Sūtra 4.11

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Sūtra 4.11:

हेतुफलाश्रयालम्बनैः संगृहीतत्वाद् एषाम् अभावे तदभावः ॥ ४.११ ॥

hetuphalāśrayālambanaiḥ saṃgṛhītatvād eṣām abhāve tadabhāvaḥ || 4.11 ||

hetu—cause. phala—motive. āśraya—substratum. ālambana—object by all these four, saṃgṛhītatvāt—being held together, eṣām—of these, abhāve—on the disappearance. tad—of them, abhāvaḥ—disappearance.

11. Being held together by Cause, Motive, Substratum and Object they disappear on-the-disappearance of these.—-171.

The Sankhya-pravachana commentary of Vyasa

[English translation of the 7th century commentary by Vyāsa called the Sāṅkhya-pravacana, Vyāsabhāṣya or Yogabhāṣya]

[Sanskrit text for commentary available]

The cause:—By virtue comes pleasure, by vice pain. From pleasure comes attachment; from pain aversion. Thence comes effort. Thereby, acting, by mind, body and speech, one either favours or injures others. Thence come again virtue and vice, pleasure and pain, attachment and aversion. Thus it is that revolves the six-spoked wheel of the world. And the driver of this wheel is Nescience, the root of the afflictions. This is the Cause.

Motive or Fruit is that with a view to which appropriate virtue, &c., is brought about. There is no non-sequential manifestation.

The Substratum is the mind which has yet a duty to perform. It is there that the residua live. They no longer care to live in a mind which has already performed its duty; their substratum is gone.

The Object (ālambana) of the residua is the substance which when placed in contact calls them forth.

Thus are all the residua held together by Cause, Fruit, Substratum and Object.

When these exist not, the residua which depend upon them for existence, disappear too.—171.

The Gloss of Vachaspati Mishra

[English translation of the 9th century Tattvavaiśāradī by Vācaspatimiśra]

Now if these mental modifications and the residua are without beginning, how can they be destroyed? The power of consciousness which is eternal is not destroyed. For this reason he says:—‘Being held together by Cause, Fruit, Substratum and Object, they disappear in the absence of these.’

It is observed that those that have no beginning are also destroyed. Take, for example, the case of futurity. The proposition, therefore, fails and is no proof. The power of consciousness is not destroyed, because there is cause which might cause its destruction, not because it has no beginning. And the aphorism too mentions the causes of the destruction of the residua although they are without a beginning. Kindness and injury too point to the causes of virtue and vice, &c. By this the use of spirituous liquors, &c., is also understood.

He mentions the reason thereof:—‘The root of the afflictions, &c.’

‘Is brought about’ means that it is present. It does not mean that the substance virtue is produced.

Mentions reason thereof:—‘There is no, &c.’

‘With a view to which’ means the substance which is in front, contact with the beloved, &c. The meaning of the aphorism is that, in the absence of the pervader the pervaded is absent.—11.