1.18
Upadeśasāhasrī / 1. Caitanya (चैतन्य) / 1.18
निवृत्ता सा कथं भूयः प्रसूयेत प्रमाणतः असत्येवाविशेषे हि प्रत्यगात्मनि केवले
nivṛttā sā kathaṃ bhūyaḥ prasūyeta pramāṇataḥ asaty evāviśeṣe hi pratyagātmani kevale
The line
Turned back by a means of knowing, how could that ignorance be produced again? For this is the inward self, alone, without distinctions, not a made thing.
नेपालीमा
जान्ने साधनले पछाडि फर्काएको त्यो अज्ञान फेरि कसरी जन्मियोस्। किनकि यो भित्री आत्मा एक्लो छ, भेदरहित छ, बनाइएको चीज होइन।
Where it sits
Verse 17 said ignorance is turned back. Verse 18 says it does not return. Verse 19 is the objector again: then how does 'I am the doer' still appear, and doesn't that show that action must help knowledge?
Split: nivṛttā (निवृत्ता) + sā (सा) + katham (कथम्) + bhūyas (भूय) + prasūyeta (प्रसूयेत) + pramāṇataḥ (प्रमाणतः) + asati (असति) + eva (एव) + aviśeṣe (अविशेषे) + hi (हि) + pratyag-ātmani (प्रत्यग्-आत्मनि) + kevale (केवले)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| nivṛttā (निवृत्ता) | nominative singular, feminine | turned back, ceased. Agrees with sā (सा). |
| sā (सा) | nominative singular, feminine | she, that avidyā (अविद्या) of verse 17. |
| katham (कथम्) | indeclinable | how. |
| bhūyas (भूय) | indeclinable | again. |
| prasūyeta (प्रसूयेत) | optative passive, third person singular | would it be brought forth, born. |
| pramāṇataḥ (प्रमाणतः) | indeclinable, ablative in sense | from a pramāṇa (प्रमाण), a means of knowing. Once a pramāṇa (प्रमाण) has removed it. |
| asati (असति) | locative singular, masculine | in what is not a produced thing. Agrees with pratyagātmani (प्रत्यगात्मनि) in the reading: the inner self is not one more item. |
| eva (एव) | indeclinable | alone, precisely. Joined across the words in evāviśeṣe (एवाविशेषे). |
| aviśeṣe (अविशेषे) | locative singular, masculine | in what is without distinctions. |
| hi (हि) | indeclinable | for. The reason under the question. |
| pratyag-ātmani (प्रत्यग्-आत्मनि) | locative singular, masculine | in the inward self. pratyak (प्रत्यक्) is turned back toward, inward. |
| kevale (केवले) | locative singular, masculine | in what is kevala (केवल), alone, only that. |
The phrases
The question is rhetorical. katham prasūyeta (कथम् प्रसूयेत): how would it be born again? The reason, hi (हि), is the character of the pratyagātman (प्रत्यगात्मन्). He is kevala (केवल) and aviśeṣa (अविशेष). Ignorance had objects, the body and the rest, which neti neti (नेति नेति) set aside. Nothing in him is a distinction ignorance could grow back from.
The locatives aviśeṣe (अविशेषे), pratyagātmani (प्रत्यगात्मनि), kevale (केवले) are one place, described three ways.
Sanskrit in this line
pramāṇataḥ (प्रमाणतः) is 'by a means of knowing,' the same -taḥ (-तः) as 'because.' A pramāṇa (प्रमाण) removes, and what a pramāṇa (प्रमाण) has removed does not get a second birth from inside the pratyagātman (प्रत्यगात्मन्).
Say it back
Why would ignorance not start again?