Vakyapadiya of Bhartrihari
by K. A. Subramania Iyer | 1965 | 391,768 words
The English translation of the Vakyapadiya by Bhartrihari including commentary extracts and notes. The Vakyapadiya is an ancient Sanskrit text dealing with the philosophy of language. Bhartrhari authored this book in three parts and propounds his theory of Sphotavada (sphota-vada) which understands language as consisting of bursts of sounds conveyi...
This book contains Sanskrit text which you should never take for granted as transcription mistakes are always possible. Always confer with the final source and/or manuscript.
Verse 2.32
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.32:
प्रकाशकप्रकाश्यत्वं कार्यकारणरूपता ।
अन्तर्मात्रात्मनस्तस्य शब्दतत्त्वस्य सर्वदा ॥ ३२ ॥prakāśakaprakāśyatvaṃ kāryakāraṇarūpatā |
antarmātrātmanastasya śabdatattvasya sarvadā || 32 ||32. Of that Word-Principle which is within, there is always this character of being the Illuminator as well as the Illuminated, the Cause as well as the Effect.
Commentary
If the word and the meaning are identical, how are they said to stand in the relation of expression and expressed to each other?
[Read verse 32 above]
[The idea is that the Inner Word-Principle has got both powers: that of being prakāśaka and that of being prakāśya, that of being the Cause and that of being the Effect. The One inner Reality contains the seeds of all manifestations, as already stated in Vāk. I.4.
In explaining this verse, the Vṛtti emphasizes the nature of the Śabdatattva within. The inner word is endowed with two powers: the power of being the Illuminator and that of being the Illuminated. Though the latter is not separate from the former, it appears to be so. As they are mutually dependent, there is the relation of causality between them. As the Illuminator, it is the cause and as the Illuminated, it is the effect. The former power is constant and the latter occasional (anapāyinī and apāyinī). The Word-Principle is not associated with any particular place, but, because of its association with the intellect, it is spoken of as the inner word. Nor is it associated with time, divisible into past, present and future. That is why the word sarvadā is used in the verse. The Word-Principle, being identical with Consciousness, is beyond existence and nonexistence (bhāvābhāvavibhāgābhāvāt). The expressions past, present and future can be used only in regard to bhāva or abhāva.]
What other power the Word-Principle has is now stated.