Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 1.1.18, English translation, including commentaries such as the Upaskara of Shankara Mishra, the Vivriti of Jayanarayana-Tarkapanchanana and the Bhashya of Chandrakanta. The Vaisheshika Sutras teaches the science freedom (moksha-shastra) and the various aspects of the soul (eg., it's nature, suffering and rebirth under the law of karma). This is sutra 8 (‘resemblance of substance, attribute, and action’) contained in Chapter 1—Of Substance, Attribute, and Action—of Book I (of the predicables).
Sūtra 1.1.18 (Resemblance of Substance, Attribute, and Action)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 1.1.18:
द्रव्यगुणकर्मणां द्रव्यं कारणं सामान्यम् ॥ १.१.१८ ॥
dravyaguṇakarmaṇāṃ dravyaṃ kāraṇaṃ sāmānyam || 1.1.18 ||
dravya-guṇa-karmaṇām—Of Substance, Attribute, and Action; dravyam—Substance; kāraṇam—cause; sāmānyam—Common, Uniform.
18. Substance is the one and the same cause of Substance, Attribute, and Action.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
Now he begins the topic of the Resemblance of the three only by way of their cause:—[Read sūtra 1.1.18 above]
‘Sāmānyam’ (common) means the same one, as in ‘These two have a common mother.’ The meaning is that Substance, Attribute and Action exist in one and the same Substance which is their combinative cause.
The Resemblance of the three lies in the possession of the genus having the function of that which has Substance as its combinasive cause.—18.