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 2.319-320
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.319-320:
या प्रवृत्तिनिवृत्त्यर्था स्तुतिनिन्दाप्रकल्पना ।
कुशलः प्रतिपत्ता तामयथार्था प्रतीयते ॥ ३१९ ॥
विधीयमानं यत्कर्म दृष्टादृष्टप्रयोजनम् ।
स्तूयते सा स्तुतिस्तस्य कतुरेव प्रयोजिका ॥ ३२० ॥yā pravṛttinivṛttyarthā stutinindāprakalpanā |
kuśalaḥ pratipattā tāmayathārthā pratīyate || 319 ||
vidhīyamānaṃ yatkarma dṛṣṭādṛṣṭaprayojanam |
stūyate sā stutistasya katureva prayojikā || 320 ||319. An enlightened hearer knows that praise and blame, meant to promote action and abstention from action respectively, are really unreal.
320. The praise of a prescribed action having a visible or invisible fruit only serves to prompt the agent thereof.
Commentary
[These verses are meant to show that the individual word and its meaning do not really exist. Only the meaning of the sentence is real. The chief meaning of a sentence is action and though a part of it may consist of praise of this action, it has no real existence. In the same way, the condemnation of an action contained in a sentence meant to keep people away from it has no real existence, that sentence being meant only to keep people away from that action.
The Vṛtti gives the following example of praise—brahmacaryeṇaivehānantam āyur avāpnoti, ghṛtena pāpmānam apahantīti. tatra brahmavrataṃ caritavyam, ghṛtaṃ pānīyam ityetāvān upadeśaḥ.]