Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 2.2.11, 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 (‘like air, space is a substance, and is eternal’) contained in Chapter 2—Of the Five Bhutas, Time, and Space—of Book II (of substances).
Sūtra 2.2.11 (Like Air, Space is a Substance, and is eternal)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 2.2.11:
द्रव्यत्व नित्यत्वे वायुना व्याख्याते ॥ २.२.११ ॥
dravyatva nityatve vāyunā vyākhyāte || 2.2.11 ||
dravyatva-nityatve—Substance-ness and eternality; vāyunā—by Air; vyākhāyāte—explained.
11. The substanceness and eternality (of Space are) explained by (the explanation of the Substance-ness and eternality of) Air.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
Substance-ness and also eternality belong to Space in the same way as to the ultimate atom of Air. So he says:
[Read sūtra 2.2.11 above]
The meaning is that it possesses Substance-ness, because it possesses Attributes, and eternality, because it is independent of or nonresident in any other substance.—11.