यदि सज्जायते कस्मादथासज्जायते कथम् ॥ ४३ ॥ātmalābhasya janmākhyā sattā labhyaṃ ca labhyate |
yadi sajjāyate kasmādathāsajjāyate katham || 43 ||43. Birth means attaining one’s own form, what already exists attains what is to be attained. If it (already) exists, why should it be born and if it does not, how can it be born.
Commentary
The difficulty which arises if words denote things having external reality only is now pointed out.
[Read verse 43 above]
Remarks: sattā labhyaṃ ca labhyate is a doubtful text. sattā should probably be labdhā. labhyate may be an error for lābhaśca.
[If words denote things having external Being, expressions like aṅkuro jāyate would be impossible. Jāyate stands for birth. Birth means the assumption of its form by something. There is the thing which assumes its form, the form which it assumes and the act of assumption itself. All the three exist. That is why one cannot speak about a thing being born, as in aṅkuro jāyate. That which already exists cannot be born. If it does not exist who is the agent denoted by the suffix of the verb expressive of the act of being born? If it already exists, how can it be born? The meaning of the root also becomes impossible.]
Another illustration of the same difficulty is given.