Studies On Bhartrhari 5 Bhartrhari And Vaisesika

SR No.: 269426
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Johannes Bronkhorst
Publisher: Johannes Bronkhorst
Total Pages: 20
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

Page 14

JOHANNES BRONKHORST
context of the description of the manas, in order to show that the manas can have samyoga and vibhāga.30 Note in passing that Prasastapada's remark shows that he looked upon VS 5.2.19 as a sūtra. Elsewhere in the Padarthadharmasangraha it is pointed out that the two activities of the manas called apasarpana and upasarpana are the result of contact between the soul and the manas, which depends on adrsta;31 again the sūtra is interpreted as referring to the manas.
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There is evidence to show that the above sūtras at one time concerned the ātman and its activities. Consider first VS 6.2.19/18/16: ātmakarmasu mokṣo vyākhyātaḥ. Wezler (1982: 654) observed already that this sūtra "obviously refers back to VS 5.2.20". It does, however, more than just this: it suggests strongly that 5.2.20, and therefore 5.2.19 as well, concern atmakarman 'the activity of the soul'.
With this in mind we turn to Bhartṛhari's Vakyapadiya. The Sambandhasamuddeśa of this work explores the question what connection exists - to be described in Vaiseṣika terms, i.e., combinations of samyoga and samavāya - between a word and the object it designates. This leads to no satisfactory results. Indeed, VP 3.3.17 points out that this approach would not limit the designation of a word to its appropriate object. Here VP 3.3.18 counters:
adrstavṛttiläbhena yatha samyoga ātmanah/
kvacit svasvamiyogakhyo 'bhede 'nyatrapi sa kramah//
Just as the samyoga of the soul is [only] called 'connection of owner and owned' with regard to certain objects, because adrsta operates [in these cases], even though there is no difference [between this special kind of samyoga and samyoga in general], just so is the situation in the case of other [relations], too.
This verse cannot but mean that a virtually limitless number of samyogas of the soul is limited by the operation of adrsta to those few which link the soul to 'its' body, etc. This in its turn implies that, in Bhartṛhari's opinion, the soul of the Vaiseṣikas is in contact with far more objects than just its 'own' body etc., and therefore most probably infinitely large, as it is in classical Vaiśesika.
30 Ki p. 101 1. 16-17; N p. 89 l. 15-16; Vy vol. 1 p. 156 1. 14-15: apasarpanopasarpanavacanāt samyogavibhāgau.
31 Ki p. 270 1. 12; N p. 308 1. 22-23; Vy vol. 2 p. 266 1. 6: apasarpanakarmopasarpaṇakarma catmamanaḥsamyogad adrstäpekṣāt.