Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary

by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165

The Vaisheshika-sutra 2.2.26, 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 6 (‘above continued’) contained in Chapter 2—Of the Five Bhutas, Time, and Space—of Book II (of substances).

Sūtra 2.2.26 (Above continued)

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 2.2.26:

सतो लिङ्गाभावात् ॥ २.२.२६ ॥

sato liṅgābhāvāt || 2.2.26 ||

sataḥ—of (Sound as) existent; liṅgābhāvāt—from the absence of mark.

26. (Sound does not exist before utterance), because there is no mark of (Sound as) evistent (before utterance).

Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:

(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)

It may be said, “Let Sound be proved as an Attribute. Still it cannot be the mark of the existence of Ether. For it would justify the inference of Ether, if it were an effect of it. But it is eternal instead Its occasional non-cognition, however, is due to the absence of something which could reveal it.” With this apprehension, he says:

[Read sūtra 2.2.26 above]

For, if Sound were existent (before and after utterance), then there would be found some ‘mark,’ i.e., additional proof, of it as existent. But in the state of non-hearing, there is no proof that Sound exists. Therefore it is only an effect, and not something which reqṅires to be revealed only.—26.

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