9
Sāṅkhya Kārikā / Verses 1–21, the two realities / 9
असदकरणादुपादानग्रहणात् सर्वसम्भवाभावात् शक्तस्य शक्यकरणात् कारणभावाच् च सत्कार्यम्
asadakaraṇād upādānagrahaṇāt sarvasambhavābhāvāt śaktasya śakyakaraṇāt kāraṇabhāvāc ca satkāryam
The line
The effect is real beforehand: the non-existent is not produced, a material is selected, not everything comes from everything, the capable produces the possible, and the effect has the nature of its cause.
नेपालीमा
कार्य पहिले नै सत् हुन्छ, किनकि नभएको उत्पन्न हुँदैन, सामग्री छानिन्छ, सबै कुरा सबैबाट आउँदैन, समर्थले सम्भव उत्पन्न गर्छ, र कार्यको स्वभाव कारणकै हुन्छ।
Where it sits
Verse 8 said nature is known from its effects. This verse says why an effect is evidence for a particular cause. The cause already holds what appears.
Split: asat-akaraṇāt (असत्-अकरणात्) + upādāna-grahaṇāt (उपादान-ग्रहणात्) + sarva-sambhava-abhāvāt (सर्व-सम्भव-अभावात्) + śaktasya (शक्तस्य) + śakya-karaṇāt (शक्य-करणात्) + kāraṇa-bhāvāt (कारण-भावात्) + ca (च) + sat-kāryam (सत्-कार्यम्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| asat-akaraṇāt (असत्-अकरणात्) | ablative singular | because what is not is not made. asat (असत्) is the non-existent. Nobody produces a hare's horn. |
| upādāna-grahaṇāt (उपादान-ग्रहणात्) | ablative singular | because one takes up a material cause. You reach for clay to get a pot, not for cloth. |
| sarva-sambhava-abhāvāt (सर्व-सम्भव-अभावात्) | ablative singular | because there is no arising of everything from everything. Grass does not become milk by wishing. |
| śaktasya (शक्तस्य) | genitive singular | of what is capable. The cause already has the capacity. |
| śakya-karaṇāt (शक्य-करणात्) | ablative singular | because it makes what can be made by it. |
| kāraṇa-bhāvāt (कारण-भावात्) | ablative singular | because of the effect's being of the cause. The effect is not a stranger to the stuff it came from. |
| ca (च) | indeclinable | and. |
| sat-kāryam (सत्-कार्यम्) | nominative singular, neuter | the effect as already real. sat (सत्) is existent. kārya (कार्य) is the effect. This is the name of the doctrine. |
The phrases
Five reasons, five ablatives, one conclusion. The conclusion is satkāryam (सत्कार्यम्): the effect is, before it appears.
This is not 'the pot is sitting inside the clay where you could find it with a smaller eye.' It is: production is a manifesting of what was already there as the cause's capacity, not a conjuring of being out of nothing.
Yoga and Vedānta (वेदान्त) will both argue with this. Vedānta (वेदान्त), in Śaṅkara (शङ्कर)'s reading, refuses satkārya (सत्कार्य) of the world in prakṛti (प्रकृति) and puts the world's appearing in avidyā (अविद्या). The kārikā (कारिका) is stating Sāṅkhya (साङ्ख्य)'s own answer. Learn it as that.
Sanskrit in this line
Five ablatives and no finite verb. satkāryam (सत्कार्यम्) is the predicate left standing. The verb 'is accepted' or 'is proved' is the sūtra (सूत्र) habit inside a verse: it is omitted because the ablatives already say 'on account of.'
Say it back
Give one of the five reasons in a sentence of your own, using clay and a pot, or milk and a calf. Then say the name satkārya (सत्कार्य).