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 3.3.80
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.3.80:
न चोर्ध्वमस्ति नास्तीति वचनायानिबन्धनम् ।
अलं स्यादपदस्थानमेतद्वाचः प्रचक्षते ॥ ८० ॥na cordhvamasti nāstīti vacanāyānibandhanam |
alaṃ syādapadasthānametadvācaḥ pracakṣate || 80 ||80. After destruction, one cannot say about a thing that it exists or does not exist, because of the absence of any ground for doing so. It is beyond the range of words:
Commentary
[After destruction, one cannot say of a thing whether it exists or not. The Sāṅkhyas affirm that it does exist, but that is not right. The fact of being cognised is the basis of such statements and that cannot happen with something which has been destroyed. Therefore, before it is produced and after it is destroyed, one cannot speak about a thing at all.]
It is now stated that it is only in the middle stage that it is visible.