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 3.3.44
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.3.44:
सतो हि गन्तुर्गमनं सति गम्ये प्रवर्तते ।
गन्तृवच्चेन्न जन्मार्थो चेत्तद्वन्न जायते ॥ ४४ ॥sato hi ganturgamanaṃ sati gamye pravartate |
gantṛvaccenna janmārtho cettadvanna jāyate || 44 ||44. If the go-er exists and if there is a destination, the going can take place. If the one who is born is like the go-er, he cannot be born at all. If he is not, there cannot be birth at all.
Commentary
[The act of going is like that of being born. Only that which already exists can go, provided that there is a destination as distinct from that which goes. But if one who takes birth already exists like the one who goes, he cannot be born at all. Secondly, as birth means ‘attaining one’s self’, there is no object as distinct from the agent as in the case of going. These are the difficulties if words are taken as denoting things having external Being.]
It is now stated that the difficulties are removed on the basis of secondary Being.