Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary

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

The Vaisheshika-sutra 5.2.2, 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 2 (‘above continued’) contained in Chapter 2—Of Non-volitional Action—of Book V (of investigation of action).

Sūtra 5.2.2 (Above continued)

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 5.2.2:

तद्विशेषेणादृष्टकारितम् ॥ ५.२.२ ॥

tadviśeṣeṇādṛṣṭakāritam || 5.2.2 ||

tat—that, i; e., action in Earth. viśeṣeṇa—with a particular consequence; adṛṣṭa-kāritam—caused by adṛṣṭa or destiny.

2. (If action in Earth happens) with a particular consequence, it is caused by adṛṣṭa.

Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:

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

But what is the non-combinative cause of earthquake, etc., which take place without the intervention of impulse and impact? He gives the answer:

[Read sūtra 5.2.2 above]

‘Tat’ alludes to action in Earth. Action in Earth alone, if it happens with a particular consequence, i.e., under the tendency (vāsanā) of transmigratory souls towards birth, life, and experience (bhoga), is then caused by adṛṣṭa. Therefore, the non-combinative cause of earthquake is conjunction of the soul, possessing adṛṣṭa, of a person whose pleasure or pain is produced by the earthquake; the earth is the combinative cause; and adṛṣṭa is the efficient cause.

‘Or’ ‘tat’ alludes to impulse and impact. ‘Viśeṣaḥ’ means absence. So that, the meaning is, action in Earth, which is produced in the absence of impulse and impact, is caused by adṛṣṭa.—2.

Commentary: The Bhāṣya of Candrakānta:

(English translation of Candrakānta Tarkālaṅkāra’s Bhāṣya called the Vaiśeṣikabhāṣya from the 19th century)

Candrakānta explains adṛṣṭa in V. ii. 2 in the sense of unseen natural force, the causes of seismic disturbances, of the revolution of the terrestrial globe round the sun, and of other actions in Earth.

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