Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 5.1.8, 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 8 (‘falling how produced—continued’) contained in Chapter 1—Of Voluntary Action—of Book V (of investigation of action).
Sūtra 5.1.8 (Falling how produced—continued)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 5.1.8:
नोदनविशेषाभावान्नोर्ध्वं न तिर्यग्गमनम् ॥ ५.१.८ ॥
nodanaviśeṣābhāvānnordhvaṃ na tiryaggamanam || 5.1.8 ||
nodana-viśeṣa-abhāvāt—owing to the absence of a particular movement or impulse; na—not; urddhvam—upward; na—not; tiryak—oblique, sideward; gamanam—going.
8. Owing to the absence of a particular molecular movement, there arises no upward or sideward motion (in the fruit, bird, and arrow).
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
Will, if falling is caused by gravity, then how can there be sometimes an upward, and sometimes a sideward motion in a stone, etc., when thrown up? To meet this objection, he says:
[Read sūtra 5.1.8 above]
The upward or sideward motion which takes place in a stone, arrow, etc., though they possess gravity, results from a particular i.e., a violent, molecular movement. So that in the case of the falling of a fruit, a bird, an arrow, etc., in the absence of conjunction, volition, and re-action, there does not exist a particular movement, and consequently there is no upward or sideward motion. This is the sense.—8.