Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary

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

The Vaisheshika-sutra 6.2.8, 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 (‘to produce exaltation, purity must be coupled with self-restraint’) contained in Chapter 2—Of the Production of Dharma and A-dharma—of Book VI (of the investigation of dharma and a-dharma.).

Sūtra 6.2.8 (To produce exaltation, purity must be coupled with self-restraint)

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 6.2.8:

अयतस्य शुचिभोजनादभ्युदयो न विद्यते नियमाभावाद् विद्यते वार्ऽथान्तरत्वाद् यमस्य ॥ ६.२.८ ॥

ayatasya śucibhojanādabhyudayo na vidyate niyamābhāvād vidyate vār'thāntaratvād yamasya || 6.2.8 ||

ayatasya—of the unrestrained; śuci-bhojanāt—from eating that which is pure; abhyudayaḥ—exaltation; na—not; vidyate—exists; Accrues. niyama-abhāvāt—owing to the absence of self-restraint; vidyate—exists; Accrues. va—and; artha-antaratvāt—being a different thing; yamasya—of self-restraint.

8. To the unrestrained, exaltation does not accrue from eating what is pure, inasmuch as there is an absence of self-restraint; and it accrues, (where there is self-restraint), inasmuch as self-restraint is a different thing (from eating).

Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:

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

Now ho points ont another contributory cause of dharma and adharma:

[Read sūtra 6.2.8 above]

‘Ayatasya’ means void of restraint, or unrestraint. The eating of one, void of the restraints brought out in such precepts as. “A man should take food after washing his hands and feet, and rinsing his mouth, restrained in speech, while taking food, though restrained, he should twice rinse his mouth,” does not tend to exaltation, but to sin. It may be asked, Why? Hence he says, ‘niyama-abhāvāt,’ i.e., owing to the absence of self-restaint, which is a contributory cause. That which takes place where self-restraint exists, is now stated. ‘Vidyate va, i.e., exaltation verily accrues from eating by means of the accompaniment of the self-restraint mentioned above. It may be asked, How? So he says, ‘Artha-antaratvāt yamasya,’ i.e., because self-restraint is something else than eating. Therefore the meaning is that without the contributory cause there is no production of the fruit, and that with it, there is production of the fruit.—8.

Commentary: The Bhāṣya of Candrakānta:

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

Candrakānta reads Vidyateva’rthāntaratvāt yamasya as a separate aphorism.

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