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 3.7.104
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.7.104:
एकस्य बुद्ध्यवस्थाभिर्भेदे च परिकल्पिते ।
कर्मत्वं करणत्वं च कर्तृत्वं चोपजायते ॥ १०४ ॥ekasya buddhyavasthābhirbhede ca parikalpite |
karmatvaṃ karaṇatvaṃ ca kartṛtvaṃ copajāyate || 104 ||104. When, on the basis of different fancies (buddhyavasthābhiḥ) difference is imagined (in one and the same thing) the qualities of being an object or instrument or agent are brought about.
Commentary
If independence is a matter of the speaker’s intention, the following results.
[Read verse 104 above]
[If whether a thing is independent or not, is a matter of how the speaker presents it, one can easily understand how one and the same thing can be an agent, an object and an instrument, as in the sentence: hanty ātmānam ātmanā = ‘he kills himself.’ It is only because of the speaker’s intention that ātmā can become the object (karma) and the instrument (karaṇa), not in reality. Fictitious difference based entirely on the speaker’s fancies, is the basis of such expressions.]
It is now shown that when the fact of being the agent is a matter of presentation by words, other things also become clear.