Verse 3.1.32-33

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.1.32-33:

सत्यासत्यौ तु यो भावौ प्रतिभावं व्यवस्थितौ ।
सत्यं यत्तत्र सा जातिरसत्या व्यक्तयः स्मृताः ॥ ३२ ॥
सम्बन्धिभेदात्सत्तैव भिद्यमाना गवादिषु ।
जातिरित्युच्यते तस्यां सर्वे शब्दा व्यवस्थिताः ॥ ३३ ॥

satyāsatyau tu yo bhāvau pratibhāvaṃ vyavasthitau |
satyaṃ yattatra sā jātirasatyā vyaktayaḥ smṛtāḥ || 32 ||
sambandhibhedātsattaiva bhidyamānā gavādiṣu |
jātirityucyate tasyāṃ sarve śabdā vyavasthitāḥ || 33 ||

32. Of the real and unreal elements which are found in every object, the real element is the universal, whereas the unreal one is the individual.

33. It is Being which, being differentiated according to the object in which it is present, is called the universal. All words are based on that.

Commentary

So far, the view that the word conveys the universal only by its expressive power has been explained. There are two other views: (1) that it conveys the individual as qualified by the universal, (2) that it conveys the individual.

The author now states that the distinction between the universal and the individual can be explained on the basis of the view that everything is the result of the different powers of the One Reality.

[Read verse 32-33 above]

[That element in objects which is peculiar to them, which comes and goes, is a transformation of nescience (avidyā). It is that which is called vyakti. It is not real, because it is not permanent and not found in all objects. Only that is real which is permanent and which constitutes the pervading essence of an object. That is what the monists call the universal (jāti). In such gold ornaments as rucaka, svastika, kuṇḍala etc., the particular shape of the ornament is the impermanent thing. These shapes are mutually exclusive, whereas gold is the persisting essence of all. That is real or satya. But it has only a relative reality. Gold is fire (tejas) which is more pervasive and, therefore, the persisting element compared to goldness. But even the reality of tejas is relative. If we go on seeking wider and wider realities, we will come to Brahman which is the only Reality which is everywhere and in everything. That is the highest universal. So it is called mahāsattā, the great Being. It is this mahāsattā which is found in all objects in the form of their universals, as ‘cowness’ in a cow, ‘horseness’ in a horse and so on. What is called gotva is nothing but gosattā, Being as it exists in a cow. All words thus ultimately express this great Being and it is only through the limiting factor with which it is associated in each object that it appears as gotva, aśvatva and so on].