Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 1.1.19, 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 9 (‘above continued’) contained in Chapter 1—Of Substance, Attribute, and Action—of Book I (of the predicables).
Sūtra 1.1.19 (Above continued)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 1.1.19:
तथा गुणः ॥ १.१.१९ ॥
tathā guṇaḥ || 1.1.19 ||
tathā—Similarly; guṇaḥ—Attribute.
19. Similarly Attribute (is the common 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)
He states the Resemblance of the three as having Attribute as their non-oombinative cause:—[Read sūtra 1.1.19 above]
The Resemblance of the three lies in the possession of the genus-residing in that which has Attribute as its non-combinative cause. Conjunction is the non-combinative cause of substance. The possession, as their non-combinative cause, of Attributes which are the causes of their congeners, belongs to the Attributes of effects, e.g., Colour, Taste, Smell, Touch, Number, Extension or Magnitude, Separateness, etc. The Attributes of the ulimate [ultimate?] atoms of Earth have Conjunction with Fire as their non-combinative cause. The non-combinative cause of Actions, however, are Fire etc., internal vibration, impact, weight, fluidity, impression, conjunction with soul possessing invisible consequences of Actions (adṛṣṭa), conjunction with Soul exercising Volition, etc. These should be respectively understood by the reader. Sometimes-even one Attribute gives rise to all the three Substance, Attribute and Action; for instance. Conjunction with a ball of cotton possessed of Impetus, produces Action in another ball of cotton, originates a Substance, viz., an aggregate of two balls of cotton, and the Extension of that aggregate also. Sometimes a single Attribute originates a Substance and an Attribute; e.g., Conjunction which may be described as an aggregation independent of Impetus, with a ball of cotton as well as its Extension.—19
Commentary: The Bhāṣya of Candrakānta:
(English translation of Candrakānta Tarkālaṅkāra’s Bhāṣya called the Vaiśeṣikabhāṣya from the 19th century)
Candrakānta reads I. i. 19, as Ubhayathā guṇāḥ and, interprets it to mean that Attributes sometimes become the cause of Substance. Attribute, and Action, and sometimes do not.