8
Sāṅkhya Kārikā / Verses 1–21, the two realities / 8
सौक्ष्म्यात् तदनुपलब्धिर् नाभावात् कार्यतस् तदुपलब्धिः महदादि तच् च कार्यं प्रकृतिविरूपं सरूपं च
saukṣmyāt tadanupalabdhir nābhāvāt kāryatas tadupalabdhiḥ mahadādi tac ca kāryaṃ prakṛtivirūpaṃ sarūpaṃ ca
The line
Nature is unperceived because it is subtle, not because it is nothing. It is perceived through its effect. That effect, beginning with the great one, is unlike nature and also like it.
नेपालीमा
प्रकृति सूक्ष्म भएकाले नदेखिन्छ, केही नभएकाले होइन। त्यो कार्यबाट देखिन्छ, र महत्देखि सुरु हुने त्यो कार्य प्रकृतिजस्तो पनि छ र बेग्लै पनि छ।
Where it sits
The inference is now aimed. Verses 9 through 16 are the steps: the effect pre-exists, the unmanifest has the properties opposite to the manifest, and it is inferred as the cause.
Split: saukṣmyāt (सौक्ष्म्यात्) + tad-anupalabdhiḥ (तद्-अनुपलब्धिः) + na (न) + abhāvāt (अभावात्) + kāryataḥ (कार्यतः) + tad-upalabdhiḥ (तद्-उपलब्धिः) + mahat-ādi (महत्-आदि) + tat (तत्) + ca (च) + kāryam (कार्यम्) + prakṛti-virūpam (प्रकृति-विरूपम्) + sarūpam (सरूपम्) + ca (च)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| saukṣmyāt (सौक्ष्म्यात्) | ablative singular | because of subtlety. Carried from verse 7. |
| tad-anupalabdhiḥ (तद्-अनुपलब्धिः) | nominative singular, feminine | its not being perceived. tat (तत्) is root nature. |
| na abhāvāt (न अभावात्) | ablative with na | not because of absence. |
| kāryataḥ (कार्यतः) | indeclinable | from the effect, by way of the effect. |
| tad-upalabdhiḥ (तद्-उपलब्धिः) | nominative singular, feminine | the perceiving of it. |
| mahat-ādi (महत्-आदि) | nominative singular, neuter | the great one and what follows it. mahat (महत्) is buddhi (बुद्धि). |
| tat (तत्) | nominative singular, neuter | that. |
| kāryam (कार्यम्) | nominative singular, neuter | the effect. |
| prakṛti-virūpam (प्रकृति-विरूपम्) | nominative singular, neuter | unlike nature. The effect is limited, nature is not, and so on. Verse 10 lists the unlikes. |
| sarūpam (सरूपम्) | nominative singular, neuter | like nature. The effect is made of the three guṇas (गुण), and so is the cause. Verse 11 lists the likes. |
The phrases
anupalabdhiḥ (अनुपलब्धिः) is the subject. Its cause is subtlety, not non-existence. na (न) negates only abhāvāt (अभावात्).
How then is nature known? kāryataḥ (कार्यतः), from the side of the effect. The effects are mahadādi (महदादि), everything from intellect down to the gross elements.
Those effects are both virūpa (विरूप) and sarūpa (सरूप) toward their cause. If they were only like it, you could not tell cause from effect. If they were only unlike it, you could not infer the cause from them.
Sanskrit in this line
na (न) sits against the ablative that follows it, not against the whole sentence. Read nābhāvāt (नाभावात्) as na (न) plus abhāvāt (अभावात्). The ā (आ) is a (अ) + a (अ) only if you join na (न) to abhāvāt (अभावात्) wrongly. na (न) ends in a (अ), abhāva (अभाव) begins with a (अ), and in continuous speech a (अ) + a (अ) becomes ā (आ), so the recited line is nābhāvāt (नाभावात्). When you split, put the short a (अ) back on both words.
Say it back
Say the difference between 'not seen because subtle' and 'not seen because absent.'