Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 5.2.13, 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 3 (‘causes of initial action of fire, air, atoms, and mind’) contained in Chapter 2—Of Non-volitional Action—of Book V (of investigation of action).
Sūtra 5.2.13 (Causes of initial action of fire, air, atoms, and mind)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 5.2.13:
अग्नेरूर्ध्वज्वलनं वायोस्तिर्यग्गमनं अणूनां मनसश्चाद्यं कर्मादृष्टकारितम् ॥ ५.२.१३ ॥
agnerūrdhvajvalanaṃ vāyostiryaggamanaṃ aṇūnāṃ manasaścādyaṃ karmādṛṣṭakāritam || 5.2.13 ||
agneḥ—of fire; ūrddhva-jvalanam—flaming upward; vāyoḥ—of air; tiryak—sideward; pavanam—blowing; aṇunām—of atoms; Manasaḥ. of mind. ca—and; ādyam—initial, first; karma—action; adṛṣṭa-kāritam—caused by adṛṣṭam.
13. The initial upward flaming of fire, the initial sideward blowing of air, and the initial actions of atoms, and of mind are caused by adṛṣṭa.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
He mentions other actions of which conjunction with soul possessing adṛṣṭa as the non-combinative cause.
[Read sūtra 5.2.13 above]
‘Ādya’ [ādyam] means contemporaneous with, or existing at, the beginning of creation. At that stage, impulse, impact, etc., being non-existent, conjunction with soul possessing adṛṣṭam is in these cases the non-combinative cause. The adjective, ‘initial,’ qualifies upward flaming, and sideward blowing also. It is proper to hold that impetus is the non-combinative cause of other (than initial) actions of fire and air, for there being a visible or known cause there is no occasion for the supposition of an invisible or unknown cause—13.