Text 129

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Text 129:

प्रयत्नः संरम्भ उत्साह इति प्रयायाः । सद् विविधो जीवनपूर्वः इच्छाद्वेषपूर्वकश्च । तत्र जीवनपूर्वकः सुप्तस्य प्राणापानसन्तानप्रेरकः प्रबोधकाले चान्तह्करणस्येन्द्रियान्तरप्राप्तिहेतुः । अस्य जीवनपूर्वकस्यात्ममनसोः सम्योगाद् धर्माधर्मापेक्षाद् उत्पत्तिः । इतरस्तु हिताहितप्राप्तिपर्हिहारसमर्थस्य व्यापारस्य हेतुः शरीरविधारकश्च । स चातम्मनसोः सम्योगाद् इच्छापेक्षाद् द्वेषापेक्षाद् वोत्पद्यते ॥ १२९ ॥

gurutvaṃ jalabhūmyoḥ patanakarmakāraṇam | apratyakṣaṃ patanakarmānumeyaṃ samyogaprayatnasāṃskāravirodhi | asya cābādiparamāṇurūpādivan nityānityatvaniṣpattayaḥ || 129 ||

Text (129): Gravity resides in Water & Earth, and is the cause of the action of falling; it is imperceptible; it is inferable from, the action of falling; and it is neutralised by Conjunction, Effort and Faculty. The Eternality and Evanescence of this are in the same manner as those of the colour of the atoms of Water and other Substances.—(V-i-7 to 18; V-ii-3).

Commentary: The Nyāyakandalī of Śrīdhara.

(English rendering of Śrīdhara’s commentary called Nyāyakandalī or Nyāyakaṇḍalī from the 10th century)

Gravity is &c. This sentence points out the substratum of Gravity. Its effect consists in the form of the falling of substances. That it is imperceptible is its peculiar characterestic; it is a quality that is not perceived by any of the senseorgans.

Some people hold that Gravity is perceptible by the organ of touch. But if it were so, then we could perceive the Gravity of an object upon which we would be sitting, exactly in ths same way that we perceive its warmth or coolness to the touch; specially as in the perception of its objective, the organ of touch does not stand in need of any other condition save its own proximity or contact. As for the fact of our cognising the gravity of objects upon our head or on our hands, that cognition is due to the quality being inferred from the lowering down of our hand &c. (caused by the weight put upon it.) Hence in anticipation of the question—“if the quality is super-sensuous how is it cognised?”—the author has added—‘it is inferable from the action of falling:’ That is to say, according to us Gravity is only that material cause of falling which subsists, with this falling, in the composite object that falls. This sets aside the following declaration made by others: “Gravity does not reside in the composite object (but in the component parts), as in the object we do not perceive any lowering down which is the peculiar effect of Gravity as if it were so, then there would be no falling of composit objects:

It might be argued that “the falling is due to the Gravity of the component parts”; but then the Gravity and the consequent falling of these parts also will have to be regarded as being due to the Gravity of their constituent parts; and so on and on we would come to have Gravity in the component atoms alone; and thus there would be no Gravity in any products at all!

Objection: “We assume the existence of Gravity in the component parts themselves, because the falling of these could nut be due to the gravity of the constituents of these parts; as any such gravity would not be co-existent with the action of falling (the gravity asiding in the parts, and the falling in the parts made up of these parts).”

Reply: Exactly the same reasoning would lead us to assume the existence of Gravity in the composite object itself. As for the fact of our not perceiving any effect of the Gravity of the composite object, apart from that produced by that of its component parts,—this is due to the difference between the Gravity of the objects and that of its parts taken together being infinitesimal. As for instance, when a large object is raised, we do not perceive any i effects of the Gravity of the smaller objects that may be lying on the larger object.

Gravity is neutralised by conjunction, effort and faculty (in the form of speed); as when obstructed by these it does not bring about its effect. For instance, there is no falling of the man in the palki, because of his contact with this latter object; the body of man does not fall, because Gravity is counteracted by the effort of the man to keep standing; the arrow shot out does not drop down, as its Gravity is neutralised by the speed or momentum imparted to it.

The eternality &c.—That is to say, just as the colour etc. of the atom of Water are eternal, so is the Gravity of the atom of Earth and Water eternal; and as the colour etc., of the aqueous products are evanescent, being produced by the colour etc., of the component molecules, and being destroyed by the destruction of their substrates,—so also is the Gravity of products (evanescent, being produced by the Gravity of the component. molecules, and destroyed by the destruction of its substractes [substrates?]).