Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 8.2.2, 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 2 (‘dependence of cognition upon cognition explained’) contained in Chapter 2—Of Doubly Presentative Cognition—of Book VIII (of ordinary cognition by means of conjunction or combination).
Sūtra 8.2.2 (Dependence of cognition upon cognition explained)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 8.2.2:
दृष्टेषु भावाददृष्टेष्वभावात् ॥ ८.२.२ ॥
dṛṣṭeṣu bhāvādadṛṣṭeṣvabhāvāt || 8.2.2 ||
dṛṣṭeṣu—in the case of objects seen; bhāvāt—from their existence or appearance; a-dṛṣṭeṣu—in the case of objects unseen; abhāvāt—from their non-existence or non-appearance.
2. (Such cognitions depend upon previous other cognitions), inasmuch as they appear in respect of objects seen, and do not appear in respect of objects unseen.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
He says that this (i.e., dependence of cognition upon cognition in some cases) is proved by induction from agreement and difference:
[Read sūtra 8.2.2 above]
When the contiguous object of the cognition ‘This;’ the object, though distant yet presented in consciousness, of the cognition ‘That;’ the object, i.e., the contiguous agent, of the cognition ‘By you/ the object, i.e., the action, of the cognition ‘done;’ the object, i.e., the employer and the employed, of the cognition ‘Feed/ the object, i.e., the occupation of both of them, of the cognition ‘Him;’—when these objects come into contact with the senses, then such cognition is produced. Whereas with reference to unseen objects these cognitions do not appear. Hence this (i.e., the dependence of cognition upon cognition can be inferred from agreement and difference. This is the meaning.—2.