Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 1.1.22, 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 2 (‘above continued’) contained in Chapter 1—Of Substance, Attribute, and Action—of Book I (of the predicables).
Sūtra 1.1.22 (Above continued)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 1.1.22:
व्यतिरेकात् ॥ १.१.२२ ॥
vyatirekāt || 1.1.22 ||
vyatirekāt—because of cessation.
22. (Action is not the cause of Substance) because of its cessation.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
He points out why it is so:—[Read sūtra 1.1.22 above]
‘Vyatirekāt’ means on account of cessation. Substance is produced, on the cessation of Action by the ultimate Conjunction; therefore Action is not the cause of Substance. Neither is Action which has ceased to exist, a cause of Substance. Moreover if Action be such a cause, it must be either the non-combinative cause of Substance or its conditional cause. It cannot be the first, because then it will follow that Substance will be destroyed, even on the destruction of the Action of the parts, inasmuch as Substance is capable of being destroyed by the destruction of the non-combinative cause. Nor can it be the second, for in that case there will be a violation of the rule, since small pieces of cloth being produced just from the Conjunctions still existing after the destruction of a large piece of cloth, it is seen that even parts which are devoid of Action, originate Substance.—22.
Commentary: The Bhāṣya of Candrakānta:
(English translation of Candrakānta Tarkālaṅkāra’s Bhāṣya called the Vaiśeṣikabhāṣya from the 19th century)
Candrakānta reads I, i. 21 and 22 as one aphorism, and interprets it thus: Action does not become the immediate cause of substances. “Why? In consequence of its cessation. For, when a Substance becomes what it is, at that moment cessation of Action takes place. Action in the constituent parts of a Substance ceases on conjunction, and the Substance becomes what it is. Action, therefore, is not an immediate cause in the production of Substances. What the author means to say is, as the expression shows, that the mediate causality of Action in the production of Substance is not refuted.