Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 2.1.21, 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 1 (‘the above are no marks’) contained in Chapter 1—Of Earth, Waters, Fire, Air, and Ether—of Book II (of substances).
Sūtra 2.1.21 (The above are no marks)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 2.1.21:
तदलिङ्गमेकद्रव्यत्वात् कर्मणः ॥ २.१.२१ ॥
tadaliṅgamekadravyatvāt karmaṇaḥ || 2.1.21 ||
tat—that, i; e., movement or egress and ingress. aliṅgam—no mark; eka-dravyatvāt—having but one Substance; karmaṇaḥ—of an action.
21.That is no mark, as an Action has but one Substance (as its combinative cause).
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
To discredit this view he savs:
[Read sūtra 2.1.21 above]
Actions such as egress, ingress, etc., do not at all infer Ether as their combinative cause, because Action ‘has but one Substance,’ in other words, has only corporal Substance as its combinative cause.
Action also, it has been already stated, doos not simultaneously appear in more than one place, nor does it appear in non-corporal Substances.—21.