Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 7.2.5, 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 (‘cognition of unity in attribute and action is erroneous’) contained in Chapter 2—Of Number, Separateness, Conjunction, etc.—of Book VII (of the examination of attributes and of combination).
Sūtra 7.2.5 (Cognition of Unity in Attribute and Action is erroneous)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 7.2.5:
भ्रान्तं तत् ॥ ७.२.५ ॥
bhrāntaṃ tat || 7.2.5 ||
bhrāntaṃ—mistaken, Erroneous; tat—that, ie, the cognition of Unity in Action and Attribute.
5. That (i.e., the cognition of Unity in Action and Attribute) is erroneous.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
How, then, do such cognitions arise, as “One colour,” “One taste,” etc.? To this, he replies:
[Read sūtra 7.2.5 above]
The meaning is that the cognition of Unity which arises in the case of Attributes and Actions, is erroneous. ‘Cognition’—this is the conplement of the aphorism, because an objection of the opponent has been thrown into it. The application (of Unity in these cases) is, however derivative, and it is non-difference from itself, or self-identity, which constitutes the derivation. Nor is Unity nothing but that (i.e., self-identity), for the reply has been already given.—4.
Commentary: The Bhāṣya of Candrakānta:
(English translation of Candrakānta Tarkālaṅkāra’s Bhāṣya called the Vaiśeṣikabhāṣya from the 19th century)
Candrakānta explains VII. ii. 5 as demolishing the view contained in VII. ii, 4.