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 2.287
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.287:
दर्शनं सलिले तुल्यं मृगतृष्णादिदर्शनैः ।
तुल्यत्वे दर्शनादीनां न जलं मृगतृष्णिका ॥ २८७ ॥darśanaṃ salile tulyaṃ mṛgatṛṣṇādidarśanaiḥ |
tulyatve darśanādīnāṃ na jalaṃ mṛgatṛṣṇikā || 287 ||287. The perception of (real) water and of such things as a mirage is the same. In spite of the similarity of perception, mirage is not water.
Commentary
[The point here is that mere cognition is not enough for determining the existence of an object. We take a mirage to be water, but there is no water there.
The Vṛtti points out that our perception of real water and our perception of mirage as water resemble each other. But the difference becomes clear when we go to the place and try to touch the water in the mirage, drink it and have a bath in it. So the use of the word ‘water’ to the water which we see in a mirage is only secondary usage. As the Vṛtti puts it—tathāpi sparśana-snāna-pānādinām abhāvāt taddeśaprāptau cādarśanān nedaṃ salilam iti... tāsu mṛgatṛṣṇikāsu nāsti mukhyasya śabdasya pravṛttiḥ.]