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 3.2.6
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.2.6:
तेष्वाकारेषु यः शब्दस्तथाभूतेषु वर्तते ।
तत्त्वात्मकत्वात्तेनापि नित्यमेवाभिधीयते ॥ ६ ॥teṣvākāreṣu yaḥ śabdastathābhūteṣu vartate |
tattvātmakatvāttenāpi nityamevābhidhīyate || 6 ||6. As for the word which conveys such (impermanent) forms, since these are essentially one with it (the Substance), it also conveys the eternal.
Commentary
The author now says something about words like sanniveśa (=form, shape) which seem to denote attribute (dharma) only and not substance.
[Read verse 6 above]
[Another name for the limiting factors (upādhi) is dharma (attribute). Words like sannweśa mean form shape, diposition of parts. It means that they denote someth ng which is essentially dharma. How can they ultimately denote the substance? If they do not, the view that all words denote the ‘dravya’ falls to the ground. This difficulty is removed as follows:—Really, these limiting factors are not different from the substance. If they were different, they would be nothing at all. They exist as one with the ultimate, the upādhimat. To be one with it is their essence. They are not the essence of the ultimate. The limiting factors are so when they are merged in the ultimate. The moment they are detached from the ultimate, they would cease to be limiting factors. They would acquire a kind of independence and themselves become upādhimat.]