Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 4.2.6, 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 (‘a-sexual bodies, how produced’) contained in Chapter 2—Of Tangible Atomic Products—of Book IV (of the origin of bodies).
Sūtra 4.2.6 (A-sexual bodies, how produced)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 4.2.6:
अनियतदिग्देशपूर्वकत्वात् ॥ ४.२.६ ॥
aniyatadigdeśapūrvakatvāt || 4.2.6 ||
a-niyata-dik-deśa-pūrvakatvāt—because it (i; e., a-sexual body) has for its antecedent ultimate atoms which are not constant in direction aud place.
6. Because a-sexual bodies are formed by ultimate atoms inconstant in direction and place.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
He states the cause from which a-sexual bodies are produced:
[Read sūtra 4.2.6 above]
Ultimate atoms, inconstant in direction and place, possess activity or movement produced by a particular dharma or virtue. And they are the antecedents of a-sexual bodies.—6.
Commentary: The Vivṛti of Jayanārāyaṇa:
(English extracts of Jayanārāyaṇa Tarkapañcānana’s Vivṛti or ‘gloss’ called the Kaṇādasūtravivṛti from the 17th century)
In the words of Varuṇa, etc., there exist a-sexual, aqueous, igneous, aerial, and mental bodies, which are not dependent, for their production, upon semen, blood, etc. Whence come the ultimate atoms which originate them? In the case of sexual bodies, it is observed that only the ultimate atoms of semen and blood are their originators. To remove this apprehension, the present aphorism has been formulated. Terrene, aqueous, igneous, and aerial ultimate atoms exist in all directions and in all places. Since there is nothing to confine them to direction and place, there can be no scarcity of ultimate atoms in the production of a-sexual bodies For it is not the case that ultimate atoms other than the ultimate atoms of semen and blood, are not originative of bodies, seeing that in that case there would be no production of gnats, mosquitoes, trees, shrubs, etc.