Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 7.1.14, 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 4 (‘minuteness and magnitude...’) contained in Chapter 1—Of Colour, Taste, Smell, and Touch, and Magnitude—of Book VII (of the examination of attributes and of combination).
Sūtra 7.1.14 (Minuteness and magnitude...)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 7.1.14:
अणुत्वमहत्त्वयोरणुत्वमहत्त्वाभावः कर्मगुणैर्व्याख्यातः ॥ ७.१.१४ ॥
aṇutvamahattvayoraṇutvamahattvābhāvaḥ karmaguṇairvyākhyātaḥ || 7.1.14 ||
aṇutva-mahattvayoḥ—in minuteness and magnitude; aṇutva-mahattva-abhāvaḥ—non-existence of minuteness and of magnitude; karma-guṇaiḥ—by Actions and Attributes; vyākhyātaḥ—explained.
14. The non-existence of minuteness and magnitude, in minuteness and magnitude, is explained by (the explanation, already given, of the non-existence of Actions and Attributes, in) Actions and Attributes.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
[Full title: Minuteness and magnitude do not exist in minuteness and magnitude]
It may be objected: In virtue of the usage, “Small Measure or Extension,” “Large Measure or Extension,” it is known that there is magnitude also in magnitude as a measure or extension, and that there is smallness in smallness also. How, then, can these be said to exist in Substance alone? How, again, does not the contradiction result, in Attribute, of being existent in Attribute?
[Read sūtra 7.1.14 above]
To this he replies:
The meaning is that as Attribute and Actions do not possess minuteness and magnitude, so also do not minuteness and magnitude possess minuteness and magnitude. The usage should be regarded as derivative.—14.