Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 5.2.6, 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 (‘cause of evaporation of water, continued’) contained in Chapter 2—Of Non-volitional Action—of Book V (of investigation of action).
Sūtra 5.2.6 (Cause of evaporation of water, continued)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 5.2.6:
नोदनापीडनात् संयुक्तसंयोगाच्च ॥ ५.२.६ ॥
nodanāpīḍanāt saṃyuktasaṃyogācca || 5.2.6 ||
nodana-āpīḍanāt—from concussion, or being violently shaken by or through the impulse; saṃyukta-saṃyogāt—from conjunction with the conjunct; ca—and.
6. (Particles of water fly upwards), by means of concussion with impulse, and of conjunction with the conjunct.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
But how do the sun’s rays come to possess such power that they carry up water lying on the earth? Hence he says.
[Read sūtra 5.2.6 above]
Particles of water fly up, being conjoined with the sun’s rays, which are, in turn, conjoined with air, through concussion with the impulse of strong wind; in the same way as the rays of fire, bestirred by air, carry up particles of water boiling in a cauldron. The word ‘ca’ conveys the sense of ‘as.’ And here only particles of water boiling in a cauldron should be observed to be the simile.—6.
Note: Upaskāra compares the two processes of evaporation and ebullition of water.