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...
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Verse 2.138-139
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.138-139:
तस्माददृष्टतच्वानां सापराधं बहुच्छलम् ।
दर्शनं वचनं चापि नित्यमेवानवस्थितम् ॥ १३८ ॥
ऋषीणां दर्शनं यच्च तच्वे किञ्चिदवस्थितम् ।
न तेन व्यवहारोऽस्ति न तच्छब्दनिबन्धनम् ॥ १३९ ॥tasmādadṛṣṭatacvānāṃ sāparādhaṃ bahucchalam |
darśanaṃ vacanaṃ cāpi nityamevānavasthitam || 138 ||
ṛṣīṇāṃ darśanaṃ yacca tacve kiñcidavasthitam |
na tena vyavahāro'sti na tacchabdanibandhanam || 139 ||138. Therefore, cognitions and words of people who have not seen the truth, being full of mistakes and deceptions, are unreliable.
139. Nor can the vision of the sages, based on truth, be brought into human transactions, for it is not the basis of the use of words.
Commentary
[In the empirical stage, the sages are on the same level as ordinary men. They perceive things with their senses and the mind and use words according to what figures in their mind. See Vāk III. Saṃ 53.].