Vaisheshika-sutra with Commentary
by Nandalal Sinha | 1923 | 149,770 words | ISBN-13: 9789332869165
The Vaisheshika-sutra 8.2.4, 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 (‘sutra iv.ii.2, re-called’) contained in Chapter 2—Of Doubly Presentative Cognition—of Book VIII (of ordinary cognition by means of conjunction or combination).
Sūtra 8.2.4 (Sūtra IV.ii.2, re-called)
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of Vaiśeṣika sūtra 8.2.4:
द्रव्येषु पञ्चात्मकत्वं प्रतिषिद्धम् ॥ ८.२.४ ॥
dravyeṣu pañcātmakatvaṃ pratiṣiddham || 8.2.4 ||
dravyeṣu—under substances; pañca-ātmakatvaṃ—penta-substantiality, the characteristic of being a compound of five substances; pratiṣiddhaṃ—denied, contravened.
4. In (the topic dealing with the ascertainment of) Substances, (the theory) that bodies, etc., are a compound of five elements, has been refuted.
Commentary: The Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra:
(English rendering of Śaṅkara Miśra’s commentary called Upaskāra from the 15th century)
He introduces another topic.
[Read sūtra 8.2.4 above]
‘Under substances’—the term indicates the topic of the determination of the predicable, substance. By the aphorism (IV.ii.2, supra)”, “Of things perceptible and imperceptible, etc.,” the penta-substantiality of the body, etc., that is to say, (the theory) that they are compounds of five elements, ‘pratiṣiddhaṃ,’ has been refuted. As a variety of constituent causes does not belong to the body, so also it does not belong to the senses of smell, etc., which are going to be described, It, therefore, becomes proved that the senses are uniformly percipient of their corresponding attributes. This is the import.—4.