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 3.7.153
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.7.153:
कालात् क्रिया विभज्यन्ते आकाशात् सर्वमूर्तयः ।
एतावांश्चैव भेदोऽयमभेदोपनिबन्धनः ॥ १५३ ॥kālāt kriyā vibhajyante ākāśāt sarvamūrtayaḥ |
etāvāṃścaiva bhedo'yamabhedopanibandhanaḥ || 153 ||153. It is through Time that actions are divided and it ‘is through space that all objects are divided. So much is the differentiation based on Unity.
Commentary
While ākāśa is the support of all finished (siddha) things, it is now declared that Time is the support of all unfinished things or processes (sādhya).
[Read verse 153 above]
[Time is responsible for the birth, existence and decay of things. Time is the support of these three processes. Space distinguishes object from one another by allotting to them particular regions. The universe consists of differentiated objects and actions and this differentiation is based upon the unity of Time and Space, which in their turn, being powers of Brahman, are based upon its absolute Unity.]
Under P. 1.4.48, Katyayana says that the ‘abode’ in relation to the action denoted by the root ‘√vas‘ with the preposition ‘upa’ namely ‘to fast’ cannot become karma, as it does when the action is merely to ‘reside’. Patanjali points out that this prohibition is unnecessary. It would not have become karma in any case. Taking the example grāme upavasati, ‘he fasts in the village’, Patanjali points that the village is the abode, not in relation to the action of fasting, but in relation to the action of residing or staying which is understood here. The sentence means: grāme'sau vasanstrirātram upavasati = ‘while staying in the village, he fasts for three nights’ (M.Bhā. I, p. 332, 1. 8). Fasting is always for a definite period the word expressive of which automatically becomes the karma. The word expressive of residing is not mentioned but the action is understood and it is in relation to that that the village is the ‘abode’ (adikaraṇa) and takes the seventh case-affix.
What happens when a particular abode is also meant to be conveyed is now stated.