Verse 2.253

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.253:

सर्वशक्तेस्तु तस्यैव शब्दस्यानेकधर्मणः ।
प्रसिद्धिभेदाद् गौणत्वं मुख्यत्वं चोपवर्ण्यते ॥ २५३ ॥

sarvaśaktestu tasyaiva śabdasyānekadharmaṇaḥ |
prasiddhibhedād gauṇatvaṃ mukhyatvaṃ copavarṇyate || 253 ||

253. The primariness or secondariness of a word having many attributes, that is, the power to denote many things, depends upon frequency of usage.

Commentary

[Therefore the word gauḥ primarily denotes the cow and secondarily an object like vāhīka because of more frequent usage in the former case. It is the same word which denotes both. So this is ekaśabdadarśana.

Commenting on 252 and 253 together, the Vṛtti says: the same word gauḥ sometimes denotes the universal as in gaur anubandhyaḥ. Sometimes, it denotes the individual or substance in which the universal inheres, as in the sentence gaur ānīyatām or gaur duhyatām. Sometimes it denotes a particular individual as when one asks a cowherd seated in the midst of a herd of cattle: do you see a cow in this herd of cattle? (astyatra kāñcid gāṃ paśyasi)? Sometimes it is applied to a totally different object like vāhīka because of the presence in him of qualities like suffering everything, and eating a lot. Where it is used primarily and where secondarily depends upon whether it requires the help of other factors like context for conveying its meaning. ]

Another effect of the ekaśabdadarśana is now being shown.