Text 145

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of Text 145:

सत् प्रत्ययकर्मविधिः । कथं चिकीर्षितेषु यज्ञाध्ययनदानकृष्यादिषु यदा हस्तम् उत्क्षेप्तुम् इच्छत्यपक्षेप्तुं वा तदा हस्तवत्यात्मप्रदेशे प्रयत्नः संजायते तं प्रयत्नं गुरुत्वा चोपेक्षमाणाद् आत्महस्तसम्योगाद् धस्ते कर्म भवति हस्तवत् सर्वशरीरावयवेषु पादादिषु शरीरे चेति । तत् सम्बद्धेष्वपि कथं यदा हस्तेन मुसलं गृहीत्वेच्छां करोति उत्क्षिपामि हस्तेन मुसलम् इति तदनन्तरं प्रयत्नस्तम् अपेक्षमणाद् आत्महस्तसम्योगाद् यस्मिन्न् एव काले हस्ते उत्क्षेपणकर्मोत्पद्यते तस्मिन्न् एव काले तम् एव प्रयत्नम् अपेक्षमाणाद् धस्तमुसलसम्योगात् मुसलएऽपि कर्मेति । ततो दूरम् उत्क्षिप्ते मुसले तदर्थेच्छा निवर्तते पुनरप्यपक्षेपणेच्छोत्पद्यते तदनतरं प्रयत्नस्तम् अपेक्षमाणाद् यथोक्तात् सम्योगाद् धस्तमुसलयोर्युगपद् अपक्षेपणकर्मणी भवतः ततोऽन्त्येन मुसलकर्मणोलूखलमुसलयोरभिघाताख्यः सम्योगः क्रियते स सम्योगोमुसलगतवेगम् अपेक्षमाणोऽप्रत्ययं मुसले उत्पतनकर्म करोति । तत् कर्माभिघातापेक्षं मुसले संस्कारम् आरभते तम् अपेक्ष्य मुसलहस्तसम्योगोऽप्रययं हतेऽप्युत्पतनकर्म करोति । यद्यपि प्राक्तनः संस्कारो विनष्टः तथापि मुसलोलूखलयोः सम्योगः पटुकर्मोत्पादकः सम्योगविशेषभावात् तस्य संस्कारारम्भे साचिव्यसमर्थो भवति । अथवा प्राक्तन एव पटुः संस्कारोऽभिघाताद् अविनश्यन्न् अवस्थित इति । अतः संस्कारवति पुनः संस्कारारम्भो नास्त्यतो यस्मिन् काले संस्कारापेक्षाद् अभिघाताद् अप्रययं मुसले उत्पतनकर्म तस्मिन्न् एव काले तम् एव संस्कारम् अपेक्षमाणात् मुसलहस्तसम्योगाद् अप्रत्ययं हस्तेऽप्युत्पतनकर्मेति ॥ १४५ ॥

sat pratyayakarmavidhiḥ | kathaṃ cikīrṣiteṣu yajñādhyayanadānakṛṣyādiṣu yadā hastam utkṣeptum icchatyapakṣeptuṃ vā tadā hastavatyātmapradeśe prayatnaḥ saṃjāyate taṃ prayatnaṃ gurutvā copekṣamāṇād ātmahastasamyogād dhaste karma bhavati hastavat sarvaśarīrāvayaveṣu pādādiṣu śarīre ceti | tat sambaddheṣvapi kathaṃ yadā hastena musalaṃ gṛhītvecchāṃ karoti utkṣipāmi hastena musalam iti tadanantaraṃ prayatnastam apekṣamaṇād ātmahastasamyogād yasminn eva kāle haste utkṣepaṇakarmotpadyate tasminn eva kāle tam eva prayatnam apekṣamāṇād dhastamusalasamyogāt musalae'pi karmeti | tato dūram utkṣipte musale tadarthecchā nivartate punarapyapakṣepaṇecchotpadyate tadanataraṃ prayatnastam apekṣamāṇād yathoktāt samyogād dhastamusalayoryugapad apakṣepaṇakarmaṇī bhavataḥ tato'ntyena musalakarmaṇolūkhalamusalayorabhighātākhyaḥ samyogaḥ kriyate sa samyogomusalagatavegam apekṣamāṇo'pratyayaṃ musale utpatanakarma karoti | tat karmābhighātāpekṣaṃ musale saṃskāram ārabhate tam apekṣya musalahastasamyogo'prayayaṃ hate'pyutpatanakarma karoti | yadyapi prāktanaḥ saṃskāro vinaṣṭaḥ tathāpi musalolūkhalayoḥ samyogaḥ paṭukarmotpādakaḥ samyogaviśeṣabhāvāt tasya saṃskārārambhe sācivyasamartho bhavati | athavā prāktana eva paṭuḥ saṃskāro'bhighātād avinaśyann avasthita iti | ataḥ saṃskāravati punaḥ saṃskārārambho nāstyato yasmin kāle saṃskārāpekṣād abhighātād aprayayaṃ musale utpatanakarma tasminn eva kāle tam eva saṃskāram apekṣamāṇāt musalahastasamyogād apratyayaṃ haste'pyutpatanakarmeti || 145 ||

Text (145): We proceed io explain the process of ‘conscious’ Action:—When one wishes to perform. such acts as sacrifices, study, giving, landcultivation and the like,—if he wishes to ‘throw up’ his hands or ‘throw it down’ then there arises an effort in the soul occupying the regions of the hand; and the ‘contact of the soul and the hand,’ aided by that effort and gravity, produces an action (motion) in the hand; and similarly in the case of the other limbs of the body, the leg &c.—(V-i-1).

Question: “How is it with regard to the things connected with the hand &c.?”

Answer: Taking up the stick, the man has the desire to ‘throw it up’ by means of the hand; then follows an effort on his part; and when this effort influences the contact of the soul with the hand, there appears in the hand the action of being ‘thrown up’ or raised; and simultaneously with this, there arises a like action in the stick, following from the contact of the hand and the stick, as affected by the said effort.—(V-i-1, 3).

Then again, when the stick has been thrown up to a a certain, point, the desire for throwing it up disappears; and there appears a desire to ‘bring it down’; this is followed by an effort which, affecting the aforesaid contact, brings about the simultaneous bringing down of the hand and the stick; and the last of the series of downward motions, of the stick brings about the particular kind of conjunction, called ‘abhighāta’, ‘thumping’ (or ‘striking’), of the stick with the mortar; this conjunction influenced by the momentum set up in the stick produces in this latter an ‘unconscious’ action in the shape of an upward rebound.—(V-i-3).

This last action and the aforesaid thumping set up in the stick a certain faculty or momentum; and by the help of this faculty, the contact of the hand with the stick produces in the hand also an ‘unconscious’ action in the form of the upward rebound. Even though the previous faculty (of the stick) is destroyed, (by the thumping) yet the contact of the stick and the mortar, being capable of producing a forcible action, becomes capable of producing and other faculty, by reason of the peculiar character of the contact.—(V-i-4, 5).

Or, it may be that the previous faculty itself being forcible, continues to exist, not being wholly destroyed by the thumping. And hence when an object has a faculty present in it already there is no other faculty produced in the same; hence at the time when the thumping aided by the faculty produces in the stick the ‘unconscious’ action of the upward rebouned [rebounded?], that same faculty helps the hand-stick contact to produce in the hand also the unconscious’ action of the upward rebound.—(V-i-3 to 5).

Commentary: The Nyāyakandalī of Śrīdhara.

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

The author means to say that he is now going to describe the process of conscious action,—i.e., such action as is preceded by ah effort on the part of the human agent.

Being asked as to how it is, he proceeds to explain. When one wishes to perform any such action as a sacrifice and the like; when he wishes to raise his hand, then there arises, in that part of the soul which occupies the regions of the hand, an effort; and by the instrumentality of this effort, the handsoul contact acts as the nonmaterial cause in bringing about an action in the hand. Even though there were an effort, if the object in question had no gravity, any raising or bringing down of it would be absolutely impossible; hence gravity also is mentioned as one of the causes.

So also in the case of other limbs &c. An action of the feet is produced by the instrumentally of. the effort of the soul occupying the regions of the feet; and the non material cause of this is the contact of the feet and the soul. The same may be said with regard to the production of action in other limbs of the body. In the production of an action of the body also, the body-soul contact is the nonmaterial cause, and the effort produced in the soul occupying the regions of the body the instrumental cause.

Question: “How is action produced in things connected with the limbs of the body?”

Answer: Taking hold of the stick, when the man has the desire to raise it with his hand, this desire for the simultaneously raising of the hand and the stick produces an effort which is peculiarly fitted for bringing about the joint raising; and by the instrumentality of this peculiar effort, the hand-soul contact serves as the nonmaterial cause to bring about the raising of the hand; and simultaneously with this, by the instrumentality of the same effort, a similar action is produced in the stick also, by the hand-stick contact as the nonmaterial cause; the simultaneity of the two actions being due to the simultaneity in the operation of their causes.

Thus then when the stick has been raised to a certain point, the desire for raising it ceases; and there appears a desire for bringing it down; this is followed by an effort; which, like the effort in the case of raising, appears endowed with a double force; and by the instrumentalty [instrumentality?] of this peculiar effort, the hand-soul contact and the hand-stick contact serves as the non-material causes in bringing about the bringing down of the hand, and that of the stick respectively. And the final action of the stick thus brought down in this case brings about the conjunction of the stick with the mortar—-this conjunction being called ‘abhighāta’ or ‘thumping;’ and this thumping produces an ‘unconscious’ action in the stick, in the shape of an ‘upward rebound,’ by the instrumentality of the momentum imparted to the stick; and thus of this ‘upward rebound’ the momentum is the instrumental, and the stick the material, cause.

This action of the upward rebounding, through the thumping, produces in the stick a certain faculty, in the form of a force or momeotum; and by the instrumentality of this force, the hand-stick contact serves as the nonmaterial cause in the bringing about in the band also the action of upward rebound, which is ‘unconscious’—i.e., not produced by any effort on the part of the human agent.

Objection: “The faculty that was produced in the stick by the action of bringing it down is destroyed by the thumping—i.e. by its striking the mortar; and in the absence of this faculty, how can the unconscious rebound of the stick produce any such faculty or force as has been described? There would be no auxilliary cause available.”

Answer: Though the previous faculty is destroyed, the stick-mortar contact is capable of bringing about a ‘forcible action’—i.e. an action capable of producing a faculty; and this is by reason of the peculiar nature of the contact.

Question: “What if it is so?”

Answer: That contact becomes capable of helping in the production of the faculty in question. In accordance with this view, the rebounding of the hand and the stick would come one after the other, and not simultaneously; and the notion of simultaneity would be due to the one following very soon, after the other.

Another explanation is given: The previous faculty itself may be regarded as strong enough not to be destroyed by the thumping; that is, because of its having been brought about by peculiarly forcible causes, the faculty in the stick would not be destroyed by its coining into contact with a tangible object (in the shape of the mortar), and thus the previous faculty in the stick, which is already possessed of this faculty, being not destroyed; no other faculty is produced. At the time that the faculty helps the thumping to produce the unconscious action of upward rebound in the stick, there is also produced the unconscious upward rebound of the hand, by the instrumentality of the same faculty helping the hand-stick contact In accordance with this view there would be an actual simultaneity between the rebounds of the hand and that of the stick.