Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 6.2.15, 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 5 (‘dharma and adharma are causes of birth and death’) contained in Chapter 2—Of the Production of Dharma and A-dharma—of Book VI (of the investigation of dharma and a-dharma.).
Sūtra 6.2.15 (Dharma and adharma are causes of birth and death)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 6.2.15:
तत्संयोगो विभागः ॥ ६.२.१५ ॥
tatsaṃyogo vibhāgaḥ || 6.2.15 ||
tat-saṃyogaḥ—conjunction produced by them; vibhāgaḥ—disjunction.
15. Conjunction (of soul with body, sense, and life), produced by them (i.e., dharma and adharma), (is called birth); Disjunction (of body and mind, produced by them, is called death).
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
Now he states the end or object of dharma and adharma, i.e., reappearance after passing away:
[Read sūtra 6.2.15 above]
From these, namely dharma and adharma, conjunction, i.e., birth, results. Connection with non-pre-existing body, sense, and life is here termed conjunction. ‘Vibhāgaḥ’ again, denotes disjunction of body and mind, characterised as death. The meaning, therefore, is that this system of births and deaths, saṃsāra or ceaseless flow of existences, otherwise termed pretya-bhāva or re-appearance after passing away, is caused by dharma and adharma. The Vedic name of this very pretya-bhāva is ajarañjarī-bhāva or non-decrepit decrepitude.—15.