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.

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.9.59:

तिस्रो भावस्य भावस्य केषाञ्चिद् भावशक्तयः ।
ताभिः स्वशक्तिभिः सर्वं सदैवास्ति च नास्ति च ॥ ५९ ॥

tisro bhāvasya bhāvasya keṣāñcid bhāvaśaktayaḥ |
tābhiḥ svaśaktibhiḥ sarvaṃ sadaivāsti ca nāsti ca || 59 ||

59. According to some, every object has three powers. Through these powers, every object always is or is not.

Commentary

[Different thinkers explain this notion differently. According to some, all objects being made up of the three guṇas, namely, sattva, rajas and tamas, have three powers and what is called Time is not different from these powers. Things are said to exist or not to exist as these powers become manifest or do not.]

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