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 3.14.323
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.323:
यश्चाप्रवृत्तिधर्मार्थश्चितिरूपेण गृह्यते ।
अनुयातीव सोऽन्येषां प्रवृत्तीविष्वगाश्रयाः ॥ ३२३ ॥yaścāpravṛttidharmārthaścitirūpeṇa gṛhyate |
anuyātīva so'nyeṣāṃ pravṛttīviṣvagāśrayāḥ || 323 ||323. As to the entity which is devoid of all activity and is understood as consciousness it seems to follow, as it were, the multiple activities of others.
Commentary
[One can understand that prakṛti and its evolutes should be constantly active, because of the rajas element in thm [them?]. But the Self is free from rajas and yet it is referred to by three words having three different genders, namely, ātmā, citi and caitanyam. The definition of gender, namely, pravṛtti, docs not exist in the Self but the three words which express it have gender. The explanation is that experience results when the light of the Self is reflected on the mirror of the Intellect and it is that reflection, coloured by the objects experienced, which comes into worldly usage. It is that which comes within the range of speech. It follows, as it were, the infinite activities of the things to be experienced. Thus, the gender of the manifested objects (ābhāsa) is attributed to that which is not a manifestation (nirābhāsa).]