Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 8.2.1, 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 1 (‘cognition of a doubly specialized nature, illustrated’) contained in Chapter 2—Of Doubly Presentative Cognition—of Book VIII (of ordinary cognition by means of conjunction or combination).
Sūtra 8.2.1 (Cognition of a doubly specialized nature, illustrated)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 8.2.1:
अयमेष त्वया कृतं भोजयैनं इति बुद्ध्यपेक्षम् ॥ ८.२.१ ॥
ayameṣa tvayā kṛtaṃ bhojayainaṃ iti buddhyapekṣam || 8.2.1 ||
ayaṃ—this; eṣaḥ—that; tvayā—by you; kṛtaṃ—done; bhojaya—feed; enaṃ—him; iti—such; buddhi-apekṣaṃ—dependent upon understanding or cognition.
1. ‘This,’ ‘That,’ ‘Done by you,’ ‘Feed him’—such (cognitions are) dependent upon Understanding.—321.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
Having described the mode of production of perceptual cognition, both discriminative and non-discriminative, now the author, with a view to describe the perception of (a doubly specialized nature, or) the being specialized in the specialized, gives a few examples:
[Read sūtra 8.2.1 above]
The cognition, ‘this,’ arises in respect of an object which is near, and, ‘that,’ in respect of an object which is distant. ‘By you’—such cognition, coloured with the characteristic of being an agent, presupposes or depends upon the cognition that he is independent in the action. The cognition of the act, namely,‘done,’ depends upon the cognition that it is the subject of the operation of the instrument of action. The cognition, ‘feed,’ depends upon the cognition that he is the agent in the act of feeding, and also the employer of the instrument. The cognition, ‘him,’ depends upon the cognition that be is the subject of the operation or relation of the fed and the feeder. Similar other instances of cognition, dependent upon cognition, should be understood.—