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 3.7.149
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.7.149:
उपश्लेषस्य चाभेदस्तिलाकाशकटादिषु ।
उपकारास्तु भिद्यन्ते संयोगिसमवायिनाम् ॥ १४९ ॥upaśleṣasya cābhedastilākāśakaṭādiṣu |
upakārāstu bhidyante saṃyogisamavāyinām || 149 ||149. Contact (upaśleṣa) is the same whether the abode be sesame (tila), space (ākāśa) or mat (kaṭa) etc. But the service rendered differs according as the objects are in contact through saṃyoga (conjunction) or through samavāya (inherence).
Commentary
[The relation between an abode (ādhāra) and what is on it (ādheya) is contact (upaśleṣa). It is the same in all the three kinds of abodes. Where there is conjunction (saṃyoga), the contact is not at all points, as in kaṭe āste = he sits on the mat. The sitter is not in contact with the mat at all points. Where there is inherence (samavāya), the contact is at all points, as in tileṣu tailam = ‘oil in the sesame seeds’. In khe śakunayaḥ = ‘birds in the sky’ and gurau vasati = ‘he lives with the guru, the abode is said to be vaiṣayika. Ākāśa has no real parts but only fictional ones. To say that the disciple lives with the guru means that he depends upon him. It is in that sense that the guru is the abode, The contact between the two is mental.]
What the services are is now explained.