Verse 3.14.7

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.7:

विशेष्यं स्यादनिर्ज्ञातं निर्ज्ञातार्थो विशेषणम् ।
परार्थत्वेन शेषत्वं सर्वेषामुपकारिणाम् ॥ ७ ॥

viśeṣyaṃ syādanirjñātaṃ nirjñātārtho viśeṣaṇam |
parārthatvena śeṣatvaṃ sarveṣāmupakāriṇām || 7 ||

7. The qualified (viśeṣya) is what is not known and the qualifier is what is known. All things which serve others are secondary (śeṣa) because they exist for others.

Commentary

Something is now going to be said about the qualifier or the secondary word and the qualified or the primary word.

[Read verse 7 above]

[The very words viśeṣaṇa and viśeṣya tell us that the former is what differentiates and the latter is the differentiated. This stanza speaks about the distinction between the primary and the secondary. What is primary and what is secondary (pradhāna and guṇa) can be settled by various considerations. When the connection of a thing in its general form with action is known, something must be done to specify the particular form in which it is connected with action. That is what the qualifier (viśeṣaṇa) docs. Thus, the word which is a viśeṣaṇa brings new information. What is already known, the general form of a thing is the viśeṣya or the pradhāna (primary) and the new thing is the viśeṣaṇa or guṇa (secondary). A substance, a thing (dravya) can enter into relation with action independently. A quality can do so only through a substance. A quality is, therefore, secondary compared to substance. Once the basis of the relation of primary and secondary is understood, we can tell which is upasarjana in a compound of words ending in the same case-endings or in different case-endings.]

There is, however, a difference between where the two words have the same case-endings and where they have different case-endings. That is now pointed out.