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480
The Philosophy of the Bhagavad-gitā
[CH.
the will to the actual performance of the act enjoined by the command (ārthi bhāvanā). The propulsion of verbal commands is not like any physical propulsion; such a propulsion only arises as a result of one's comprehension of the fact that the performance of the acts enjoined will lead to beneficial results, and it naturally moves one to perform those acts out of selfinterest1. So of the twofold propulsion (bhāvanā) implied in a Vedic imperative the propulsio:: to act, as communicated by the verbal command, is called śābdi bhāvanā; and this is followed by the actual efforts of the person for the performance of the act2. The prescriptive of the command (vidhi) is comprehended directly from the imperative suffix (lin) of the verb, even before the meaning of the verb is realized. If this is so, it is contended that the imperative, as it is communicated by the command, is a pure contentless form of command. This contention is admitted by the Bhaṭṭa school, which thinks that, though in the first stage we have communication of the contentless pure form of the imperative, yet at the successive stages the contentless form of duty is naturally supplemented by a more direct reference to the concrete context, as denoted by the verb with which the suffix is associated. So the process of the propulsion of bhāvanā, though it starts at the first instance with the communication of a pure contentless form, passes, by reason of its own necessity and the incapacity of a contentless form of duty to stand by itself, gradually through more and more concrete stages to the actual comprehension of the duty implied by the concrete meaning of the associated verb3. So the communication of the contentless duty and its association with the concrete verbal meaning are not two different meanings, but are
1 adṛṣṭe tu viṣaye śreyaḥ-sādhanādhigamaḥ śabdaika-nibandhana iti tad-adhigamopayaḥ sabda eva pravartakaḥ; ata eva sabdo 'pi na svarūpa-mātreņa pravartako vayv-ādi-tulyatva-prasangat;...arthapratītim upajanayataḥ śabdasya pravartakatvam. Nyaya-mañjarī, p. 342. The Vizianagram Sanskrit Series, Benares, 1895.
Lin-adeḥ śabdasya na pratiti-janana-mätre vyāpāraḥ kintu purusa-pravṛttāv api; sa cāyam lin-ādi-uyāpārah sabda-bhāvanā-namadheyo vidhir ity ucyate sa eva ca pravartakaḥ...yo bhavana-kriya-kartṛ-vişayaḥ prayojaka-vyāpāraḥ purusa-stho yatra bhavana-kriyāyāḥ kartā svargādikarmatām āpadyate so 'rtha-bhāvanā-sabdena ucyate. Ibid. p. 343.
3
Yady apy amsair asamspṛṣṭām vidhiḥ sprśati bhāvanām tathapy aśaktito näsau tan-mātre paryavasyati anuşṭheye hi viṣaye vidhiḥ pumsām pravartakaḥ amsa-trayena capūrnam nānutisthati bhāvanām tasmāt prakrānta-rupo 'pi vidhis tavat pratikṣate yavad yogyatvam āpannā bhāvanā'nyānapekşini.
Ibid. p. 344.
