Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 5.2.7, 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 7 (‘cause of circulation of water in trees’) contained in Chapter 2—Of Non-volitional Action—of Book V (of investigation of action).
Sūtra 5.2.7 (Cause of circulation of water in trees)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 5.2.7:
वृक्षाभिसर्पणमित्यदृष्टकारितम् ॥ ५.२.७ ॥
vṛkṣābhisarpaṇamityadṛṣṭakāritam || 5.2.7 ||
vṛkṣa-abhisarpaṇam—circulation in trees; iti—this; adṛṣṭa-kāritam—caused by adṛṣṭa or destiny.
7. The circulation (of water) in trees is caused by adṛṣṭa.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
Water poured at the root, goes up in all directions, through the interior of a tree. Neither impulse and impact, nor the sun’s rays prevail there. How, then, is it caused? He gives the answer.
[Read sūtra 5.2.7 above]
‘Abhisarpaṇam’ means flowing towards or all over. That takes place in a tree, of water poured at its root. It is caused by adṛṣṭa, i.e., of those souls whose pleasure or pain is produced by the growth of the leaves, branches, fruits, flowers, etc. The meaning, then, is that action by which water rises up and causes the growth of trees, arises from con junction with the above-mentioned souls, possessing adṛṣṭa, as its non-combinative cause, and from adṛṣṭam, as its efficient cause, in water which is its combinative cause.—7.